Johnston Forbes-Robertson

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Johnston Forbes-Robertson as Hamlet.
Johnston Forbes-Robertson as Hamlet.

Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson (born January 16, 1853, London - died November 6, 1937, St. Margaret's Bay, near Dover) was an English actor.

Forbes-Robertson first came to prominence playing second leads to Henry Irving before making his mark as the greatest interpreter of Hamlet of the nineteenth century, according to many critics. He was noted for his elocution, particularly by George Bernard Shaw who wrote the part of Caesar in Caesar and Cleopatra for him. Forbes-Robertson's other great roles were Romeo, Othello, Leontes in The Winter's Tale, and the title role in The Passing of the Third Floor Back (filmed in 1916). He didn't play Hamlet until he was 44 years old, but after his success in the part he continued playing it until 1916, including a surviving silent film (1913) which indicates his greatness in the role. He was also a talented painter who did a portrait of his mentor Samuel Phelps that currently hangs in the Garrick Club in London.