Ralph Forbes - Obituary

             The New York Times, April 1st 1951

         Ralph Forbes Dies: Stage, Film Actor

               London-born player got his first role
                in US in 1924- Was in 50 pictures

Ralph Forbes, an actor who had appeared in important roles on the stage and screen almost continuously since he came here from England in 1924, died yesterday in Montefiore Hospital, the Bronx, after an illness of several weeks. He was last seen here two years ago in Sir Cedric Hardwicke�s revival of Shaw�s play, �Caesar and Cleopatra�.

Born in London, a son of E.J. Taylor, Mr. Forbes adopted the maiden surname of his mother, Mary Forbes, a well-known English actress now in Hollywood. The son did his first screen acting in the film version of �Brown Sugar�, and first attracted attention on the stage in �The Flame�, performed at Wyndham�s Theatre in London in 1924.

That autumn he was brought to New York to support Violet Vanbrugh in �Havoc�, which soon closed. He was engaged at once as leading man for Ruth Chatterton, star of �The Magnolia Lady�. They fell in love off the stage as well as on and were married in December, 1924.

The couple acted together in �The Little Minister� and �The Man With A Load Of Mischief� during the next two seasons, and then Mr. Forbes went to Hollywood, where he appeared in more than fifty films.

Miss Chatterton and Mr. Forbes were divorced in 1932. Two years later he married Heather Angel, stage and screen actress. They were divorced in 1941. In 1946 he married Dora L. Sayers, also an actress. In 1943 he toured with his first wife in Noel Coward�s �Private Lives�.

Among the plays in which Mr. Forbes appeared in New York were: �The Doctor�s Dilemma�, with Katharine Cornell; �Hedda Gabler�, with Katina Paxinou; �A Kiss for Cinderella�, with Luise Rainer; a Theatre Guild revival of �You Never Can Tell�, and �Second Best Bed�.

The long list of his silent and talking films included �Beau Geste�, �The Little Minister�, �Bachelor Father�, �Bombay Mail�, �The Green Goddess�, �Her Wedding Night�, �The Magnificent Fraud�, �Frenchman�s Creek�, �Stage Door�, �The Last of Mrs Cheyney�, �If I Were King�, �The Fountain�, �Mary of Scotland� and the Norma Shearer version of �Romeo and Juliet�.

Besides his wife and his mother, Mr. Forbes leaves two sisters, Brenda Forbes, actress, who was in the recent �Ring Round the Moon�, and Mrs. Douglas Young of London.