FORREST, EDWIN (1806-1872), American actor, was born at Philadelphia (Pa.), on March 9, 1806. He made his first stage appearance on Nov. 27, 1820, at the Walnut Street theatre, in Home's Douglas. In 1826 he had played a great success in New York as Othello. He played at Drury Lane in the Gladiator in 1836, but his Macbeth in 1845 was hissed by the English audience, and his affront to Macready in Edinburgh shortly afterwards— when he stood up in a private box and hissed him—was fatal to his popularity in Great Britain. His jealousy of Macready resulted in the Astor Place riot of 1849. In 1837 he had married Catherine, daughter of John Sinclair, an English singer, and his divorce suit in 1852 was a cause celebre. His last appearance was as Richelieu in Boston in 1871. He died Dec. 12, 1872. He amassed a fortune, much of which he left by will to found a home for aged actors.
See Lawrence Barrett, Edwin Forrest (Boston, 1881) ; Montrose J. Moses, The Fabulous Forrest (1929) .