Ollie Reed

Oliver Reed is a fictional engineer featured in the 1942 horror film Cat People, directed by Jacques Tourneur. He was played by actor Kent Smith, and was the male lead of the film. Smith reprised the role of Oliver Reed for the film's 1944 sequel, The Curse of the Cat People, directed by Robert Wise.

Biography
Oliver Reed was a marine engineer, who lived and worked in New York City, New York. In 1942, he met a strange and alluring woman named Irena Dubrovna. The two struck up a conversation and Irena told Oliver about the superstitious and haunted history of her homeland. Oliver bought Irena a pet kitten, but the animal took an instant dislike to its new owner.

Oliver and Irena were married soon after. When Irena began developing a fear that she might be part of an ancient race of cat people, Oliver persuaded her to seek psychiatric help from Doctor Louis Judd. Irena's paranoia had an affect on their marriage, and Oliver began confiding in his office assistant, Alice Moore.

As Oliver and Irena relationship continued to weaken, he found himself falling in love with Alice Moore. When Irena discovered this, she allowed her subconscious to slip into the form of a cat and tried to murder Alice. She then murdered Doctor Louis Judd and attacked Oliver, who repelled her with a t-square, which he held up in the shape of a cross. Unwilling to continue to live as a savage shape-shifter, Irena then went to the zoo, where she allowed herself to be killed by a wild animal.

Following Irena's death, Oliver married Alice Moore and they gave birth to a daughter named Amy. When Amy was six-years-old, Oliver noticed how shy and withdrawn she had become. His concern for her increased when Amy began associating with an imaginary friend, which turned out to be the ghost of Irena Dubrovna. After a string of bizarre circumstances, which involved Amy's new friend Barbara, Oliver came to accept his daughter's odd behavior, and their relationship improved.

Notes & Trivia



 * This character is not to be confused with British film actor Oliver Reed, who is known for appearing in such films as The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, The Curse of the Werewolf , Night Creatures and ''Paranoiac'.

Appearances

 * Cat People (1942)
 * Curse of the Cat People, The (1944)