Maxwell Reed
Encyclopedia
Maxwell Reed was a British
actor
who became a matinee idol during the 1950s with the Rank Organisation
in Britain.
He was the first husband of Joan Collins
whom he married on 24 May 1952. The marriage ended in divorce in 1956. Collins later claimed in her 1978 autobiography Past Imperfect that the divorce was a result of Reed's alleged attempt to sell her to an Arab sheik.
Reed was best known for his roles in the films The Dark Man, Blackout, Daybreak
, The Clouded Yellow
, There Is Another Sun
and The Brain Machine. He also appeared to good effect in non-genre films such as Helen of Troy, Sea Devils
, The Brothers
, and The Square Ring
(in a role later played on television by Sean Connery
).
Reed drifted to the U.S. in the late 1950s and appeared in a few films and was a guest star on many television programs such as Bonanza
, Perry Mason
and Daniel Boone
. He portrayed the title role in the 1950s television series Captain David Grief
, based on short stories
by Jack London
.
He died from cancer
, aged 55.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who became a matinee idol during the 1950s with the Rank Organisation
Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment company formed during 1937 and absorbed in 1996 by The Rank Group Plc. It was the largest and most vertically-integrated film company in Britain, owning production, distribution and exhibition facilities....
in Britain.
He was the first husband of Joan Collins
Joan Collins
Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
whom he married on 24 May 1952. The marriage ended in divorce in 1956. Collins later claimed in her 1978 autobiography Past Imperfect that the divorce was a result of Reed's alleged attempt to sell her to an Arab sheik.
Reed was best known for his roles in the films The Dark Man, Blackout, Daybreak
Daybreak
-Albums:*Daybreak *Daybreak *Daybreak *Daybreak, an album by Paul Hardcastle*Daybreak, an album by Mezzoforte*Daybreak -Songs:...
, The Clouded Yellow
The Clouded Yellow
The Clouded Yellow is a 1951 British mystery film directed by Ralph Thomas and produced by Betty E. Box for Carillon Films.-Plot synopsis:...
, There Is Another Sun
There Is Another Sun
There Is Another Sun is a 1951 British drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert.-Cast:* Maxwell Reed as Eddie 'Racer' Peskett* Laurence Harvey as Mag Maguire* Susan Shaw as Lillian* Leslie Dwyer as Mick Foley...
and The Brain Machine. He also appeared to good effect in non-genre films such as Helen of Troy, Sea Devils
Sea Devils
Sea Devils is a 1953 British-American historical adventure film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Rock Hudson and Yvonne De Carlo. The story was adapted from the novel Les Travailleurs de la mer by Victor Hugo...
, The Brothers
The Brothers (1947 film)
The Brothers is a British film melodrama of 1947, starring Patricia Roc and John Laurie, from a novel of the same name by L.A.G. Strong. It is set in the Western Isles of Scotland, and the long and murderous grudge between two clans there, the Macraes and McFarishes...
, and The Square Ring
The Square Ring
The Square Ring is a 1953 British film directed by Basil Dearden and made at Ealing Studios. It stars Jack Warner, Robert Beatty and Bill Owen...
(in a role later played on television by Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
).
Reed drifted to the U.S. in the late 1950s and appeared in a few films and was a guest star on many television programs such as Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
, Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
and Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (TV series)
Daniel Boone is an American action/adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Native American friend, for the...
. He portrayed the title role in the 1950s television series Captain David Grief
Captain David Grief
Captain David Grief is an American syndicated television series that aired via syndication between 1957 and 1960. The cast included the Irish-born Maxwell Reed as Captain Grief, Tudor Owen as Elihu Snow, Mickey Simpson as Boley, Mel Prestidge as Jackie-Jackie, and Maureen Hingert as Anura.Among the...
, based on short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
.
He died from cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, aged 55.
Filmography
- The Years BetweenThe Years Between (film)The Years Between is a 1946 British film starring Michael Redgrave, Valerie Hobson and Flora Robson in an adaptation of The Years Between by Daphne du Maurier...
(1946) - Gaiety George (1946)
- The BrothersThe Brothers (1947 film)The Brothers is a British film melodrama of 1947, starring Patricia Roc and John Laurie, from a novel of the same name by L.A.G. Strong. It is set in the Western Isles of Scotland, and the long and murderous grudge between two clans there, the Macraes and McFarishes...
(1947) - Dear MurdererDear MurdererDear Murderer is a 1947 British thriller, directed by Arthur Crabtree for Gainsborough Pictures, and starring Eric Portman and Greta Gynt. The film was well-received for its tautness and ingenuity, with one reviewer noting: "Dear Murderer is a shrewd, semi-psychological thriller with Eric Portman,...
(1947) - Night BeatNight Beat (1947 film)Night Beat is a 1947 British crime drama film directed by Harold Huth and starring Anne Crawford, Maxwell Reed, Ronald Howard, Christine Norden and Sid James. Following the Second World War two comrades go their separate ways one joining the Metropolitan police while the other becomes a racketeer...
(1947) - DaybreakDaybreak (1948 film)Daybreak is a 1948 British film noir drama film, directed by Compton Bennett and starring Eric Portman, Ann Todd and Maxwell Reed. A sombre, bleak film, Daybreak was filmed in 1946, but ran into trouble with the BBFC, resulting in a delay of almost two years before its release...
(1948) - Daughter of DarknessDaughter of Darkness (1948 film)Daughter of Darkness is a 1947 British film, with macabre overtones, directed by Lance Comfort and starring Anne Crawford, Maxwell Reed and - in the central role - Siobhan McKenna...
(1948) - The Lost PeopleThe Lost PeopleThe Lost People is a 1949 British drama film directed by Muriel Box and Bernard Knowles and starring Dennis Price, Mai Zetterling and Richard Attenborough. After the Second World War, some British soldiers are guarding a theatre in Germany containing various refugees and prisoners trying to work...
(1949) - Madness of the HeartMadness of the HeartMadness of the Heart is a 1949 British drama film directed by Charles Bennett and starring Margaret Lockwood, Paul Dupuis and Kathleen Byron.-Cast:* Margaret Lockwood - Lydia Garth* Paul Dupuis - Paul de Vandiere* Kathleen Byron - Verite Faimont...
(1949) - Blackout (1950)
- The Clouded YellowThe Clouded YellowThe Clouded Yellow is a 1951 British mystery film directed by Ralph Thomas and produced by Betty E. Box for Carillon Films.-Plot synopsis:...
(1950) - The Dark Man (1951)
- There Is Another SunThere Is Another SunThere Is Another Sun is a 1951 British drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert.-Cast:* Maxwell Reed as Eddie 'Racer' Peskett* Laurence Harvey as Mag Maguire* Susan Shaw as Lillian* Leslie Dwyer as Mick Foley...
(1951) - Flame of Araby (1951)
- Sea DevilsSea DevilsSea Devils is a 1953 British-American historical adventure film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Rock Hudson and Yvonne De Carlo. The story was adapted from the novel Les Travailleurs de la mer by Victor Hugo...
(1953) - The Square RingThe Square RingThe Square Ring is a 1953 British film directed by Basil Dearden and made at Ealing Studios. It stars Jack Warner, Robert Beatty and Bill Owen...
(1953) - Capitan Fantasma (1953)
- MarilynMarilyn (film)Marilyn is a 1963 documentary film based on the life of the 1950s sex symbol Marilyn Monroe. The film was released by 20th Century Fox, and was narrated by Rock Hudson.-Background:...
(1954) - Before I WakeBefore I Wake (film)Before I Wake is a 1954 British mystery film directed by Albert S. Rogell and starring Mona Freeman, Jean Kent and Maxwell Reed. A stepmother attempts to murder her adopted daughter in order to get her inheritance.-Cast:* Mona Freeman ... April Haddon...
(1954) - The Brain Machine (1955)
- Helen of TroyHelen of Troy (film)Helen of Troy is a 1956 Warner Bros. epic film, based on Homer's Iliad. It was directed by Robert Wise, from a screenplay by Hugh Gray and John Twist, adapted by Hugh Gray and N. Richard Nash...
(1956) - Pirates of TortugaPirates of TortugaPirates of Tortuga is a 1961 American film which invented an alternate history for the actual Welsh privateer Henry Morgan. It was released in October 1961 in the United States.-Plot:...
(1961) - The Notorious LandladyThe Notorious LandladyThe Notorious Landlady is a 1962 comedy/mystery American film starring Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, and Fred Astaire. The film was directed by Richard Quine, with a script by Blake Edwards.-Plot:...
(1962) - Advise & Consent (1962)
- Picture Mommy DeadPicture Mommy DeadPicture Mommy Dead is a 1966 horror film directed by Bert I. Gordon. It stars Don Ameche and Martha Hyer.-Plot:The film follows the genre of the mad family movie started in the 1960 film Psycho as it deals with a young woman, Susan, who thinks her father killed her mother years ago...
(1966)