Edwin Forrest
Encyclopedia
Edwin Forrest (March 9, 1806 – December 12, 1872) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

.

Early life

Forrest was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, of Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...

 and German descent. His father died and he was brought up by his mother, a German woman of humble origins. He was educated at the common schools in Philadelphia, and early evinced a taste for the theatre. Edmund Kean
Edmund Kean
Edmund Kean was an English actor, regarded in his time as the greatest ever.-Early life:Kean was born in London. His father was probably Edmund Kean, an architect’s clerk, and his mother was an actress, Anne Carey, daughter of the 18th century composer and playwright Henry Carey...

 was at that time in the meridian of his fitful career; William A. Conway
William A. Conway (actor)
William A. Conway was an actor. He was educated for the bar, but appeared on the stage at the Haymarket Theatre, in London, terminated a three years' engagement in 1816, starred till 1821, and came to the United States in 1823...

, Thomas Apthorpe Cooper
Thomas Apthorpe Cooper
Thomas Apthorpe Cooper was an actor. He received a good education, and, on the death of his father, was adopted by Thomas Holcroft and William Godwin. His first appearance on the stage was with Stephen Kemble's company in Edinburgh, and later he acted at Covent Garden, London, with great success...

, and Junius Booth were playing under the management of the actors William B. Wood
William B. Wood (actor)
William B. Wood was an theatre manager and actor. He was brought in childhood to New York City, where he began life as a clerk...

 and William Warren
William Warren (elder actor)
William Warren was an actor. His first appearance was as Young Norval in Home's tragedy of Douglas. Soon afterward, Warren came to this country, making his debut at Baltimore, Maryland, as Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet...

. Constant attendance at the performances of these artists fired Forrest's ambition and aroused his enthusiasm for the dramatic profession, to the deep grief of his pious mother. At an early age he had given pain to his parents by taking an humble part in a dramatic performance.

Beginning of acting career

Forrest made his first stage appearance on November 27, 1820, at the Walnut Street Theatre
Walnut Street Theatre
The Walnut Street Theatre , located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 825 Walnut Street, is the oldest continuously operating theatre in the English-speaking world and the oldest in the United States...

, in Douglas by John Home. The theatres of New York and Philadelphia were already crowded with trained and successful actors. Forrest therefore set out at once for the south and west. His tour through a rough country — with the inconveniences of long distances, the necessity of presenting his plays in rude halls, insufficient support, and poor scenery — was not altogether successful, but the discipline to mind and body was felt in all his subsequent career. He soon gained fame for portraying blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...

 caricatures of African Americans. Constance Rourke
Constance Rourke
Constance Mayfield Rourke was an American author and educator. She was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and attended Sorbonne and Vassar College. She taught at Vassar from 1910 to 1915. She died in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1941....

 wrote that his impression was so believable he often mingled in the streets with African Americans unnoticed. He allegedly fooled one old black woman into taking him for a friend and then convinced her to join him in his stage performance that night.

New York success

In 1826 he had a great success at the Bowery Theatre
Bowery Theatre
The Bowery Theatre was a playhouse in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City. Although it was founded by rich families to compete with the upscale Park Theatre, the Bowery saw its most successful period under the populist, pro-American management of Thomas Hamblin in the 1830s and 1840s...

 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 as Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...

. The management employed him at a salary far below his worth, and he was at once offered increased payment at another theatre; but he refused to break his word, and carried out the contract to his own detriment. This strict sense of honor was characteristic of him throughout his career. His New York success was repeated in every city he visited. In 1829 he was featured as Metamora in the play Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags
Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags
Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags is a play originally starring Edwin Forrest. The play was written in 1829 by John Augustus StoneIt was first performed December 15, 1829, at the Park Theater in New York City....

by John Augustus Stone
John Augustus Stone
John Augustus Stone was an American actor, dramatist, and playwright.-Biography:He appeared on the New York stage beginning in 1822....

. After a few years of profitable labor, during which he had encouraged native talent by liberal offers for new American plays, he went to Europe for rest and travel and larger observation, and was received with much courtesy by actors and scholars.

He returned to Philadelphia in 1831, and played there and in New York and elsewhere with triumphant success until September, 1836, when he sailed for England, this time professionally, and made his first appearance at Drury Lane
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....

 as Spartacus in the Gladiator in 1836. The play was not a success, although his own role was noted favorably. During a season of ten months he performed in that historic theatre the parts of Macbeth, Othello, and King Lear. His social triumphs were as great as were his professional; he was entertained by William Macready and Charles Kemble
Charles Kemble
Charles Kemble was a British actor.-Life:The youngest son of Roger Kemble, and younger brother of John Philip Kemble, Stephen Kemble and Sarah Siddons, he was born at Brecon, South Wales. Like John Philip, he was educated at Douai...

, and at the end of the season was complimented by a dinner at the Garrick Club
Garrick Club
The Garrick Club is a gentlemen's club in London.-History:The Garrick Club was founded at a meeting in the Committee Room at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on Wednesday 17 August 1831...

, presided over by Thomas Talfourd. During this engagement he married, in June 1837, Miss Catherine Norton Sinclair, daughter of John Sinclair, a popular English singer. He returned to Philadelphia in November of the same year and began an engagement. His wife made a deep impression wherever she was presented, and it was argued that domestic happiness would be the fitting crown of his public career. But these predictions were disappointed.

Hissing incidents

He visited London a second time in 1845, accompanied by his wife, who was welcomed in the intellectual circles of English and Scotch society. He acted at the Princess's Theatre in London. He met with great success in Virginius and other parts, but when he attempted to personate Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...

, a character unsuited to his physique and style of acting, the performance was hissed by the audience. Forrest attributed the hissing to the professional jealousy and machinations of Macready, although that artist had been kind and helpful to him when he first came before London audiences. A few weeks later, when Macready was playing Hamlet in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, Forrest stood up in a private box and hissed the English actor. This act evoked reproaches from the British press and destroyed the respect in which he had been held by the public. A letter that Forrest printed in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

aggravated, instead of justifying, his offence. The incident was fatal to his popularity in Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

. His jealousy of Macready resulted in the Astor Place riot
Astor Place Riot
The Astor Place Riot occurred on May 10, 1849 at the now-demolished Astor Opera House  in Manhattan, New York City and left at least 25 dead and more than 120 injured...

 in May 1849.

Divorce

In 1850, Forrest and his wife sought divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

, after Forrest's affair with actress Josephine Clifton
Josephine Clifton
Josephine Clifton was a stage actress who became known as "the first American actress to star in London".-Life and career:The early years of Josephine Clifton seem to be lost, what little information exists is controversial...

; he claimed that he had found a love letter
Love letter
A love letter is a romantic way to express feelings of love in written form. Delivered by hand, by mail or romantically left in a secret location, the letter may be anything from a short and simple message of love to a lengthy explanation of feelings...

 to his wife from fellow actor George W. Jamieson
George W. Jamieson
George W. Jamieson was an American actor and lapidary, born in Varick Street, New York. His mother was an American of remarkable talents; his father was an Irishman. At an early age he was apprenticed to a lapidary, and in cutting gems he acquired facility, — his cameos being considered...

. Forrest and Catharine separated in April 1849 and he moved to Philadelphia where he filed for divorce in February 1850, though the Pennsylvania legislature denied his divorce application. Under the advice of Parke Godwin
Parke Godwin (journalist)
Parke Godwin was an American journalist associated with New York.-Biography:Godwin was born on February 28, 1816, in Paterson, New Jersey. His father was an officer in the war of 1812, and his grandfather a soldier of the American Revolution...

, Catherine hired Charles O'Conor
Charles O'Conor
Charles O'Conor was an American lawyer who ran in the U.S. presidential election, 1872.-Biography:...

 as her lawyer. The divorce became a Cause célèbre
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...

and the well-known writer Nathaniel Parker Willis
Nathaniel Parker Willis
Nathaniel Parker Willis , also known as N. P. Willis, was an American author, poet and editor who worked with several notable American writers including Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He became the highest-paid magazine writer of his day. For a time, he was the employer of former...

 was caught in the middle. Willis defended Catharine, who maintained her innocence, in his magazine Home Journal
Town & Country (magazine)
Town & Country, formerly the Home Journal and The National Press, is a monthly American lifestyle magazine. It is the oldest continually published general interest magazine in the United States.-Early history:...

and suggested that Forrest was merely jealous of her intellectual superiority. On June 17, 1850, shortly after Forrest had filed for divorce in the New York Supreme Court, Forrest beat Willis with a gutta-percha
Gutta-percha
Gutta-percha is a genus of tropical trees native to Southeast Asia and northern Australasia, from Taiwan south to the Malay Peninsula and east to the Solomon Islands. The same term is used to refer to an inelastic natural latex produced from the sap of these trees, particularly from the species...

 whip
Whip
A whip is a tool traditionally used by humans to exert control over animals or other people, through pain compliance or fear of pain, although in some activities whips can be used without use of pain, such as an additional pressure aid in dressage...

 in New York's Washington Square, shouting "this man is the seducer of my wife". Willis, who was recovering from a rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease that occurs following a Streptococcus pyogenes infection, such as strep throat or scarlet fever. Believed to be caused by antibody cross-reactivity that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain, the illness typically develops two to three weeks after...

 at the time, was unable to fight back. Willis's own wife soon received an anonymous letter suggesting that Willis was, in fact, involved with Forrest's wife. Willis later sued Forrest for assault and, by March 1852, was awarded $2,500 plus court costs. In the divorce case, Charles O'Conor was the counsel for Catherine, the defendant, with John Van Buren representing Edwin. Throughout the Forrest divorce case, which lasted six weeks, several witnesses made additional claims that Catherine Forrest and Nathaniel Parker Willis were having an affair, including a waiter who claimed he had seen the couple "lying on each other". As the press reported, "thousands and thousands of the anxious public" awaited the court's verdict; ultimately, the court sided with Catherine Forrest and Willis's name was cleared. O'Conor won a national reputation by winning the case, and secured a liberal alimony for Catherine. The whole affair hurt Forrest's reputation and soured his temper.

Later stage career

In 1853 he played Macbeth, with a strong cast and fine scenery, at the Broadway Theatre
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 for four weeks — an unprecedented run at that date — and at the end of this engagement he retired from the stage for several years. He became interested in politics, being spoken of as a candidate for congress, and did not return to professional life until 1860, when he appeared at Niblo's Garden
Niblo's Garden
Niblo's Garden was a New York theatre on Broadway, near Prince Street. It was established in 1823 as "Columbia Garden" which in 1828 gained the name of the Sans Souci and was later the property of the coffeehouse proprietor and caterer William Niblo. The large theatre that evolved in several...

, New York, as Hamlet, and played the most successful engagement of his life. Hereditary gout developed itself in a malignant form in 1865, during an engagement at the Holliday Street Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland the sciatic nerve
Sciatic nerve
The sciatic nerve is a large nerve fiber in humans and other animals. It begins in the lower back and runs through the buttock and down the lower limb...

 was paralyzed, and he never regained the use of his hand or his steady gait. His California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 tour in 1866 was a failure. He played his last New York engagement in February, 1871, the plays being Richelieu and King Lear. The weather was cold, and the houses empty. On the night of 25 March 1871, he appeared in Boston, Massachusetts at the Globe Theatre, as Lear, played this part six times, and was announced for Richelieu and Virginius, but on the intervening Sunday he caught cold. He struggled through the role of Richelieu on Monday night, and rare bursts of eloquence lighted the gloom, but he labored piteously against the disease which was fast conquering him. Being offered stimulants, he signed them away, with the words, “If I die, I will still be my royal self.” This was his last appearance as an actor. He eventually recovered from the severe attack of pneumonia. The craving for public applause, which was his only happiness, induced him to give readings from Shakespeare in several large cities. The scheme failed, and was abandoned, to his deep mortification.
A stroke of paralysis ended his life suddenly and without pain. His servant found him dead, alone, and apparently asleep, in his home in Philadelphia. The large sums that he had earned on the stage were judiciously and fortunately invested, and resulted in his amassing a large fortune. He had purchased, about 1850, a site on the banks of the Hudson
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...

, on which he erected a castellated structure. This estate, which he named Fonthill
Fonthill Castle and the Administration Building of the College of Mount St. Vincent
Fonthill Castle and the Administration Building of the College of Mount St. Vincent are two historic buildings located at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in The Bronx, New York, New York....

, he afterward sold at a large advance for a convent, which later became the College of Mount Saint Vincent
College of Mount Saint Vincent
For the university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, see Mount Saint Vincent University The College of Mount Saint Vincent is a Catholic liberal arts college located in the northeast corner of the Riverdale section of The Bronx, New York, adjacent to the Yonkers border. It is the northernmost location in...

. In 1855 he purchased his mansion in Philadelphia, to which he retired after his temporary abandonment of the stage. There he collected the largest dramatic library in the United States. By avoiding New York and by legal evasions he succeeded in escaping the payment of alimony to his wife, but left his estate heavily in her debt.

Philanthropic efforts

In his later years, Forrest lobbied for the rights of smaller theatres against the increasingly powerful conglomerated theatre companies, earning him the nickname "Little Man Edwin." His love of the theatre was unbounded, and he is one of the few whose memory survives to this day, for he used his considerable accumulated wealth to support his fellow actors, perhaps in appreciation of the fact that supporting actors need themselves to be supported as they get older.

This began in 1865, the year of Lincoln's assassination by the actor John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a well-known actor...

, a time when the public held those in the acting profession in low regard, if not contempt. He sheltered actors at his summer home near Philadelphia, and in 1876, four years after his death at the age of 66, his will instructed that there should be formed the Forrest Home for retired actors in Philadelphia, which was to last for over one hundred years before being folded into the much larger Actors Fund
Actors' Fund
The Actors Fund of America is a nonprofit umbrella charitable organization that assists American entertainment and performing arts professionals through a broad spectrum of programs, including comprehensive social services, health services, supportive and affordable housing, employment and training...

 facility in Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood is a city located in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 27,147.Englewood was incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of...

. There his name lives on, in the Edwin Forrest Wing.

In the 1920s, architect Herbert J. Krapp
Herbert J. Krapp
Herbert J. Krapp was a theatre architect and designer in the early part of the twentieth century.Krapp was an apprentice with the Herts & Tallant firm, where he was involved with designing the plans for the Lyceum, Shubert, Booth, New Amsterdam and Longacre Theatres, among others. He departed the...

 was chosen to design two new theatres, one in New York City and the other in Philadelphia. Both were initially named the Forrest Theatre in honor of Forrest and his contributions to the theatre world. While the Philadelphia location is still called the Forrest Theatre
Forrest Theatre
The Forrest Theatre is a live theatre venue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is managed by The Shubert Organization.The Forrest Theatre was built in 1927. It was designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp and has a seating capacity of 1,851. It was named after the 19th century actor Edwin Forrest, who...

, the building in New York has changed names over the years and is currently known as the Eugene O'Neill Theatre
Eugene O'Neill Theatre
The Eugene O'Neill Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 230 West 49th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, it was built for the Shuberts as part of a theatre-hotel complex named for 19th century tragedian Edwin Forrest...

.

See also

  • Lawrence Barrett
    Lawrence Barrett
    Lawrence Barrett was an American stage actor.-Biography:He was born Lawrence Brannigan to Irish emigrant parents in Paterson, New Jersey. He made his first stage appearance at Detroit as Murad in The French Spy in 1853...

    's Edwin Forrest (Boston, 1881)
  • Edwin Forrest House
    Edwin Forrest House
    The Edwin Forrest House is a house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania built in 1853-54 for William Gaul, a wealthy brewer...


External links

  • The Edwin Forrest Home Records, documenting the entire institutional history of the Edwin Forrest Home, are available for research use at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
    Historical Society of Pennsylvania
    The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historical society founded in 1824 and based in Philadelphia. The Society's building, designed by Addison Hutton and listed on Philadelphia's Register of Historical Places, houses some 600,000 printed items and over 19 million manuscript and graphic items...

    .
  • Edwin Forrest biography and photo gallery
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