Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson | |
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| Born | (1853-01-16)16 January 1853 London, England |
| Died | 6 November 1937(1937-11-06) (aged 84) St. Margaret's Bay, Dover, Kent, England |
| Occupation | actor |
| Years active | 1874–1915 |
| Spouse | Gertrude Elliott |
| Children | Maxine Miles; Jean Forbes-Robertson; Chloe Forbes-Robertson; Diana Forbes-Robertson |
Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson (16 January 1853 – 6 November 1937)[1] was an English actor and theatre manager and husband of the actressGertrude Elliott. Considered by some the finestHamlet of the Victorian era and one of the finest actors of his time, he disliked acting and believed throughout his career that he was temperamentally unsuited to it.[1]
Born in London, he was the eldest of the eleven children of John Forbes-Robertson, a theatre critic and journalist from Aberdeen, and his wife Frances. One of his sisters,Frances (1866–1956), and two of his brothers, Ian Forbes-Robertson (1859–1936),Norman Forbes-Robertson (1858–1932) also became actors, with another brother,Eric Forbes-Robertson (1865–1935), becoming a notable artist. Through his wife Gertrude Elliott, he was the brother-in-law of the actressMaxine Elliott, the uncle ofRoy Harrod[2] the economist, and was also the great-uncle of actressMeriel Forbes (granddaughter of his brother Norman), who married the actorRalph Richardson.
He was educated atCharterhouse. Originally intending to become an artist, he trained for three years at theRoyal Academy. He began a theatrical career, out of a desire to be self-supporting, when the dramatistWilliam Gorman Wills, who had seen him in private theatricals, offered him a role in his playMary Queen of Scots.
His many performances led him into, among other things, travel to the US, and work withSir Henry Irving. He was hailed as one of the most individual and refined of English actors.
Forbes-Robertson first came to prominence playing second leads toHenry Irving before making his mark in the role ofHamlet. One of his early successes was inW. S. Gilbert'sDan'l Druce, Blacksmith. In 1882, he starred withLottie Venne andMarion Terry in G. W. Godfrey's comedyThe Parvenu at theCourt Theatre.[3]George Bernard Shaw wrote the part ofCaesar inCaesar and Cleopatra for him. Shaw stated:
I wroteCaesar and Cleopatra for Forbes-Robertson, because he is the classic actor of our day, and had a right to require such a service from me … Forbes-Robertson is the only actor I know who can find out the feeling of a speech from its cadence. His art meets the dramatist’s art directly, picking it up for completion and expression without explanations or imitations … Without himCaesar and Cleopatra would not have been written.[4]
Forbes-Robertson's other notable roles wereRomeo,Othello, Leontes inThe Winter's Tale, and the leading role inThe Passing of the Third Floor Back; performed on Broadway 1908 (filmed in 1916, released 1918). He did not playHamlet until he was 44 years old, but after his success in the part he continued playing it until 1916, including a surviving silent film (1913). In a theatre review of Forbes-Robertson's performance inHamlet published inThe Saturday Review (2 October 1897) Bernard Shaw wrote:
Nothing half so charming has been seen by this generation. It will bear seeing again and again. … His intellect is the organ of his passion. His eternal self-criticism is alive and thrilling as it can possible be. … Mr. Forbes-Robertson’s own performance has a continuous charm, interest and variety, which are the result not only of his well-known grace and accomplishment as an actor, but of a genuine delight – the rarest thing on our stage – in Shakespeare’s art, and a natural familiarity with the plane of his imagination.[5]
Forbes-Robertson was also a talented painter who did a portrait of his mentorSamuel Phelps that currently hangs in theGarrick Club in London. Forbes-Robertson acted in plays with the actressMary Anderson in the 1880s. He fell in love with her and asked her hand in marriage. She turned him down kindly though they remained friends. Later he and the actressMrs. Patrick Campbell enjoyed a brief affair during the time she starred with him in a series of Shakespearean plays in the mid-1890s.
On 26 November 1908 he chaired the inaugural meeting of theActresses' Franchise League at theCriterion Restaurant inPiccadilly Circus, London. The first president of the league was DameMadge Kendal and his wifeGertrude Elliott became the second president a year later. Forbes-Robertson was a regular speaker at events in support of suffrage.[6]
Johnston Forbes-Robertson wasknighted in 1913 at the age of 60, at which point he retired briefly from acting.[7]
He returned to the stage for his first farewell tour of the US in 1914–1915. It began in with a three-month run in New York, and then travelled the country using eight rail road freight cars to carry the sets, costumes and properties for eight shows; and two passenger cars for the actors and personnel.[8] His last appearance was at theSanders Theatre in Boston with a performance ofHamlet.[9]
The second farewell tour followed; it travelled to 122 towns, beginning inDetroit in October 1915, with four plays. The tour travelled toChicago,Indianapolis,St. Louis,Kansas City,Salt Lake City andSan Francisco – where he learned of the birth of his fourth daughter, Diana. At this point they decided to reduce the itinerary to only three plays, by eliminatingCaesar and Cleopatra from the repertoire. In his autobiography he describes how, on one early morning, the set, including the sphinx, was piled onto a beach and set on fire. The tour continued into Canada. His last performance as both Hamlet and as an actor, was in 1916 at the Sheldon Lecture Theatre of the University of Harvard, the stage of which had been made to replicate the stage of the ElizabethanFortune Theatre especially for the Forbes-Robertson's performance.[8]
His literary works includeThe Life and Life-Work ofSamuel Phelps (actor and theatre manager) as well as his own autobiographyA Player Under Three Reigns (1925).[10]
In 1900, at age 47, he married the American-born actressGertrude Elliott (sister ofMaxine Elliott) with whom he had four daughters.
On 6 November 1937 he died atSt. Margaret's Bay, nearDover,Kent; he was cremated atGolders Green Crematorium, London on 9 November.[12] Memorial services were held atSt. Martin-in-the-Fields,Westminster, London.[13]
A statue of Forbes-Robertson byBrenda Putnam (1932) can be found at theFolger Shakespeare Library inWashington D.C.
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