Ralph Forbes


Ralph Forbes was an English film and stage actor in the UK and the United States.

Early life

Forbes was born 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 on 30 September 1904, Forbes was baptized on 6 November and his birth was legally registered with the authorities during 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 came to the United States as a member of a British troupe that performed Havoc, a war play. He started off in films, then went on stage.
In the United States he appeared onstage opposite actress Ruth Chatterton, whom he wed on 20 December 1924 in New York City. He was 20 years old and she was four days shy of her 32nd birthday. The couple divorced in 1932. He married actress Heather Angel in Yuma, Arizona, on August 29, 1934; that marriage ended in divorce on July 18, 1941. His last wife, whom he married in 1946, was actress Dora Sayers.

Later years

Following a film career that spanned from 1926 to 1944, Forbes’ latter 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.

Filmography