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The Edwin Forrest Society is reserved for those who have included The Fund in their estate plan, contributed to the Pooled Income Fund, taken out a Gift Annuity, or made some other planned gift.

To find out how to join the Edwin Forrest Society, please call Wallace Munro, Director of Planned Giving
(212) 221-7300 ext. 128 or e-mail wmunro@actorsfund.org.

Edwin Forrest was the first true star of the American theatre. Today, with so many famous personalities and multitalented performers in television, motion pictures, music, and theatre, it may be hard to imagine a time when the world of entertainment was not seen as exciting and glamorous. But in 1806, when Forrest was born in Philadelphia, and through most of the rest of the 19th century, American actors and other entertainers performed only in theatre, variety, and traveling circuses, and members of the profession were not highly respected. During his long and successful career, Edwin Forrest did a great deal to change that perception.

Forrest was fascinated with the theatre at a very early age and made his first professional appearance on the stage of Philadelphia's Walnut Street Theatre when he was only 14 years old. Six years later he debuted in New York as Othello and became an overnight sensation with both critics and audiences. The fame of his initial triumph and the power of his performances brought him sold-out houses in city after city. Within two years, and still in his early twenties, Edwin Forrest had become the most highly paid performer in the United States: both his professional and financial positions would be secure for the rest of his life.

Forrest, however, was not content with his success. He was aware that America had a cultural inferiority complex and usually looked to Europe, not only for distinguished actors and actresses but for playwrights as well. Forrest was determined to changes this. He announced a playwrighting contest to promote American drama. The first-prize winner would receive $500 and a full production of the play, with Forrest himself playing the principal role. At the start, both the playwright and subject matter had to be exclusively American, but the subject matter restriction was eventually lifted.

By the time the competition ended, nine years later, with its top prize then at $1,000, more than 200 new plays had been submitted. Edwin Forrest's active pursuit of his dream had led to the creation of a genuine "American drama." For fifty years, Edwin Forrest remained the most highly paid and most popular actor in America. When he toured England and Europe, he was the first American to be acclaimed an international star.

Throughout his life, he strove tirelessly to refine his own interpretation of both the classics and the American plays he continued to champion, but he was also serious about his responsibilities as a leader of his profession.

During his lifetime, Forrest was a major supporter of both the General Theatrical Fund and the American Dramatic Fund Association, two charities that were predecessors of The Actors Fund of America. His principal dream, though, was to create a retirement home for the elderly members of the profession he so loved, and he left the bulk of his enormous estate to be used for the realization of that dream.

The Edwin Forrest Home opened its doors in Philadelphia in 1876, four years after Mr. Forrest's death. It continued to serve retired members of the profession until the 1980s, when its Board of Managers decided to close the home, sell the property, and contribute its sizable assets to The Actors Fund for the construction of its new nursing home in Englewood, New Jersey, whose main section has been named the "Edwin Forrest Wing."

Few in the history of entertainment have matched Forrest's power over an audience and box office popularity but only the rarest few have contributed so much to both the quality of the theatre and the quality of our lives. In recognition of his great and far-seeing generosity, The Actors Fund of America has created the Edwin Forrest Society to honor him and all those who make bequests to The Fund, in the tradition of Edwin Forrest's legacy of caring.

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