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Biography
Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson (1853-1937) was widely considered to have been the greatest Hamlet of his age. Tall and gaunt, he had a magnificent speaking voice and a graceful, elegant style of acting.
He was the son of John Forbes-Robertson of Aberdeen, an art critic. Intending to be an artist, he studied at the Royal Academy School until Samuel Phelps (1804-78), a leading Shakespearean actor, invited him to join his company. In 1874, he made his first London appearance as Chastelard in Mary, Queen of Scots. He scored his first important success in W. S. Gilbert's Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith (1876).
After Phelps’s death, he performed with the Bancrofts and with several other actor mangers, including Wilson Barrett who cast him as Romeo opposite Helena Modjeska as Juliet. In 1882, he joined Henry Irving’s company at the Lyceum. It was not an ideal situation: Irving, the romantic showman, dominated the stage and his productions, while Forbes-Robertson was a classical, natural actor.
In 1885, he went to the United States where he toured with Mary Anderson. With her, he made his New York City debut as Orlando in As You Like It. It was to be the first of his numerous successful visits. (In America, he was usually compared most favourably to Irving. Comparing the two British actors performances as Hamlet, Walter Tallmadge Arndt stated: ‘Irving’s is artistic artificiality, while Mr. Roberson’s is artistic naturalness.’)
In London, it was during Irving’s own American tours, when Forbes-Robertson temporarily took over the management of the Lyceum, that he had his greatest successes. These included his Romeo to Mrs. Patrick Campbell's Juliet in 1895 and, above all, his first Hamlet in 1897. (He was to play the part again many times, including at his farewell performance at Drury Lane.)
In 1900, he married Gertrude Elliott, an American actress. She was to be his principal first lady until his retirement in 1913, the year in which he played Hamlet with his wife as Ophelia in a film directed by Hay Plumb. During the week of his official retirement, he was knighted.
Although he did not act again on the British stage, he did spend a further three seasons touring America and played in the last of his four films in 1937, shortly before his death.
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Theatre: Photos - Signed | JOHNSTON FORBES-ROBERTSON - signed photo |
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