Doctor Clayton Forrester is a fictional character in the 1953 science fiction film The War of the Worlds, the first film adaptation of the H. G. Wells novel of the same name. The character is played by Gene Barry. He is very loosely based on the novel's unnamed protagonist.
The film takes several liberties with the source material; rather than taking place in early 20th century England, the film is set in mid-century California. Clayton Forrester is the main character in the film, taking up half of the role assumed by an unnamed narrator in the original novel (Cedric Hardwicke provides the narration).
Forrester is a respected physicist on a fishing holiday who gets caught up in an invasion from Mars, as well as falling in love with Ann Robinson's character Sylvia Van Buren. As the Martians attempt to wipe out humanity and take the planet for their own, Forrester is one of the few scientists who attempt to find a biological weakness of the aliens. When he fails, and mankind faces extinction, the Martians succumb to common earthly bacteria, as in the novel.
Both Gene Barry and Ann Robinson have a cameo in Steven Spielberg's 2005 film adaptation, as an homage to the 1953 film, even though it is technically not a remake.
The television series War of the Worlds (developed as a sequel to the film, not the original Wells novel) makes a number of references to Forrester, but does not actually feature the character. The show's back-story establishes that Dr. Forrester adopted a young boy, Harrison Blackwood, who was orphaned during the conflict in the film. (Blackwood's parents were Forrester's colleagues at the Pacific Institute of Technology.) Forrester's discovery that the aliens, believed to have been killed by common bacteria, were still alive, has led to his professional downfall, but Blackwood has assumed his role as leader of the new fight against the invaders. Forrester's research is occasionally mentioned and proves useful at times throughout the ensuing battles with the aliens. There is also frequent mention of an "Ezekiel Project" that Clayton was in charge of, though nothing is truly revealed about this secret project.
Harrison's statement in the first season that Sylvia Van Buren, Forrester's budding love interest in the film, was practically a mother to him implies that Forrester and Van Buren never married (she is even referred to as "Ms. Van Buren"), and speaks of their relationship as though the two were nothing more than professional work associates. This conflicts with a second season episode in which Harrison refers to her as "Mrs. Forrester" and includes a scene with a young Harrison in the same household as Sylvia. Because of the various other conflicting information in the second season with the first season, this isn't necessarily considered canonical.
Though absent from the series, Forrester is integrated into the novelization of the pilot episode. In it, after the Blackwood Project has been formed and begins their efforts, Forrester himself is given a rejuvenated lease on life, only to suffer from a fatal heart attack. However, Dr. Blackwood later states in the early episode "Thy Kingdom Come" that Sylvia's mental collapse transpired after Forrester's death, indicating that he had died quite some time before the series began.
Dr. Clayton Forrester, a character on the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000, is named after the War of the Worlds character.
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