Alfred University. Photo: Benjamin D. Esham ( bdesham ), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alfred_University_Powell_Campus_Center.jpg)
Alfred University. Photo: Benjamin D. Esham ( bdesham ), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alfred_University_Powell_Campus_Center.jpg)
Robert Wallace Forster was an American actor whose career ranged from Broadway and late-1960s New Hollywood films to television and independent cinema. His performance as Max Cherry in Jackie Brown earned an Academy Award nomination, while later roles in Breaking Bad, Twin Peaks, The Descendants, and El Camino introduced his work to new generations.
Background
Ethnicity:
His mother, Grace Dorothy Montanarella, was Italian American; his father, Robert Wallace Foster, was of English and Irish descent.
Robert Wallace Forster was born in Rochester, New York, on July 13, 1941, to Grace Dorothy Montanarella and Robert Wallace Foster. His father worked as an elephant trainer for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus before becoming an executive in the baking-supply business. Forster's Italian American, English, and Irish family background reflected the varied immigrant and Anglo-American communities of mid-twentieth-century Rochester.
He initially intended to become a lawyer, but his participation in university theatrical productions redirected him toward acting. He later adopted the spelling Forster professionally to distinguish himself from another performer named Robert Foster in the actors' unions.
Education
Forster attended the University of Rochester, where he studied history and psychology and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1964. The university, founded in 1850, was a private research institution whose liberal-arts programs provided an academic setting alongside the performing opportunities that helped shape his career choice.
His education also included periods recorded at Heidelberg College and Alfred University before his graduation from Rochester. While at the University of Rochester, he performed in student productions including Bye Bye Birdie; those appearances accompanied his decision to abandon plans for a legal career and pursue acting.
Forster began performing professionally on stage and appeared in the 1965 Broadway production of Mrs. Dally Has a Lover. A studio contract with 20th Century Fox followed, and John Huston cast him in his screen debut as Private L. G. Williams in Reflections in a Golden Eye, released in 1967. He then played roles in films including The Stalking Moon and Medium Cool, Haskell Wexler's 1969 drama set against the unrest surrounding the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Forster worked in both film and television. He led the television series Banyon and Nakia and appeared in films such as The Black Hole, Alligator, Vigilante, and The Delta Force. Much of his work during this period was in action, crime, and horror productions, while he also continued to accept dramatic roles and television assignments.
Forster's career gained renewed attention when Quentin Tarantino cast him as bail bondsman Max Cherry in Jackie Brown, the 1997 adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel Rum Punch. The performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and led to more prominent work in films such as Mulholland Drive, Me, Myself & Irene, The Descendants, Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen, and What They Had.
He remained active in television, appearing in Heroes, Alcatraz, Last Man Standing, and David Lynch's Twin Peaks: The Return. He played Ed Galbraith in Breaking Bad and reprised the role in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, released on October 11, 2019, the day he died in Los Angeles. In addition to acting, he delivered motivational speaking programs, including Interacting, and taught acting workshops.
Achievements
Forster received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for portraying bail bondsman Max Cherry in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown (1997). The nomination brought renewed attention to an actor whose earlier career had included leading roles, television work, and many action and independent films.
He sustained a long second phase of film and television work after Jackie Brown, including performances in Mulholland Drive, The Descendants, Breaking Bad, Twin Peaks: The Return, and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.
Forster recorded a public-service announcement for Deejay Ra's Hip-Hop Literacy campaign, encouraging audiences to read works by Elmore Leonard.
(Protected publication record associated with the title Du...)
Views
Forster's motivational speaking centered on persistence, accepting circumstances, delivering excellence in the present, and acting on what one knows to be true. His career discussions frequently connected professional endurance with the refusal to give up during periods of unemployment or reduced opportunity.
Quotations:
Accept all things, deliver excellence right now and never quit.
Membership
Forster belonged to Actors' Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild. Actors' Equity represented stage performers, while the Screen Actors Guild represented performers working in motion pictures and television; both organizations formed important parts of the labor structure of American professional acting.
Member of the professional union representing American stage actors and stage managers.
Actors' Equity Association
,
United States of America
Member of the labor union representing performers in motion pictures and television.
Screen Actors Guild
,
United States of America
Personality
Forster was described by colleagues as kind, generous, brave, funny, and dedicated to his craft. His public speaking emphasized perseverance, excellence in the present, and continuing through professional setbacks.
Physical Characteristics:
Forster was known for a distinctive deep voice, rugged appearance, and watchful eyes.
Quotes from others about the person
David Lynch described Forster as a great actor and a great human being. Bryan Cranston called him a lovely man and a consummate actor, recalling his kindness and generosity when they worked together.
Interests
Motivational speaking and acting instruction.
Writers
Elmore Leonard
Connections
Forster was the son of Robert Wallace Foster and Grace Dorothy Montanarella. He married June Forster, with whom he had three daughters, and later married Zivia Forster. His children included Robert, Elizabeth, Maeghen, and Kate; in later life he was also partnered with Denise Grayson.
Father:
Robert Wallace Foster
His father worked as an elephant trainer for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and later became an executive in the baking-supply business.
Mother:
Grace Dorothy (Montanarella) Forster
Forster's mother was Italian American.
Wife:
June Forster
Forster's first marriage produced three daughters.
Wife:
Zivia Forster
Forster was married to Zivia Forster from 1978 to 1980.
Partner:
Denise Grayson
Grayson was Forster's longtime partner during the later years of his life.
Son:
Robert Forster
Daughter:
Elizabeth Forster
Daughter:
Maeghen Forster
Daughter:
Kate Forster
Kate Forster, later known as Kate Foster Simmons, participated in preserving and discussing her father's motivational-speaking material.
References
Television Academy biography of Robert Forster
Documents Forster's birth and death, University of Rochester education, Broadway and film career, Jackie Brown Academy Award nomination, and later work in Breaking Bad and El Camino.
Los Angeles Times obituary of Robert Forster
Describes Forster's early life, Broadway debut, screen debut, work in Medium Cool, career difficulties, revival through Jackie Brown, motivational speaking, and death in Los Angeles.
2019
Robert Forster obituary
Reviews Forster's career, his association with Quentin Tarantino and David Lynch, his work in Breaking Bad and El Camino, and his family relationships.
2019
Robert Forster
Documents Forster's audiobook work and motivational speaking program Interacting.
