Scott Forbes

Conrad Scott Forbes was born on 11 September 1920 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, and died on 25 February 1997 in Swindon, Wiltshire, at the age of 76. He attended Repton before reading Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Balliol College, Oxford, and worked for the Ministry of Defence prior to pursuing a career in performance. He became known professionally as Scott Forbes, though in his later work as a screenwriter he used the credit C. Scott Forbes.

Forbes began his acting career in the 1940s under the name Julian Dallas, appearing in a series of British films including Night Boat to Dublin (1946), Mrs. Fitzherbert (1947), But Not in Vain (1948), This Was a Woman (1948), and The Reluctant Widow (1950). During this same period he worked on the stage under the name Julian Dallas, spending a year with the Liverpool Old Vic and appearing in London productions including The Cradle Song, directed by John Gielgud.

After relocating to the United States, Forbes secured film work at Warner Bros., where he was cast primarily in action roles in pictures such as Rocky Mountain (1950) and Operation Pacific (1951). Television offered him more varied material. He played Maxim de Winter in a 1952 live broadcast of Rebecca for the Broadway Television Theatre, and the following year portrayed the Duke of Cornwall in Peter Brook's television adaptation of King Lear, with Orson Welles in the title role. He also appeared in The Deep Six, a 1953 installment of NBC's Robert Montgomery Presents, which became one of his more recognized television performances.

On Broadway, Forbes appeared in two plays alongside Cedric Hardwicke, one of which Hardwicke directed. Horses in Midstream ran for four performances in 1953, and The Burning Glass followed in 1954 with twenty-eight performances. In the 1955–56 season Forbes guest starred in NBC's western anthology series Frontier, hosted by Walter Coy, and appeared in an episode of ABC's G.E. Summer Originals in the summer of 1956.

In 1956 Forbes took the title role in ABC's The Adventures of Jim Bowie, a historically based series that attracted a large audience among younger viewers. To prepare for the part, he trained with Jeanne Moody, a former Miss Alabama, to develop a convincing Southern accent; the two had married in 1954. The series brought Forbes considerable public recognition but subsequently made it difficult for him to be cast in other roles. After Jim Bowie concluded its two-year run in 1958, he continued to appear in American television, including a guest role in Black Saddle on 21 March 1959 and an appearance on 3 December 1959 in the CBS series Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, in the episode Rebel Ranger, in which he played homesteader Cass Taggart opposite Joan Crawford.

Forbes returned to Great Britain after Jim Bowie ended and became a regular presence in British television dramas. In 1963 he played the lead in the world premiere of Harold Pinter's play The Lover on the London stage. Pinter's encouragement led Forbes toward writing, and in 1964 his own play, The Meter Man, was produced; it was subsequently adapted into the film The Penthouse. He continued working as both a screenwriter and television actor into the 1970s, receiving his screenwriting credits as C. Scott Forbes, including the film Perfect Friday (1970). In his later years he withdrew from public life and devoted his time to writing and classical music.