Kate Reid
Quick Facts
ScorpioBiography
Daphne Katherine Reid, OC (4 November 1930 – 27 March 1993) was an English-born Canadian stage, film, and television actress. She starred in over one thousand roles, most notably performing onstage in Death of a Salesman, in the 1980 film Atlantic City, and in episodes of the TV show Dallas. She was described by Inspiring Women: A Celebration of Herstory as "generally regarded as the finest actress ever developed in Canada."
Life and career
Reid was born on 4 November 1930 in London, England, the daughter of Canadian parents, Helen Isabel (née Moore) and Walter Clarke Reid, who was a former Bengal Lancer in the Indian army and a retired colonel. While Reid was still young, she and her family emigrated to Oakville, Ontario.
She attended Havergal College in Toronto and university in London, and then studied acting at a performance art school in Canada. She had a long and varied career on film, television and stage in both Canada and the United States. Her stage roles included Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Katharina in The Taming of the Shrew, Henny in Bosoms and Neglect, and Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
Reid played the scheming and domineering mother of Natalie Wood's character in 1966's This Property is Condemned, although she was only seven years Wood's senior; her other film appearances included roles in The Andromeda Strain (1971), A Delicate Balance (1973), Equus (1977), Death Ship and Atlantic City (both 1980). She also played Ray Krebbs' aunt Lil Trotter on Dallas in the early 1980s, as well as appearing in episodes of Scarecrow and Mrs. King and Columbo.
Both of Reid's marriages, to Michael Sadlier and Austin Willis, ended in divorce. She had two children, son Reid Willis and daughter Robin Willis; and two granddaughters, Jessica and Mackenzie Willis. Reid died of cancer in Stratford, Ontario, aged 62, in 1993.
Honours and awards
- Officer of the Order of Canada (1974)
- ACTRA and Dora Mavor Moore awards (1980 and 1981, respectively)
- Earle Grey Award (1988)
- Honorary degrees from York University (1970) and the University of Toronto (1989)
