Long before he became one of Hollywood’s most respected character actors, Robert Forster took the stage at the Historic Elitch Theatre in the summer of 1965, playing Frankie in Mrs. Dally Has a Lover, with Arlene Francis. It was an early stop for a young actor who, just months later that same year, would make his Broadway debut in the very same play at New York’s John Golden Theatre — a striking example of the Elitch stage’s role in shaping performers on their way to national careers.
Forster’s screen career took off quickly after his time in Denver. In 1967, director John Huston cast him opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando in Reflections in a Golden Eye, and just two years later he starred as television reporter John Cassellis in the acclaimed Medium Cool (1969), one of the defining films of the New Hollywood era. Over the following decades, Forster became one of the industry’s most reliable and versatile character actors, appearing in more than 100 films and countless television roles.
Forster’s career reached new heights in 1997 when Quentin Tarantino cast him as bail bondsman Max Cherry in Jackie Brown, earning him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and revitalizing his career for a new generation of audiences. He went on to memorable roles in Heroes, Twin Peaks: The Return, and as Ed “the Disappearer” Galbraith in Breaking Bad and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie — a role that won him a Saturn Award and became part of his poignant final on-screen legacy, as he passed away the same day El Camino was released in 2019.
From the Elitch stage to the Academy Awards, Robert Forster’s career stands as a testament to the caliber of talent that got its start — or passed through — the historic boards of the Elitch Theatre.
Seasons at the Theatre
- 1965
Elitch Theatre Productions/Roles:
- Mrs. Dally Has A Lover — Frankie (1965)
Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:
- Academy Award nomination, Best Supporting Actor, for Jackie Brown (1997)
- Screen debut in John Huston’s Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando
- Starring role in Medium Cool (1969), a landmark New Hollywood film
- Recurring role as Ed Galbraith in Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie; won the Saturn Award for Best Guest Starring Role on Television
- Featured roles in The Black Hole (1979), Alligator (1980), The Delta Force (1986), Me, Myself & Irene (2000), The Descendants (2011), and Olympus Has Fallen / London Has Fallen
- Played Sheriff Frank Truman in Twin Peaks: The Return (2017)
- Broadway credits include Mrs. Dally Had a Lover (1965) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1973), opposite Julie Harris
Elitch Theatre Connections:
- Forster was in Reflections in a Golden Eye with HET alums, Julie Harris.
Wikipedia Link:
