Before Clooney, Pit, or even Rudalph Valentino – there was Wallace "Wally" Reid. The son of a Broadway theater producer/director, Wally joined his parents on stage at age four, and before his untimely death was the most popular movie star of his time. His athletic good looks and charm proved irresistible to film-makers, and from his first film role as a young reporter in The Phoenix (1910) he quickly rose to international stardum.

Wally loved Highlands and usually claimed it as the place he grew up. He spoke fondly of the property whereabouts the GrandLady sits today calling it "Gloryview" and learned to drive on the hillside dirt roads in the area. The early 1900s saw very few automobiles so it must have been a site to see a teenager roaring around Highlands in the family car. His love of speed and driving were a portend to the hughly popular racing movies he would make later in life.

In 1913, twenty-year-old Reid married Universal's star, Dorothy Davenport, with whom he'd worked with as director and actor. Though only seventeen, Davenport was already a seasoned veteran of stage and screen.

By his 25th birthday, Reid had appeared in over 100 films, and his roles were getting bigger. In 1915, he took a decisive step by accepting the role of Jeff the blacksmith in D.W. Griffith's groundbreaking classic Birth of a Nation (1915). Everyone wanted to know who that mad blacksmith was - and a star was born.

Many of his roles epitomized the ideal all-American male. Indded, it was his daredevil car movies that sealed Reid's spectacular popularity. The new flashy automobiles, treacherous roads, and heart-stopping races terrified and delighted thrill-seeking audiences. Reid's car pictures - like The Roaring Road (1919) and Double Speed (1920) were hugely popular. Griffith hired Reid again, for Intolerance (1916) and The Squaw Man's Son followed in 1917.

Popularity was a mixed blessing for Reid. It came the pressure to make film after film. The studio kept him working for months at a time without a break. Then disaster struck.

On location in Oregon while making The Valley of the Giants (1919), Reid was in a train wreck. The pain of his injuries was so great; but the studio was unwilling to stop shooting. Instead the studio physician supplied Reid with morphine (legal at the time) to dull the pain - enough for him to continue working. With the film completed, Reid immediately committed to start another as he was the biggest box office draw at the time. Soon he was addicted.

By 1922, Reid had checked into and out of a succession of hospitals. While making his last film, Thirty Days (1922), he was barely able to stand up. After finishing the film, he checked himself into a sanitarium. He put up a gallant fight going cold turkey, but it proved to be his last. On 18 January 1923 Wallace Reid, the most beloved movie star of his time and called “the screen’s most perfect lover” by Motion Picture” - died in his wife's arms. He was barely 30 years old.

Will Rodgers said; "Now don't let a living soul say an unkind word about Wallie Reid. He was just an overgrown kid, who never knowingly harmed a living soul... He will be judged to be way above the average.

Wallace Reid on the Web
http://www.goldensilents.com/stars/wallacereid.html

The Silents Majority: Wallace Reid

Wallace Reid: The Life and Death of a Hollywood Idol - E.J.Fleming

1891-1923 Some of Reid's Films

Birth of a Nation (1915)
Carmen (1915)
Intolerance (1916)
Excuse my Dust (1920)
The Affairs of Anatol (1921)
Valley of the Giants (1919)