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Sir Johnston FORBES-ROBERTSON

Sir Johnston FORBES-ROBERTSON

Male 1853 - 1937  (84 years)

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  • Name Johnston FORBES-ROBERTSON 
    Title Sir 
    Birth 16 Jan 1853 
    • Mar Q 1853 1c 89 London
    Gender Male 
    Death 6 Nov 1937  St. Margaret's Bay, Dover, Kent Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Obituary 8 Nov 1937 
    8 Nov 1937 Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson Obituary
    8 Nov 1937 Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson Obituary
    Notes 
    • FORBES-ROBERTSON, JOHNSTON, English actor, was the son of John Forbes-Robertson of Aberdeen, an art critic. He was educated at Charterhouse, and studied at the Royal Academy schools with a view to becoming a painter. But though he kept up his interest in that art, in 1874 he turned to the theatre, making his first appearance in London as Chastelard, in Mary, Queen of Scots. He studied under Samuel Phelps, from whom he learnt the traditions of the tragic stage. He played with the Bancrofts and with John Hare, supported Miss Mary Anderson in both England and America, and also acted at different times with Sir Henry Irving. His refined and artistic style, and beautiful voice and elocution made him a marked man on the English stage, and in Pinero's The Profligate at the Garrick theatre (1889), under Hare's management, he established his position as one of the most individual of London actors. In 1895 he started under his own management at the Lyceum with Mrs Patrick Campbell, producing Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth and also some modern plays; his impersonation as Hamlet was especially fine, and his capacity as a romantic actor was shown to great advantage also in John Davidson's For the Crown and in Maeterlinck's Pellias and Mélisande. In 1900 he married the actress Gertrude Elliott, with whom, as his leading lady, he appeared at various theatres, producing in subsequent years The Light that Failed, Madeleine Lucette Riley's Mice and Men, and G. Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra, Jerome K. Jerome's Passing of the Third Floor Back, &c. His brothers, Ian Robertson (b. 1858) and Norman Forbes (b. 1859), had also been well-known actors from about 1878 onwards.

    • Shakespearean Recital & Lecture by Sir Johnston Forbes - Robertson C 1930 Pts 1 & 2 (of 4)










    • Hamlet's Advice to the Players (Johnston Forbes-Robertson, 1930s)
    Person ID I000302  Mills/Rushton Family History
    Last Modified 18 Dec 2015 

    Father John ROBERTSON,   b. 30 Jan 1822, Aberdeen Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1903 (Age 80 years) 
    Relationship Birth 
    Mother Frances COTT,   b. Abt 1828, Bow, London Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1902 (Age ~ 74 years) 
    Relationship Birth 
    Marriage 1850 
    Family ID F000134  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family May Gertrude DERMOT,   b. 14 Dec 1874, Rockland, Knox, Maine, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 24 Dec 1950, Kent Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 76 years) 
    Marriage 1900 
    Children 
     1. Maxine Frances Mary FORBES-ROBERTSON,   b. 19 Oct 1901, Blackheath, Kent Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Apr 1984, Worthing Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 82 years)
    +2. Jean A FORBES-ROBERTSON,   b. 16 Mar 1905, St. Pancras Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 24 Dec 1962, Charing Cross Hospital, London Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 57 years)  [Father: Birth]  [Mother: Birth]
     3. Chloe FORBES-ROBERTSON,   b. 1910, St. Pancras Find all individuals with events at this location
     4. Diana FORBES-ROBERTSON,   b. 26 Dec 1914   d. 1987 (Age 72 years)
    Family ID F000116  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 15 Dec 2015 

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    Johnston Forbes-Robertson
    Johnston Forbes-Robertson