Wallace Reid: The Life and Death of a Hollywood IdolFor a decade Wallace Reid was the most recognized face in Hollywood, the most universally beloved actor in silent film. Today all that is widely remembered of “Wally” Reid is that he died in a padded sanitarium cell, the victim of a fatal morphine addiction. Of all the actors who have enjoyed great fame only to vanish from the public eye, Reid perhaps fell the fastest and the hardest. This first full biography recounts Reid’s complicated childhood, his disrupted family history and his rise to film stardom despite these restricting factors. It documents his myriad talents and accomplishments, most notably his gift for brilliant onscreen acting. The text explores in depth how the modern studio, however unconsciously, turned the popular star, a well-adjusted man with a loving family, into a drug-dependent mental patient within three years. His death rocked the foundations of Hollywood, and the huge new industry that he helped build nearly died with “Dashing Wally Reid.” |
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Wallace Reid: the life and death of a Hollywood idol
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictWallace Reid (1891-1923) was one of Hollywood's early casualties. Originally pursuing a career of writing and directing in early films, he inevitably became a matinee idol with his pre-Valentino ... Read full review
Contents
3 | |
2 Finding the Movies | 22 |
3 Dorothy and the Davenports | 35 |
4 Santa Barbara and Marriage | 47 |
5 The Birth of a Star | 64 |
6 Laskys Diamond | 78 |
7 Stardom | 90 |
8 War and Work | 102 |
11 GoodTime Wally Faces the Abyss | 152 |
12 Barely Hanging On | 167 |
13 The Industry Teeters and Wally Falls | 192 |
14 The Curtain Falls on a Tragedy | 210 |
15 Human Wreckage | 226 |
Filmography | 241 |
Chapter Notes | 261 |
Selected Bibliography | 281 |
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Common terms and phrases
a›air actors Adela Rogers Alice Allan Dwan American Film Institute American Idol Angeles April Arbuckle August Bertha Westbrook Bodeen Brady California Cast Catalog of Film Charles Ogle D.W. Gri‡th death December DeLongpre DeMille directed Director Wallace Reid Donald Crisp Dorothy Davenport Dorothy’s drug e›ects Famous Players–Lasky father February feet Film Company Film Manufacturing Company Frank friends George Geraldine Farrar girl Guy Oliver Hal Reid Harry Hollywood http://www.afi.com/members Ibid Jack James Cruze January Johns July June lace Reid Lasky Liberty Magazine Lillian Mabel Normand married morphine mother Motion Picture movie Moving Picture World Mutual Film Corporation Nestor Film November o›ered o‡ce October Photoplay Magazine racing Raymond Hatton Reid as Hal Reid’s Release date retrieved March role Selig September Silent Films Single reel studio theater Theodore Roberts trieved Tully Marshall Universal Film Manufacturing Vitagraph Wallace Reid Wally and Dorothy Wally plays Wally’s week wife William Writer York