Elliott “Ted” Reid, who co-starred with Jane Russell in the hit 1953 film “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” died on Friday in Studio City, Calif. He was 93.
As a teenager, Reid worked on the “The March of Time,” where he met Orson Welles, who invited him to join his new stage company, the Mercury Theatre.
The Manhattan native made his Broadway debut in Mercury’s landmark 1937 production of “Caesar.” The following year he performed in “The Shoemaker’s Holiday.”
In addition to his stage work for Welles, Reid was part of “The Mercury Theatre On the Air” and can be heard in such radio broadcasts as “Seventeen” and “The Pickwick Papers.”
A character actor, Reid appeared in numerous television shows over four decades including “Seinfeld,” “I Love Lucy,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “The Odd Couple,” “Barney Miller,” “Perry Mason” and “The Munsters.”
His film work included roles in “Inherit the Wind,” “Heaven Can Wait” and “The Absent-Minded Professor.”
He retired in 1995 and had been residing at an assisted living facility in recent years.
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