Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/168

 rOEREST

FORREST

number of prizes for five-act tragedies. In the first comj^etitiou the award was given to " Met- aniora, ' ' by Jolin Augustus Stone of Philadelphia, and in the same waj^ lie afterward secured " The Gladiator," " The Broker of Bogota," and '• Jack Cade." In July, 1834, lie made a tour of the continent of Europe and of Great Britain, return- ing to the United States in 1836. He then played the parts of Damon, Othello and Spartacus for five nights in the Chestnut Street theatre, Phila- delphia, and the same parts with the addition of Lear in the Park theatre. New York city, and again sailed for England Sept. 19, 1836, where he made his first professional appearance in the role of Spartacus at the Drury Lane theatre, London, Oct. 17, 1836. He closed there December 19, having also appeared as Macbeth, Othello and King Lear and gained a social as well as a pro- fessional success, being a guest of Macready and Charles Kemble and of the Garrick club. He resumed his American engagements on Nov. l.'i, 1837, at the old Chestnut Street theatre, then entered ujjon regular engagements through the principal cities of the United States. In 1838 he essayed the part of Claude Melnotte in "The Lady of Lyons." In 1845 he made a second pro- fessional tour of Great Britain and after the death of his mother in 1847 he retired from the stage for a short time. On the evening of May 10, 1849, occurred the Astor Place riot in New York city, the culmination of a quarrel begun in England between Forrest and the English actor Macready, which was taken up by the friends of the respective tragedians, and as a con- sequence of the riot Macready was driven from the American stage and Forrest lost much of his popularity and support. On his first profes- sional visit to London in June, 1837, he was mar- ried to Catherine Norton, daughter of John Sinclair, a London vocalist. His wife returned to New York with him and he purchased a site at Jit. St. Vincent on the Hudson river and built Fonthill Castle which he sold in 1856 to the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity. In 1857 he bi-ought suit against his wife for divorce, she bringing counter-suit. The case was decided in favor of Mrs. FoiTest. During the last daj's of tin trial he began an engagement at the Broadway theatre, New York city, opening as Damon, and his success for sixty-nine nights was beyond any- thing ever known in the history of that theatre. He continued his engagements in all the large cities and returned in February, 1853, to the Broadway theatre, presenting Macbeth for twenty consecutive nights. In 1855 he purchased "Spring Brook," near Philadelphia, and retired for several years. In 1860 he was engaged by James Nixon for one hundred nights, opening on September 17, at Niblo's Garden, New Y'ork, in

the role of Hamlet, then playing King Lear, Othello, Macbeth, Richard III., Spartacus, Damon, Richelieu, Jack Cade, Virginius and Metamora, and afterward appeared in several of the large cities of the United States. He played at Niblo's Garden, the Chestnut Street theatre, and the Boston theatre in 1863, but after this he suffered from severe attacks of gout and in 1865 while playing Damon at the Hollida,y Street theatre, Baltimore, Md., the sciatic nerve be- came ixirtially paralyzed. He continued to act but never fully regained his steady gait or the use of his hand. He appeared at the opera house in San Francisco, Cal., Maj' 14, as Richelieu, played thirty-five nights to an aggregate of over sixty thousand persons and was paid twenty thousand dollars in gold. lUness then interrupted the engagement and he went to the mineral springs wliere he regained his health. After that he alternately rested and travelled, playing his last engagement in New Y'ork city, in Februarj', 1871, at the Lyceum in the roles of Lear and Richelieu. On the night of March 25, 1872, he opened at the Globe theatre, Boston, Mass., as Lear, which he played six nights. Richelieu and Virginius were annovmced for the second week but on the intervening .Sunday he took a violent cold, which developed into pneumonia. He struggled through Richelieu on Monday and Tuesday evenings, April 1 and 2, 1872, but on Wednesday was unable to aiipear. He recovered from this illness, went home to Philadelphia and shortly after attempted to give Shaksperean readings, last appearing in Tremont Temple, Boston, Dec. 7, 1872, but was too feeble to meet with success. A stroke of paralysis ended his life. His will left bequests to several friends and contained a plan by which his fortune was to be used in founding ' ' The Edwin Forrest

THE EDWrV FORRE«iT HO'ffE AT HOT MFSBURC PA

Iloms iKtieatfoi iged at t ->i -. To this pur pose he devoted "Spring Brook," but nis testa- tors were enabled to carry out his plan onlj- in part. Before Ids visit to England in 1836, his