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Reed Howes

{{short description|American actor}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Reed Howes

| image = Reed Howes - Jan 1925 MPW.jpg

| caption = Reed Howes, 1925

| birth_name = Hermon Reed Howes

| birth_date = {{birth date|1900|07|05}}

| birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1964|08|06|1900|07|05}}

| death_place = West Hollywood, California, U.S.

| restingplace = Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery

| othername = Reed Howe

| occupation = Actor, model

| yearsactive = c.1923{{ndash}}1964

| spouse = {{plainlist|

  • Lillian Pechin
  • Catherine Tabor
  • Mary Howard

}}

}}

File: Rough House Rosie theatrical poster.jpg in the film Rough House Rosie (1927)]]

Hermon Reed Howes (July 5, 1900{{spaced ndash}}August 6, 1964) was an American model who later became an actor in silent and sound films.

Early life

Howes spent the beginning of his childhood in Washington, D.C. before moving with his parents to Ogden, Utah. He served in the US Navy in the closing stages of World War I and was the Pacific Fleet Swim Team's captain.{{cite book|last1=Freese|first1=Gene Scott|title=Hollywood Stunt Performers, 1910s-1970s: A Biographical Dictionary, 2d ed.|date=2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786476435|page=135|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=10dXAwAAQBAJ&q=%22Hermon+Reed+Howes%22&pg=PA135|access-date=3 June 2017|language=en}} In 1919, while attending Harvard, he saved the lives of a young woman and another man after they nearly drowned in the ocean at York Beach, Maine.{{Cite web|url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=15047640&page=36|title=Salt Lake Tribune {{!}} 1919-09-01 {{!}} Ogden Boy Thrills Colony by Heroic Rescue in Surf|website=newspapers.lib.utah.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-01-30}}

Howes married three times in his life: to Lillian Pechin in 1923,"Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Marriage Indexes, 1885-1951," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JV98-9XY : 25 September 2017), Howes and Lillian M Pechin, 1923; citing license number 473778, Clerk of the Orphan's Court. City Hall. Catherine Tabor in 1932,"New York, County Marriages, 1847-1848; 1908-1936," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZ9N-Y1Y : 27 September 2017), Hermon R Howes and Catherine R Tabor, 07 Oct 1932, Putnam, New York, United States; citing ref. ID, county clerk’s office; FHL microfilm 930,513. and Mary Donovan Howard in 1937."California, County Marriages, 1850-1952," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8J1-HLD : 8 December 2017), Hermon R Howes and Mary Howard, 18 Jun 1937; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 2,114,023.

Arrow Collar Man

File:The Dawn Rider (1935) 03.png (1935)]]

In the early 1920s Howes began modeling shirts and detachable collars produced by Cluett Peabody & Company. Howes was one of several men known as Arrow Collar Men (others were Earle Williams[https://ia600503.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/32/items/motionpicturemag13moti/motionpicturemag13moti_jp2.zip&file=motionpicturemag13moti_jp2/motionpicturemag13moti_0517.jp2&id=motionpicturemag13moti&scale=8&rotate=0 Motion Picture Magazine] March 1917 Neil Hamilton, Fredric March, Brian Donlevy, Jack Mulhall, and possibly Ralph Forbes) who were the models seen in the Cluett Peabody company's advertisements for the apparel drawn by illustrator J. C. Leyendecker. A 1924 advertisement by film company FBO capitalizing on Howes Arrow Collar popularity has Howes: "Acknowledged and acclaimed America's handsomest man To be starred in a series of Eight Productions" .Pictorial History of the Silent Screen c.1953 by Daniel Blum p. 268

Hollywood Stardom

{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2022}}

Howes began making silent pictures in Hollywood in 1923. At this stage of his career his youthful good looks led to him supporting or co-starring with many of filmdoms well-known and beautiful female stars of the time, i.e., Marie Prevost, Clara Bow, Mildred Harris, Marjorie Daw, Viola Dana, Louise Fazenda and Virginia Brown Faire. He also appeared in low budget pictures with lesser known female stars, i.e., Gladys Hulette, Ruth Dwyer, Carmelita Geraghty, Ethel Shannon and Alice Calhoun.

Indeed, many of Howes's silent pictures are 'racing car-romance' movies, the kind Wallace Reid made popular before his untimely death in 1923. Howes seems to have picked up where Wally Reid left off and in fact Howes resembles Wally in looks or more precisely a cross between Wallace Reid and Neil Hamilton. The majority of Howes silents were produced by Harry Joe Brown (who also directed) and released through the Rayart company. Al Rogell directed a lot of them.{{Citation needed |date=February 2022}} The studios Howes worked for in the silent era were FBO, Warner Brothers, Fox, Paramount and Universal.

Sound

{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2023}}

Howes made his sound film debut in Warner's The Singing Fool starring Al Jolson. He closed out the silent era in a programmer production of longtime colleague Harry Joe Brown. In the talking era Howes shifted to playing heavies (villains), first in crime films and then in Westerns, with which he would be associated for the remainder of his career. He continued in these roles throughout the 1940s and 1950s before retiring due to ill health. His health declined further, and he died in 1964 at the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital, where he had been confined for months. He was 64.

Selected filmography

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

{{div col end}}

Selected Television

class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
scope="col"|Year

!scope="col"|Title

!scope="col"|Role

!scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes

1953

| Death Valley Days

| Salem Officer

| Season 1 Episode 11 "The Lady with the Blue Silk Umbrella"

1953

| Death Valley Days

| Bartender Arnie

| Season 2, Episode 1, "The Diamond Babe"

1957

| Cheyenne

|

| uncredited as Rancher in episode "Top Hand"

References

{{reflist}}

External links

{{commons category|Reed Howes}}

  • {{IMDb name|0398139}}
  • [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GS|n=howes&GSfn=reed&GSbyrel=in&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=9710& Reed Howes] at Findagrave.com
  • [http://www.b-westerns.com/villan48.htm Reed Howes: Villains and Supporting Players]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howes, Reed}}

Category:1900 births

Category:1964 deaths

Category:Male actors from Washington, D.C.

Category:American male silent film actors

Category:United States Navy personnel of World War I

Category:University of Utah alumni

Category:Harvard University alumni

Category:Male models from Washington, D.C.

Category:Burials at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery

Category:United States Navy sailors

Category:20th-century American male actors