Elliott Reid

Edgeworth Blair Reid, known professionally as Elliott Reid, was born on January 16, 1920, in Manhattan, New York, the son of artist Christine Challenger Reid and banker Blair Reid. He attended the Professional Children's School and adopted "Elliott" as his stage name early in his career, though some of his earliest performances credited him as "Ted Reid." He died of heart failure on June 21, 2013, at the age of 93, having spent his final years at an assisted living facility in Studio City, California.

Reid launched his professional career in 1935 with a debut on the radio program The March of Time, which opened the door to steady work throughout the golden age of radio. He took on recurring roles in several programs, portraying Melvin Castleberry on the children's series Billy and Betty and Philip Cameron on the serial Against the Storm, and served as a host on the radio version of The United States Steel Hour. His radio work extended to Theatre Guild on the Air, The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, Suspense, and the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. He also participated in multiple productions directed by Orson Welles, including The Mercury Theatre on the Air.

On Broadway, Reid performed across more than three decades, from 1937 to 1971. His stage credits include Julius Caesar during the 1937–1938 season, The Shoemaker's Holiday in 1938, Macbeth in 1948, Two Blind Mice in 1949, The Live Wire in 1950, Two on the Aisle from 1951 to 1952, and From A to Z in 1960. Beyond Broadway, he co-starred as Felix Unger opposite Dan Dailey's Oscar Madison in the Chicago company of The Odd Couple from 1966 to 1967, appeared alongside Virginia Mayo in a touring production of No, No, Nanette from 1972 to 1973, and co-starred with Carol Channing in the national tour of The Bed Before Yesterday in 1976.

In film, Reid is perhaps best remembered for his role as Ernie Malone, a private detective hired to surveil Marilyn Monroe's character who ultimately becomes the love interest of Jane Russell's character, in the 1953 20th Century Fox production Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Variety singled out his performance alongside Tommy Noonan, noting that the two handled the romantic male roles well. He also appeared in a pair of Walt Disney films starring Fred MacMurray, playing the antagonistic Professor Shelby Ashton of Rutland University in The Absent-Minded Professor in 1961 and its sequel Son of Flubber in 1963. Additional film work included The Wheeler Dealers in 1963, starring James Garner and Lee Remick, Disney's Follow Me, Boys! in 1966, in which he portrayed Ralph Hastings, and Disney's Blackbeard's Ghost in 1968, where he played a television commentator.

Reid was a member of The Actors Studio from its founding and became a regular on NBC's That Was the Week That Was from 1964 to 1965, though his originally planned role as anchor-host was reduced during the run. He portrayed Warren Winslow on the CBS comedy Miss Winslow and Son in 1979 and made guest appearances on programs including I Love Lucy, The Odd Couple, Barney Miller, Perry Mason, Murder She Wrote, and The Munsters. In 1992 he appeared in the Seinfeld episode "The Letter," playing one of the collectors evaluating a painting of Kramer. His final credited television role was as Henry in an episode of the sitcom Maybe This Time, and he officially retired in 1995, though he later returned for an uncredited role in the 2000 short film 13 Heads of Hair and a role as Buddy in the 2005 feature Scattering Mother.

Among his notable skills, Reid was a recognized impressionist, particularly celebrated for his impersonation of President John F. Kennedy. In 1962 he was invited to perform the impression before Kennedy himself, who responded positively. Reid also appeared in The Lucy Show episode "Lucy Visits the White House," which aired on March 25, 1963, playing a diner customer and providing the off-camera voice of Kennedy at the episode's conclusion.