Actors - Edwin Forrest

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	Actors - Edwin Forrest

Edwin Forrest (March 9, 1806 - December 12, 1872), American actor, was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania of Scottish and German descent.

He made his first stage appearance on November 27, 1820, at the Walnut Street theatre, in Homes Douglas. He soon gained fame for portraying blackface caricatures of African Americans. Constance Rourke 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.

In 1826 he had a great success in New York as Othello. In 1829 he was featured as Metamora in the play Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags by John Augustus Stone. He played at Drury Lane in the Gladiator in 1836, but his Macbeth in 1843 was hissed by the English audience, and his affront to rival actor William Charles Macready in Edinburgh shortly afterwards when he stood up in a private box and hissed Macready was fatal to his popularity in Britain. His jealousy of Macready resulted in the Astor Place riot in 1849.

In 1837 Forrest had married Catherine, daughter of John Sinclair, an English singer, and his divorce suit in 1852 was a cause célébre which hurt his reputation and soured his temper. His last appearance was as Richelieu in Boston in 1871. By the time of his death, he had amassed a large fortune, much of which he left by will to found a home for aged actors.

See Lawrence Barrett's Edwin Forrest (Boston, 1881).

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Actors - Edwin Forrest

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