Born in Wichita Falls, Texas, to banker Charles William and Anna May (Priest) Reid,[6] Reid grew up in Berkeley, California. Her acting career started in 1938 with a bit part in the movie Man-Proof.  Reid’s Broadway debut was as Juliette Lecourtois in Where There’s a Will There’s a Way at the John Golden Theatre in 1939. She later played Roxane opposite Jose Ferrer’s Cyrano in the 1946 Broadway production of Cyrano de Bergerac at the Alvin Theatre, repeating the role three years later, again opposite Ferrer, in a 1949 one-hour Philco Television Playhouse adaptation.  A member of The Actors Studio from its inception in 1947, Reid played a variety of stage roles throughout the 1940s and 1950s.[6] From 1954 to 1955, Reid played the title role in the CBS television version of the radio soap opera Portia Faces Life. She next portrayed Grace Baker on As the World Turns from 1959 to 1962, and Rose Pollack on The Edge of Night in 1964. Reid portrayed matriarch Alice Horton on NBC’s Days of our Lives since the show’s premiere on November 8, 1965. Reid gained mainstream attention for a 2003–2004 storyline in which Alice and several other long-running characters were seemingly murdered. Her last appearance on Days of our Lives was on December 26, 2007 although she remained on contract with the show until her death.

Reid made two guest appearances on Perry Mason starring Raymond Burr. In 1963 she played murderer Miss Givney, secretary to the guest attorney and episode’s title character played by Bette Davis in “The Case of Constant Doyle.” In 1965 she played defendant Lucille Forrest in “The Case of the Golden Venom.”  In 1966 Reid appeared opposite Rock Hudson in the 1966 John Frankenheimer drama Seconds. In the audio commentary for the DVD version of the film, Frankenheimer called Reid one of his favorite actresses.  She appeared with Days cast member John Aniston on a 2004 episode of American Dreams, where they portrayed customers in Jack Pryor’s store while an early episode of Days played on the television.  Reid was married to actor Philip Bourneuf from June 27, 1940, until his death in 1979. The couple had no children.  Reid died in Beverly Hills, California in an assisted living facility, aged 95, on February 3, 2010.