Robert Forster

Robert Wallace Foster Jr., known professionally as Robert Forster, was an American actor. He made his screen debut as Private L.G. Williams in John Huston's Reflections in a Golden Eye, followed by a starring role as news reporter John Cassellis in the landmark New Hollywood film Medium Cool. For his portrayal of bail bondsman Max Cherry in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Forster played a variety of both leading and supporting roles in over 100 films, including Captain Dan Holland in The Black Hole, Detective David Madison in Alligator, Abdul Rafai in The Delta Force, Colonel Partington in Me, Myself & Irene, Scott Thorson in The Descendants, General Edward Clegg in Olympus Has Fallen and its sequel London Has Fallen, Norbert Everhardt in What They Had, and Sheriff Hadley in The Wolf of Snow Hollow.
He also had prominent roles in television series such as Banyon, Nakia, Karen Sisco, Heroes, Twin Peaks: The Return and the Breaking Bad episode "Granite State" as Ed "The Disappearer" Galbraith, for which he won the Saturn Award for Best Guest Starring Role on Television. He reprised the role in the film El Camino: A [Breaking Bad Movie] and Better Call Saul.

Early life

Forster was born and raised in Rochester, New York. His mother was Italian American, while his father was of English and Irish descent. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from the University of Rochester. He performed in a number of plays in college, and decided to become an actor.
Forster added an "R" to his surname as there was another member of the Screen Actors Guild named Robert Foster.

Career

Early stardom

Forster made his Broadway debut in 1965 in Mrs. Dally Had a Lover, opposite Arlene Francis and Ralph Meeker. He also starred in productions of Come Blow Your Horn, The Big Knife, and The Glass Menagerie.
Forster's movie career began strongly, when John Huston cast him in the important role of Private Williams in Reflections in a Golden Eye, opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando. The movie featured a famous scene where Forster rode naked on a horse. Forster also appeared in episodes of the TV series N.Y.P.D., Judd for the Defense and Premiere, the latter also featuring Dustin Hoffman and Sally Kellerman. Forster was then cast in another key role in an important movie: part-Indian Army scout Nick Tana in Robert Mulligan's The Stalking Moon ; he was billed third, after Gregory Peck and Eva Marie Saint.
Forster had a key support role in Justine, directed by George Cukor and starring Dirk Bogarde, which was a huge flop. He starred in the critically acclaimed film Medium Cool, which was also a big hit commercially.
Forster played a tormented priest in Pieces of Dreams and a student filmmaker in Cover Me Babe, which was a box office flop. He was cast in the pilot for a TV series Banyon, playing a private eye in late 1930s in Los Angeles. then starred in Journey Through Rosebud which was not released theatrically. He directed for the Rochester Community Theatre.
A year after the pilot for Banyon was made, it was picked up for a series but had only a short run. After this cancellation Forster said his career "started to slip and then it slipped and then it slipped."
In 1973, he briefly returned to Broadway playing Stanley Kowalski in a revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite Julie Harris. He also played Juror No. 3 in the first New York stage production of Twelve Angry Men at the Queens Playhouse.

Career slump

After a support part in The Don Is Dead, Forster starred in the TV movie The Death Squad then another short-lived TV series, Nakia, playing a Navajo detective.
Forster guest starred on shows such as Medical Story, Gibbsville and Police Story and played the lead in the TV movies Royce, The City, Standing Tall and The Darker Side of Terror. He toured in a stage production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and appeared in The Sea Horse on stage in Louisville.
Forster moved into lower-budgeted movies, starring in Stunts for Mark L. Lester and Avalanche, the latter opposite Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow for Roger Corman's New World Pictures. Also for New World, Forster had an unbilled cameo in The Lady in Red. This was written by John Sayles and directed by Lewis Teague who later collaborated on Alligator, which starred Forster. He played a key support role in Disney's The Black Hole.
Throughout the 1980s Forster alternated between television and low budget films. He was in the comedy Heartbreak High, and the action films Vigilante, Walking the Edge, The Delta Force, and Counterforce. He wrote, starred in, produced and directed Hollywood Harry, in which he invested all his savings. That year he stated "Not one of my movies made a dime. I've never had anything that approached a hit in my entire career of 15 movies and a lot of TV shows."
Forster appeared in the thrillers Satan's Princess and The Banker, the mini series Goliath Awaits, and episodes of Magnum, P.I., Tales from the Darkside, Hotel, Crossbow, and Jesse Hawkes. He was in the TV movie Mick and Frankie.
Forster's films by this stage were almost entirely low budget ones: Peacemaker, Checkered Flag, Countdown to Esmeralda Bay, Long Way Back, Committed, Diplomatic Immunity, 29th Street, In Between, In the Shadow of a Killer, Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence, South Beach, American Yakuza, Cover Story , Point of Seduction: Body Chemistry III, Scanner Cop II, Guns & Lipstick, The Method, Original Gangstas, Uncle Sam, Hindsight and American Perfekt.
He appeared in series such as Jake and the Fatman, P.S.I. Luv U, Silk Stalkings, Murder, She Wrote, One West Waikiki and Walker, Texas Ranger.

''Jackie Brown'' and later work

Forster appeared in Jackie Brown as bail bondsman Max Cherry, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1997. Jackie Brown revitalized Forster's career, an effect that occurred for many actors appearing in Quentin Tarantino films. He subsequently had consistent work in the film industry, appearing in Like Mike, Mulholland Drive, Supernova, Me, Myself & Irene, Human Natyre, Confidence, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Lucky Number Slevin, and Firewall.
Forster continued to appear in lower budgeted productions like Night Vision along with the remakes of Rear Window and Psycho.
He appeared in the made-for-television movie The Hunt for the BTK Killer, as the detective intent on capturing serial killer Dennis Rader. Forster also played the father of Van on the short-lived Fox series Fastlane.
Forster recorded a public service announcement for Deejay Ra's Hip-Hop Literacy campaign, encouraging reading of books by Elmore Leonard, whose book Rum Punch was adapted as Jackie Brown.
He appeared in the hit NBC series Heroes as Arthur Petrelli, the father of Nathan and Peter Petrelli, as well as the Emmy Award-winning AMC crime drama Breaking Bad as Walter White's new-identity specialist Ed Galbraith. He played Bud Baxter, father to Tim Allen's Mike Baxter, on the ABC hit comedy Last Man Standing. Forster was also a motivational speaker.
He was the first choice to play Sheriff Harry S. Truman in David Lynch's Twin Peaks, but had to turn it down due to a prior commitment to a different television pilot, and was replaced by Michael Ontkean. He appeared in Lynch's Mulholland Drive, a pilot for a TV series that was not picked up but was later turned into a critically acclaimed movie, and finally appeared in Twin Peaks, playing the brother of Sheriff Harry S. Truman, Sheriff Frank Truman, in Twin Peaks: The Return, when Ontkean was not available to reprise his role.
About this, Forster said: "David Lynch, what a good guy he is. He wanted to hire me for the original, 25 years ago, for a part, and I was committed to another guy for a pilot that never went. So I didn't do the original Twin Peaks, which would have been a life-changer. It's a gigantic hit if you remember those years, a phenomenon. But I didn't do that. And this time, I got a call from my agents and they said, David Lynch is going to call you. When he called me five minutes later, he said, "I'd like you to come and work with me again." And I said, 'Whatever it is, David, here I come!'"
Forster appeared in the TV series Alcatraz.
His final movie appearance was
in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, reprising the character of Ed the "Disappearer" from the Breaking Bad series. He died on the day the movie was released. According to Aaron Paul, they spoke on the day of his death. Forster had been able to see the film. Four months later, Forster again appeared posthumously as Ed in episode "Magic Man" of the fifth season of Better Call Saul. The episode ended with a dedication to "our friend Robert Forster." He also appeared in an episode "Dynoman and The Volt" of the rebooted Amazing Stories television series before his death; the episode was dedicated to Forster.

Personal life

Forster was married to June Foster from 1966 to 1975. The couple had met at their alma mater, the University of Rochester. The marriage produced three daughters. Robert was married to Zivia Forster from 1978 to 1980. He also had a son from a previous relationship. From 2004 to the time of his death, his longtime partner was Denise Grayson. He was a member of the high-IQ Triple Nine Society.

Death

In June 2019, Forster was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and he died from the disease at his home in Los Angeles on October 11, 2019, at the age of 78, on the day El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie was released, hours after watching it.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1967	Reflections in a Golden Eye	Private L.G. Williams
1968	The Stalking Moon	Nick Tana
1969	Justine	Narouz
1969	Medium Cool	John Cassellis
1970	Pieces of Dreams	Gregory Lind
1970	Cover Me Babe	Tony Hall
1972	Journey Through Rosebud	Frank
1973	The Don Is Dead	Frank Regalbuto
1977	Stunts	Glen Wilson
1978	Avalanche	Nick Thorne
1979	The Lady in Red	'Turk'	Uncredited
1979	The Black Hole	Captain Dan Holland
1980	Alligator	Detective David Madison
1981	Heartbreak High	Coach Alan Arnoldi
1983	Vigilante	Eddie Marino
1985	Walking the Edge	Jason Walk
1986	The Delta Force	Abdul Rafai
1986	Hollywood Harry	Harry Petry	Also producer and director
1988	Counterforce	The Dictator
1989	Satan's Princess	Lou Cherney
1989	The Banker	Dan Jefferson
1989	Esmeralda Bay	Madero
1990	Peacemaker	Yates
1991	Committed	Dr. Desmond Moore
1991	Checkered Flag	Jack Cotton
1991	Diplomatic Immunity	Stonebridge
1991	29th Street	Sergeant Tartaglia
1991	In Between	Vinnie
1993	Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence	Dr. Powell
1993	South Beach	Detective Ted Coleman
1993	American Yakuza	Littman
1993	Cover Story	Therapist
1994	Point of Seduction: Body Chemistry III	Bob Sibley
1995	Scanners: The Showdown	Captain Jack Bitters
1995	Guns and Lipstick	Captain Dimaggio
1996	The Method	Christian's Father
1996	Original Gangstas	Detective Slatten
1996	Uncle Sam	Congressman Alvin Cummings
1996	Hindsight	Michael Donahue
1997	American Perfekt	Jake Nyman
1997	Demolition University	Gentry
1997	Jackie Brown	Max Cherry
1997	Night Vision	Teak Taylor
1998	Psycho	Dr. Fred Simon
1998	Outside Ozona	Odell Parks
1999	It's the Rage	Tyler
1999	Family Tree	Henry Musser
1999	Kiss Toledo Goodbye	Sal Fortuna
2000	Supernova	A.J. Marley
2000	The Magic of Marciano	Henry
2000	Lakeboat	Joe Litko
2000	Cowboys and Angels	Barbequeman At Wedding	Uncredited
2000	Me, Myself & Irene	Colonel Partington
2000	Diamond Men	Eddie Miller	Also executive producer
2001	Mulholland Drive	Detective Harry McKnight
2001	Human Nature	Nathan's Father
2001	Finder's Fee	Officer Campbell
2002	Lone Hero	Gus
2002	Strange Hearts	Jack Waters
2002	Like Mike	Coach Wagner
2003	Confidence	Morgan Price
2003	Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle	Roger Wixon
2003	Grand Theft Parsons	Stanley Parsons
2006	Firewall	Harry Romano
2006	Lucky Number Slevin	Murphy
2006	Wild Seven	Wilson
2007	Rise: Blood Hunter	Lloyd
2007	D-War	Jack Wilson
2007	Cleaner	Arlo Grange
2008	Expecting Love	George Patten
2008	Jack and Jill vs. the World	Norman / Narrator	Uncredited
2008	Touching Home	Jim 'Perk' Perkins
2009	Thick as Thieves	Lieutenant Sam Weber
2009	Ghosts of Girlfriends Past	Sergeant Mervis Volkom
2009	Middle Men	Louie 'La-La'
2010	The Bannen Way	Mr. B
2010	The Trial	Ray
2010	Kalamity	Tom Klepack
2011	Girl Walks into a Bar	Dodge
2011	The Descendants	Scott Thorson
2012	Hotel Noir	Jim Logan
2013	Olympus Has Fallen	General Edward Clegg
2013	Coffee, Kill Boss	Walt Ford
2013	Somewhere Slow	Chris McConville
2014	Autómata	Robert Bold
2015	Survivor	Bill Talbot
2015	Too Late	Gordy Lyons
2015	The Adventures of Biffle and Shooster	James Burke / Lieutenant Frank Murphy
2016	London Has Fallen	General Edward Clegg
2016	The Confirmation	Otto
2016	The American Side	Sterling Whitmore
2016	Bus Driver	General Sorbin
2017	Small Town Crime	Steve Yendel
2017	Small Crimes	Joe Denton Sr.
2017	The Case for Christ	Walter Strobel
2017	Acts of Vengeance	Chuck
2018	What They Had	Norbert Everhardt
2018	Damsel	Old Preacher
2018	The Big Take	Detective Aborn
2018	Bigger	Joe
2019	Phil	Bing Fisk
2019	El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie	Ed Galbraith
2019	QT8: The First Eight	Himself	Documentary; Posthumous release
2020	The Wolf of Snow Hollow	Sheriff Hadley	Posthumous release
2021	Grave Intentions	Don Whalen	Segment: "The Bridge Partner"; Posthumous release; Final film role