Ralph Forbes

Ralph Forbes (30 September 1896 – 31 March 1951), was an English actor in the American cinema. He was also a noted stage actor.

Early life

He was born Ralph Forbes Taylor in London, England, the son of E.J. Taylor and actress Mary Forbes and brother of actress Brenda Forbes. He met with an accident on the football field at Denstone College, Staffordshire that resulted in a scar on his cheek. Unusually, he started off in films, then went on stage. In the United States he appeared onstage opposite actress Ruth Chatterton, who became his first wife.

Personal life

He was married three times. He and actress Ruth Chatterton were married from 1924 to 1932. He later married actress Heather Angel in 1934; that marriage also ended in divorce. His last wife was actress Dora Sayers (married 1946). Forbes dated Lucille Ball shortly before he married Angel. Ball turned down his marriage proposal.

Later years

His last 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 in New York City in 1951, aged 54.

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Ralph Forbes (30 September 1904 – 31 March 1951) was an English film and stage actor in the UK and the United States.

Early life

He was born Ralph Forbes Taylor 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). He was baptized on 6 November 1904 and his birth registered in the last quarter of 1904.

Forbes met with an accident while playing football at Denstone College in Staffordshire which resulted in a scar on his cheek.

He started off in films, then went on stage. In the United States he appeared onstage opposite actress Ruth Chatterton, who became his first wife in 1924; the couple divorced in 1932. He later married actress Heather Angel in 1934; that marriage also ended in divorce. His last wife, whom he married in 1946, was actress Dora Sayers.

Later years

His last 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.

Partial filmography

• A Lowland Cinderella (1921)
• Comin' Thro the Rye (1923)
• Reveille (1924)
• Beau Geste (1926)
• Mr. Wu (1927)
• The Enemy (1927)
• The Trail of '98 (1928)
• The Actress (1928)
• Lilies of the Field (1930)
• The Green Goddess (1930)
• Mamba (1930)
• The Bachelor Father (1931)
• Beau Ideal (1931)
• Smilin'Through (1932)
• Christopher Strong (1933)
• The Solitaire Man (1933)
• Pleasure Cruise (1933)
• The Mystery of Mr. X (1934)
• Riptide (1934)
• Twentieth Century (1934)
• The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)
• Enchanted April (1935)
• Streamline Express (1935)
• The Goose and the Gander (1935)
• The Three Musketeers (1935)
• La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (1935 short)
• I'll Name the Murderer (1936)
• Mary of Scotland (1936)
• Romeo and Juliet (1936)
• Daniel Boone (1936)
• The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937)
• Stage Door (1937)
• Kidnapped (1938)
• If I Were King (1938)
• The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
• The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex(1939)
• The Magnificent Fraud (1939)
• Tower of London (1939)
• Calling Philo Vance (1940)
• Curtain Call (1940)
• Frenchman's Creek (1944)