Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson - Bedford Square, London, UK
N 51° 31.146 W 000° 07.867
30U E 699035 N 5711455
This plaque is on the wall of a building towards the north west corner of Bedford Square.
Waymark Code: WMEKDW
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/09/2012
Views: 7
There are several plaques of this type in
Bloomsbury that appear to have been erected in preference to blue plaques. They
do appear to have more character to them.
The plaque is cast from metal and has maintained clean sharp edges of the text
and relief work above and below the inscription. The inscription reads:
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Sir Johnston
Forbes - Robertson
Actor
Lived here
Born Died
1853 1937
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The IMDB website (visit
link) tells us:
"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 and 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."