Reid was born and raised in Delaware, Ohio, and graduated from high school there.

[4] Reid began working for RKO in 1933; his first assignment for the studio was as the associate producer on The Balloon Buster, with H. Bruce Humberstone directing.

in charge of production, as his envoy to regional sales conventions in Chicago and San Francisco.

[10] Other notable films on which Reid worked include: the 1935 version of The Three Musketeers;[11] the western The Arizonian, starring Richard Dix;[12] on John Ford's Oscar-winning war film, The Informer, starring Victor McLaglen;[13] and Howard Hawks' 1938 screwball comedy, Bringing Up Baby, starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn;[14] Reid left RKO after the Mexican Spitfire film, and by 1944 he was part of the stable of producers at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

He died at the Motion Picture Hospital in Woodland Hills, California on August 22, 1959, at the age of 67.