julian_craster

Obituary: John Forbes-Robertson


by Gavin Gaughan
Monday June 30, 2008
The Guardian

The actor John Forbes-Robertson, who has died at the age of 80, was a part of theatrical history, as the son of the actor-manager Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson. He also had the distinction of being the only actor other than Christopher Lee to have played Count Dracula in the Hammer horror films.

John was born in Worthing, West Sussex, where his family was on tour. As his mother was inevitably the leading lady, he would stay with his grandparents, along with his elder brother and younger sister. He grew to be tall and slim, with distinctive black hair and black eyebrows, and inherited the family's resounding voice. Stage experience started at the Intimate Theatre, Palmers Green, north London, and at Birmingham Rep.

Among his earliest television work was a BBC serial of Barnaby Rudge (1960), with John Wood in the unworldly title role. Episodes of Maigret, The Saint, Softly Softly, Poldark, and The New Avengers followed - he was often a doctor or police officer.

Forbes-Robertson had a small, uncredited, but absolutely vital role in QB VII (1974), derived from the real case of Wladislaw Dering, a respected doctor accused of wartime atrocities. As the jury foreman, he declared that the fictionalised Dering (Anthony Hopkins) was to be awarded damages "in the sum of one half-penny, the lowest coin in the realm". In The Naked Civil Servant (1975), he was what Quentin Crisp (John Hurt) wished to avoid being, a bowler-hatted type still living with his mother and terrified of exposure.

After Leonard Rossiter, as Reggie, faked his own death in David Nobbs' The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976), he was aghast to find that his wife had gone back to her previous sweetheart (Forbes-Robertson), who boasted of speaking 10 languages, "plus a smattering of Urdu, and a little functional Swahili".

In 1970, Hammer producer Aida Young interviewed Forbes-Robertson about the possibility of his succeeding Lee as Dracula. He started with a non-speaking but imposing and vampiric Man in Black observing Ingrid Pitt in The Vampire Lovers (1970). Forbes-Robertson then assumed the role of the count for The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (1974), with Peter Cushing. The film itself was Hammer's death knell, but Forbes-Robertson remained happy to reminisce at conventions.

He had minor roles in several large-scale films, including the messy spoof that was the original Casino Royale (1967), and Nicholas and Alexandra (1971). He had many a story to tell of Oliver Reed's antics on the set of Venom (1981), a silly thriller involving a poisonous snake and Forbes-Robertson as an unfortunate policeman. He was pleased to have been in Number 36 (2004), an independently made horror movie, but became increasingly frail. His last work came in a retrospective documentary, The Legend Of Hammer - Vampires (2007).

Off screen, Forbes-Robertson lived in Hanwell, west London. A familiar sight at the antique market in Portobello Road, he was also a keen sailor. Although he did not marry, it was claimed that he dated all the Windmill Theatre's showgirls at some stage. He is survived by two nephews and two nieces.

John Forbes-Robertson, actor, born May 10 1928; died May 14 2008

batman

RIP sir.

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m35541

Although playing Dracula in Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires is his most famous role he was actually dubbed in it by David de Keyser.