Reid became a star in 1915--after making more than 100 films--when he was signed by Lasky-Paramount to co-star with Geraldine Farrar in Cecil B. DeMille's "Carmen". He made more than 50 films for that company over the next seven years, becoming the nation's boy-next-door matinee idol. Many of Reid's films utilized his ability as a racecar driver and were especially popular with young boys. He made another four films with Farrar, a series with Ann Little, and also co-starred with such actresses as Mae Murray, Gloria Swanson and Bebe Daniels.
After being treated with morphine following a 1919 train accident, Reid became addicted to the drug and died in a rehab clinic at age 31. The manner of his death made sensational news at the time and, combined with the scandals surrounding the death of director William Desmond Taylor and the Fatty Arbuckle manslaughter trial, led to demands for censure of the Hollywood community and censorship of its product by conservative civic groups nationwide. Reid's widow, often billing herself proudly as 'Mrs. Wallace Reid' in order to restore her late husband's unfairly damaged reputation, went on to produce several anti-drug films, including the hard-hitting "Human Wreckage" (1923).