Johnston Forbes-Robertson (1853-1937) was an English actor and
theatrical impresario that
George Bernard Shaw and other
critics considered to be the finest
Hamlet (1913) of his generation.
Forbes-Robertson had trained to be an artist and was not overly fond of
acting, but he took to the boards to make a living. He did his
apprenticeship with Samuel Phelps' company and made his theatrical
debut in 1874. He played the second lead in the company of
Henry Irving, indisputably the
greatest actor of his generation and the first actor to be knighted.
Forbes-Robertson did not play Hamlet until he was 44 years old, but
excelled at it. He was famed for his magnificent voice. Other
Shakespearean roles he was hailed for were Leontes in "The Winter's
Tale", Othello and Romeo. Shaw wrote the part of Julius Caesar in
Caesar und Cleopatra (1945)
specifically for Forbes-Robertson.
In 1913, at the age of 60, he became the fifth actor since Irving was
knighted in 1895 to made a knight bachelor. He retired from the stage
the same year but continued to produce plays. He died in Dover in 1937
at the age of 84.
