FORREST, EDWIN, 1806-72; b. Philadelphia, of Scotch and German descent. He made his first appearance on the stage, Nov. 27, 1820, as "Young Norval" in the play of Douglas. By diligence and close study he rose in the profession, and in 1826, at the Park theater, New York, made a decided triumph in "Othello." Thenceforward his career was one of uninterrupted success in this country and in England. While in the latter country in 1837 he married Catherine, the daughter of John Sinclair, the singer. She was after wards divorced from him, and the trial in the case was one of the most famous in the country. His last professional engagement was in New York in 1871. He died from apoplexy after only half an hour's illness. In his will he left a large portion of the ample estate which he had amassed in his profession, to establish a home for aged and destitute actors. Forrest was essentially a melodramatic actor. His robust physique
and still more robust voice made the assumption of sentimental parts almost impossible. In "Richard III.," " Lear," " Coriolanus," and, " Othello," he was conspicuously good. He was better still in "Jack Cade," "Metamora," " Spartacus," "Damon," and charac ters of that range. Much undeserved odium has been cast upon him as being in some degree responsible for the Astor place riot in New York. That outbreak—ostensibly favor of F. against his great English rival Macready—was one of the episodes of the political native American movement of the period. F. was of a disposition ardent, impetuous, and frank; and his scholarship in the range of his profession was good. He gathered a splendid library, in which the Shakespearean collection was reputed the finest in the world.