Actor

1977-04-04 · United States · Male

20 series in the catalog

Marshall Jewel Reed (May 28, 1917 – April 15, 1980) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1943 and 1978. He was born in Englewood, Colorado.

Early years

Reed's parents were Walter George Reed and Ruth Dustin. By age 10, he was acting in children's theater, and he managed two drama groups while he was in high school. Before becoming a professional actor, "he held various odd jobs such as horse trainer, meter reader, bookkeeper, and mail clerk."

Stage

Summer stock theatre at Elitch Gardens in Denver, Colorado, provided Reed's first professional experience with acting. Besides appearing in plays there, he made costumes and constructed scenery. Later he worked with other theatrical groups in the Denver area, writing and producing as well as acting. Still later, he had his own stock company on the West Coast and acted in summer stock in New York and Los Angeles.

Film

Reed started his cinema career in Bordertown Gun Fighters, a 1943 western starring Wild Bill Elliott. (Another source says, "He made his screen debut in Silver Spurs (1943).")

An athletic stuntman, Reed handled much of his own fighting and riding. Over the years, he did dozens of westerns and cliffhanger serials for Columbia and Republic studios, in which he was usually cast as action heavies. He appeared in a rare sympathetic role as Buffalo Bill Cody in the 1954 serial Riding with Buffalo Bill.

Television

Between the 1950s and 1970s, Reed was a familiar face in popular TV series, particularly in the action and drama genres.

In 1960, he appeared twice on Gene Barry's TV Western series Bat Masterson, once playing the "good guy" as stage coach driver and posse member "Alf Hayman" in S2E22's "The Snare", and another time playing the "bad guy" as a murdering outlaw named "Romer" in S3E7's "High Card Loses".

He also played Inspector Fred Asher in The Lineup. In 1978 he costarred in Till Death, his last film appearance.

Death

Reed "died of a massive hemorrhage following a brain tumor" April 15, 1980, in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 62. Survivors included his fifth wife, Carlyn Miller, and a daughter.