B. Reeves Eason
William Reeves Eason (October 2, 1886 – June 9, 1956), known as B. Reeves Eason, was an American film director, actor and screenwriter. His directorial output was limited mainly to low-budget westerns and action pictures, but it was as a second-unit director and action specialist that he was best known. He was famous for staging spectacular battle scenes in war films and action scenes in large-budget westerns, but he acquired the nickname "Breezy" for his "breezy" attitude towards safety while staging his sequences—during the famous cavalry charge at the end of Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), so many horses were killed or injured so severely that they had to be euthanized that both the public and Hollywood itself were outraged, resulting in the selection of the American Humane Society by the beleaguered studios to provide representatives on the sets of all films using animals to ensure their safety.
Also recorded as William Reeves Easton · William Reeves Eason · Reaves Eason · B. Reeves Easton
B. Reeves Eason
Universal Film Manufacturing Company · Exhibitors Herald (Oct. - Dec. 1920) on the Internet Archive · Public domain
- Born
- 1886
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- film director · actor · screenwriter · film actor · film producer · director
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Documentary summary
William Reeves Eason (October 2, 1886 – June 9, 1956), known as B. Reeves Eason, was an American film director, actor and screenwriter. His directorial output was limited mainly to low-budget westerns and action pictures, but it was as a second-unit director and action specialist that he was best known. He was famous for staging spectacular battle scenes in war films and action scenes in large-budget westerns, but he acquired the nickname "Breezy" for his "breezy" attitude towards safety while staging his sequences—during the famous cavalry charge at the end of Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), so many horses were killed or injured so severely that they had to be euthanized that both the public and Hollywood itself were outraged, resulting in the selection of the American Humane Society by the beleaguered studios to provide representatives on the sets of all films using animals to ensure their safety.
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B. Reeves Eason was actor, director and film actor of United States nationality. Born in 1886. Death followed in 1956.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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wikidata · Q264707 · wikipedia · B. Reeves Eason
In this article
Career
Career
Born in Massachusetts, Eason studied engineering at the University of California. Eason directed 150 films and starred in almost 100 films over his career. Eason's career transcended into sound and he directed film serials such as The Miracle Rider starring Tom Mix in 1935. He used 42 cameras to film the chariot race as a second-unit director on Ben-Hur (1925), the climactic charge in Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), and also directed the "Burning of Atlanta" in Gone with the Wind (1939).
Family and personal life
Family and personal life
His son, B. Reeves Eason Jr., was a child actor who appeared in 12 films, including Nine-Tenths of the Law, which Eason Sr. directed. Born in 1914, he died in 1921 after being hit by a runaway truck outside of his parents' home shortly after the filming of the Harry Carey silent western The Fox was completed, just before his seventh birthday.
Death
Death
On June 9, 1956, Eason died of a heart attack at the age of 69. He is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Still from the American western film Two Kinds of Love (1920) with B. Reeves Eason, Jr., on page 79 of the January 8, 1921 Exhibitors Herald.
Universal Film Manufacturing Company · Exhibitors Herald (Jan. - Mar. 1921) on the Internet Archive
Child actor B. Reeves Eason, Jr., sometimes credited as Breezy Eason, with his dog Mickey on page 80 of the April 2, 1921 Exhibitors Herald.
Exhibitors Herald (Apr. - Jun. 1921) on the Internet Archive
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1956
B. Reeves Eason died at Sherman Oaks.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Eugene Michael Vazzana. Silent Film Necrology. McFarland. 151–. 2001. 978-0-7864-1059-0.
- 2.Goodman, Ezra. Step right up and call him 'Breezy'. The New York Times. X 3. April 19, 1942.
- 3.Katchmer, George A. A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses. McFarland. 105–106. 2015. 978-1-4766-0905-8.
- 4.Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. 217. 2016. 978-0-7864-7992-4.
- 5.Amusements. Billings Evening Journal. 3. 1915-04-14.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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