Harry Reeves-Smith (17 May 1862 – 29 January 1938) was an English born stage actor who achieved success in Broadway productions at the turn of the twentieth century. His father was G. Reeves-Smith, a manager of the
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
Aquarium. Harry made his first appearance on stage in 1878 at
Halifax in ''Jane Shore''. He went to the U.S. in 1887 and toured with
John Sleeper Clarke.
In the U.S. Reeves-Smith toured with actresses
Henrietta Crosman and
Grace George. He is mainly remembered for appearing in several hit plays.
Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore (born Ethel Mae Blythe; August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regarde ...
became a stage star in
Clyde Fitch's ''
Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines
''Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines'' is an opera in three acts by Jack Beeson written in 1975 to a libretto by Sheldon Harnick after the 1901 play of the same name by Clyde Fitch. The play had previously been adapted for a 1916 silent film.
Th ...
'' (1901) but Reeves-Smith's character Robert Jinks is the title of the play. In 1903 he starred in another play written by Fitch at the
Comedy Theatre in London's
West End; the role of Edward Warden in ''
The Climbers''. In 1910 he appeared in another play with Barrymore, ''Mid-Channel'', about a feuding couple. In 1912 he was opposite
Laurette Taylor
Laurette Taylor (born Loretta Helen Cooney; April 1, 1883Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Roll: 1119; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 859; FHL microfilm: 1241119. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1900 Un ...
in her huge success ''
Peg o' My Heart
"Peg o' My Heart" is a popular song written by Alfred Bryan (words) and Fred Fisher (music). It was published on March 15, 1913 and it featured in the 1913 musical ''Ziegfeld Follies''.
The song was first performed publicly by Irving Kaufman ...
''. In ''The Unchastened Woman'' (1915) the star was
Emily Stevens. His last Broadway part was as Johan Strauss in ''The Great Waltz'' in 1935, at the age of 73.
Films
Reeves-Smith appeared in only three motion pictures, two silents and one sound. His last was ''
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
''The Return of Sherlock Holmes'' is a 1905 collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903–1904, by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The stories were published in the '' Strand Magazine'' in Britain and ''Collier's'' i ...
'' (1929) with
Clive Brook, which holds the distinction of being the first Sherlock Holmes film to be shot in
sound and Reeves-Smith the first
Dr. Watson
John H. Watson, known as Dr. Watson, is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Along with Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson first appeared in the novel ''A Study in Scarlet'' (1887). The last work by Doyle fe ...
in a sound film.
Reeves-Smith retired to his native England but soon after died of a heart attack at
Ewell, Surrey on 29 January 1938.
[''Silent Film Necrology'' 2nd edition, p. 438, by Eugene M. Vazzana, c. 2001]
References
External links
*
*
portrait galleryNY Public Library, Billy Rose collection)
H. Reeves-Smith; North American Theatre Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reeves-Smith, H.
1862 births
1938 deaths
Male actors from Scarborough, North Yorkshire
English male stage actors
English male film actors
20th-century English male actors
English expatriate male actors in the United States