Edwin Forrest
Edwin Forrest (born March 9, 1806 in Philadelphia , † December 12, 1872 there ) was an American actor. He is considered to be the founder of American acting.
Career
Edwin Forrest first stepped onto the stage in 1817 as a replacement for an actress who was sick. His real debut was at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia in John Home's tragedy Douglas in 1820 . In the following years he toured the province with an actor troupe. In 1826 he played for the first time in New York , where his portrayal of Othello in the play of the same name by William Shakespeare was critically acclaimed. As a result, Forrest became a celebrated Shakespeare actor. His roles included Othello, Macbeth , Coriolanus and Lear .
In 1836 Forrest first appeared in England, where his new American acting style was well received. The following year he married Catherine Norton Sinclair, the daughter of the singer John Sinclair, and returned to Philadelphia. The 1840s were the heyday of his career.
Conflicts
During his first stay in England in 1836/37 Forrest was in London three times with the then most famous British actor William Charles Macready on stage. But soon fierce competition and enmity developed between the two colleagues. When Forrest visited the UK for the second time in 1845 , he whistled Macready at a performance in Edinburgh . This affront marked the end of Forrest's popularity in Britain.
Finally, in 1849, the hostility towards artists triggered a bloody riot, the Astor Place Riot . In May of that year Forrest played the title role in Macbeth at the Broadway Theater in New York . His rival Macready appeared in the same role just a few blocks away at the Astor Opera House on a US tour. On the evening of May 10, around 20,000 Forrest supporters gathered in front of the Astor Opera House and verbally abused the arriving audience. Forrest partisans, who bought hundreds of tickets for the performance, booed and whistled Macready, threw trash on the stage and demolished the seating. Outside, stones were thrown at the theater, some demonstrators tried to set the building on fire, after which the audience fled the theater. The National Guard shot at the crowd. At least 25 dead and over 120 injured were counted.
The divorce from his wife in 1851 also caused a great stir in the media. During the divorce process, Forrest accused his wife of adultery, but instead his own affair with actress Josephine Clifton came to light.
As a result, Forrest only entered the stage sporadically. His last role was Lear in the Boston Globe Theater in 1871. He devoted the last years of his life to building a retirement home for actors.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Meyers Konversations-Lexikon , 4th edition from 1888–1890.
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Online , accessed June 16, 2009.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Forrest, Edwin |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | US-American actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 9, 1806 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Philadelphia |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 12, 1872 |
| Place of death | Philadelphia |