Ralph Forbes

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Ralph Forbes Taylor (born September 30, 1896 in London , England , † March 31, 1951 in New York City , New York , United States ) was a British actor.

Life

Ralph Forbes, who always stated his year of birth as 1904, was born under the name Ralph Forbes Taylor to EJ Taylor, a concert singer , and the actress and theater manager Mary Forbes . One of his two younger sisters was actress Brenda Forbes , who herself had a successful career as a character actress in numerous British films.

He wanted to be a clergyman before he went to Denston College in Staffordshire to study law at the request of his family. Forbes dropped out and began working as an actor in 1917 under the name Ralph Forbes. For several years he toured the English provinces with various stages. In 1924 he made his debut on Broadway , where he met his first wife, actress Ruth Chatterton , with whom he appeared on stage in several plays. In 1926 Forbes got a role in the film adaptation of Blood Brotherhood as the brother of Ronald Colman and Neil Hamilton . In 1931 he repeated his role in the sequel Beau Ideal . The film was a commercial success and Ralph Forbes signed a studio contract with MGM . He has appeared alongside Lillian Gish in The Enemy and with Norma Shearer in The Actress . The film is based on a play by Arthur Wing Pinero . In late 1928, he was seen in The Trail of '98 alongside Dolores del Río . The film by Clarence Brown described the dramatic events at the Chilkoot Pass during the Klondike Gold Rush and was largely shot on location. Overall, Ralph Forbes' career did not develop as hoped and in early 1930 he shot for Poverty Row Studios, including Mamba , a film for Tiffany Pictures .

Forbes did not make a comeback until the end of the year, when he took on a role in her film The Lady of Scandal , the film adaptation of Frederick Lonsdale 's play of the same name, at the intercession of his wife Ruth Chatterton . The film portrayed the experiences of a successful actress who marries a noblewoman and has to cope with the rejection and snobbery of his conservative family. The plot is very similar to what happened in The Actress . Sidney Franklin directed both films . Ralph Forbes played numerous supporting roles in other A-productions in the next few years, including in The Bachelor Father alongside Marion Davies , Napoleon from Broadway alongside John Barrymore and Carole Lombard as well as Liebesleid , Riptide , The Barretts of Wimpole Street and Romeo and Julia as a partner of Norma Shearer.

Towards the end of the decade he regularly took on supporting roles in B-films . In 1939 Forbes starred in The Hound of Baskerville . It was the first of 14 films initially produced by 20th Century Fox and later by Universal Pictures with Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes until 1946 . Forbes and Rathbone had previously worked together on The Lady of Scandal .

From the beginning of the 1940s, Ralph Forbes concentrated increasingly on his stage appearances and toured in numerous plays.

Ralph Forbes was married three times. His first marriage from 1924 to 1932 was with Ruth Chatterton. His second marriage to Heather Angel was from 1934 to 1941. The third marriage lasted from 1946 until his death.

He died in 1951 in Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, New York.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Ralph Forbes  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Scott O'Brien: Ruth Chatterton, Actress, Aviator, Author. P. 86, with detailed reasons for the year of birth under footnote 311. IMDb lists 1896 as the date of birth. The English Wikipedia justifies the year of birth 1904 only with the reference that his mother would otherwise have been 16 years old when he was born.
  2. ^ Scott O'Brien: Ruth Chatterton, Actress, Aviator, Author. P. 86, indicating that Mary Forbes was the manager of a London theater in 1916.
  3. ^ Scott O'Brien: Ruth Chatterton, Actress, Aviator, Author. with reference to a 1926 interview by R. Forbes, footnote 312
  4. ^ Scott O'Brien: Ruth Chatterton, Actress, Aviator, Author. Footnote 312
  5. ↑ Detailed description of the film and its creation
  6. ^ Scott O'Brien: Ruth Chatterton, Actress, Aviator, Author. P. 112
personal data
SURNAME Forbes, Ralph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Forbes Taylor, Ralph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actor
DATE OF BIRTH September 30, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH London , England
DATE OF DEATH March 31, 1951
Place of death New York City , New York , United States