Ralph Forbes
Ralph Forbes (born Ralph Forbes Taylor; 30 September 1904 – 31 March 1951) was an English film and stage actor active in Britain and the United States.
Ralph Forbes  | |
|---|---|
![]() Forbes in Daniel Boone (1936)  | |
| Born | Ralph Forbes Taylor 30 September 1904 Wandsworth, London, England  | 
| Died | 31 March 1951 (aged 46) New York City, U.S.  | 
| Occupation | Actor | 
| Years active | 1923–1950 | 
| Spouses | Dora Sayers   (m. 1946) | 
| Parent | 
  | 
| Relatives | Brenda Forbes (sister) | 
Early life
    
Forbes was born in Wandsworth, London, the son of Ernest John "E.J." and Ethel Louise Taylor. His mother would become known as Mary Forbes, a stage and film actress. His younger sister was actress Brenda Forbes (born Dorothy Brenda Taylor). Born on 30 September 1904, Forbes was baptized on 6 November[1] and his birth was legally registered with the authorities during the last quarter of 1904.[2]
Forbes met with an accident while playing football at Denstone College in Staffordshire which resulted in a scar on his cheek.[3] He came to the United States as a member of a British troupe that performed Havoc, a war play.[4] He started off in films, then went on stage.
In the United States he appeared onstage opposite actress Ruth Chatterton, whom he wed on 20 December 1924 in New York City.[5] He was 20 years old and she was four days shy of her 32nd birthday. The couple divorced in 1932. He married actress Heather Angel in Yuma, Arizona,[6] on 29 August 1934; that marriage ended in divorce on 18 July 1941.[7] His last wife, whom he married in 1946, was actress Dora Sayers.[8]
Later years
    
Following a film career that spanned from 1926 to 1944,[9] Forbes’s latter years were given to working on the Broadway stage. One of his last stage appearances was in a revival of Shaw's You Never Can Tell in 1948. He died at Montefiore Hospital in The Bronx, New York, in 1951, aged 46.[8]
Filmography
    
- The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's (1921) as Oliver Greenfield (film debut)
 - A Lowland Cinderella (1921) as Master of Darrock
 - The Glorious Adventure (1922) as Courtier (uncredited)
 - Comin' Thro the Rye (1923) as George Tempest
 - Reveille (1924) as The Kid
 - Owd Bob (1924) as Davie McAdam
 - Charley's Aunt (1926) as Jack Chesney
 - Beau Geste (1926) as John Geste
 - Mr. Wu (1927) as Basil Gregory
 - The Enemy (1927) as Carl Behrend
 - The Latest from Paris (1928) as Joe Adams
 - The Trail of '98 (1928) as Larry
 - Under the Black Eagle (1928) as Karl von Zorn
 - The Actress (1928) as Arthur Gower
 - The Whip (1928) as Lord Brancaster
 - The Masks of the Devil (1928) as Manfred
 - Restless Youth (1928) as Bruce Neil
 - Lilies of the Field (1930) as Ted Willing
 - The Green Goddess (1930) as Dr. Traherne
 - Mamba (1930) as Karl von Reiden
 - The Lady of Scandal (1930) as John
 - Inside the Lines (1930) as Eric Woodhouse
 - Her Wedding Night (1930) as Larry Charters
 - The Bachelor Father (1931) - John Ashley
 - Beau Ideal (1931) as John Geste
 - Thunder Below (1932) as Davis
 - Smilin'Through (1932) as Willie Ainley
 - Christopher Strong (1933) as Harry Rawlinson
 - The Phantom Broadcast (1933) as Norman Wilder
 - Pleasure Cruise (1933) as Richard Orloff aka Taversham
 - The Avenger (1933) as Norman Craig
 - The Solitaire Man (1933) as Robert Bascom
 - Bombay Mail (1934) as William Luke-Patson
 - The Mystery of Mr. X (1934) as Sir Christopher Marche
 - Riptide (1934) as Fenwick
 - Twentieth Century (1934) as George Smith
 - Shock (1934) as Derek Marbury
 - The Fountain (1934) as Ballater
 - The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934) as Captain Surtees Cook
 - Outcast Lady (1934) as Boy Fenwick
 - Strange Wives (1934) as Paul
 - Enchanted April (1935) as Peppo Briggs
 - Rescue Squad (1935) as DeWitt Porter
 - Streamline Express (1935) as Fred Arnold
 - The Goose and the Gander (1935) as Ralph Summers
 - The Three Musketeers (1935) as Duke of Buckingham
 - La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (1935, Short)
 - I'll Name the Murderer (1936) as Tommy Tilton
 - Mary of Scotland (1936) as Randolph
 - Piccadilly Jim (1936) as Lord Frederick 'Freddie' Priory
 - Romeo and Juliet (1936) as Paris - Young Nobleman Kinsman to the Prince
 - Daniel Boone (1936) as Stephen Marlowe
 - Love Letters of a Star (1936) as Meredith Landers
 - Rich Relations (1937) as Dave Walton
 - The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937) as Cousin John
 - The Thirteenth Chair (1937) as Lionel Trent
 - The Legion of Missing Men (1937) as Bob Carter
 - Make a Wish (1937) as Walter Mays
 - Woman Against the World (1937) as Larry Steele
 - Stage Door (1937) as Cast of Stage Play
 - Women Are Like That (1938) as Martin Brush
 - Kidnapped (1938) as James
 - If I Were King (1938) as Oliver Le Dain
 - Annabel Takes a Tour (1938) as Viscount Ronald River-Clyde
 - Convicts at Large (1938) as David Brent
 - The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) as Sir Hugo Baskerville
 - The Magnificent Fraud (1939) as Harrison Todd
 - The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) as Lord Knollys
 - Tower of London (1939) as Henry Tudor
 - Calling Philo Vance (1940) as Tom McDonald
 - Adventure in Diamonds (1940) as Mr. Perrins
 - Curtain Call (1940) as Leslie Barrivale
 - Frenchman's Creek (1944) as Harry St. Columb (final film)
 
References
    
- Baptismal record for Ralph Forbes Taylor, ancestry.com; accessed 25 September 2015.(registration required)
 - Birth registration for Ralph Forbes Taylor, ancestry.com; accessed 25 September 2015.(registration required)
 - Wagner, Laura (Fall 2017). "Ralph Forbes: Smolderingly Handsome". Films of the Golden Age (90): 38–43.
 -  "Ralph Forbes, English Actor, Makes Good in Hollywood". The Boston Globe. Massachusetts, Boston. 24 September 1936. p. 32. Retrieved 25 July 2018 – via Newspapers.com. 

 -  "Ruth Chatterton, Broadway Star, Weds Ralph Forbes, English Actor". The Boston Globe. Massachusetts, Boston. 21 December 1924. p. 21. Retrieved 25 July 2018 – via Newspapers.com. 

 -  "Heather Angel and Ralph Forbes Wed". The Klamath News. Oregon, Klamath Falls. United Press. 30 August 1934. p. 1. Retrieved 25 July 2018 – via Newspapers.com. 

 -  "Heather Angel Wins Divorce; Says Ralph Forbes Slapped Her". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. 19 July 1941. p. 17. Retrieved 25 July 2018 – via Newspapers.com. 

 - "Ralph Forbes Dies; Stage, Film Actor - London-Born Player Got His First Role in U.S. in 1924 - Was in 50 Picture". The New York Times. 1 April 1951. p. 54. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
 - "Filmography for Ralph Forbes". Tcm.com. 31 March 1951. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
 
External links
    
- Ralph Forbes at IMDb
 - Ralph Forbes at the Internet Broadway Database
 - Ralph Forbes at Virtual History
 
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