Steve Forrest (born William Forrest Andrews; September 29, 1925 – May 18, 2013) was an American actor who was well known for his role as Lt. Hondo Harrelson in the hit television series '' S.W.A.T.'', which was broadcast on ABC from 1975 to 1976. He was also known for his performance in ''

Mommie Dearest ''Mommie Dearest'' is a memoir and exposé written by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of Academy Award winning actress Joan Crawford. Officially released by William Morrow and Company on November 10, 1978 (though thousands of copies ha ...

'' (1981).

Early years

Forrest was born William Forrest Andrews in Huntsville, Texas, the 12th of 13 children of Annis (née Speed) and Charles Forrest Andrews, a Baptist minister. One of his older brothers was film star

Dana Andrews Carver Dana Andrews (January 1, 1909 – December 17, 1992) was an American film actor who became a major star in what is now known as film noir and later in Western films. A leading man during the 1940s, he continued acting in less prestigio ...

. Forrest enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

at the age of 18 and fought in the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive or Unternehmen Die Wacht am Rhein, Wacht am Rhein, was the last major German Offensive (military), offensive Military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1950, he earned a bachelor's degree with honors from

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

, majoring in theater with a minor in psychology.

Career

Forrest worked as a stagehand at the La Jolla Playhouse outside

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. There

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 12th-greatest male ...

discovered him, cast him in

La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. The climate is mild, with an average daily temperature o ...

's production of ''Goodbye Again'', and then arranged for Forrest's first screen test with

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, where he was signed to a contract. Among Forrest's notable films were '' So Big'', for which he won the

Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor The Golden Globe for New Star of the Year – Actor was an award given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at their annual Golden Globe Award, Golden Globe Awards. History The award was first introduced at the 6th Golden Globe Awards in ...

, '' The Longest Day'', '' North Dallas Forty'', and ''

''. He had

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

s in the comedies ''

Spies Like Us ''Spies Like Us'' is a 1985 American spy comedy film directed by John Landis, and starring Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest, and Donna Dixon. The film presents the comic adventures of two novice intelligence agents sent to the Soviet ...

'' and '' Amazon Women on the Moon'', and the 2003 film version of '' S.W.A.T.'' Forrest was also a trained vocalist, and he made his debut on Broadway as boxer Bob Stanton in the 1958 production of the Harnick and Bock musical '' The Body Beautiful'' opposite Mindy Carson,

Jack Warden Jack Warden (born John Warden Lebzelter Jr.; September 18, 1920July 19, 2006) was an American actor who worked in film and television. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Shampoo (film), Shampoo'' (1975) and '' ...

and

Brock Peters Brock Peters (born George Fisher; July 2, 1927 – August 23, 2005) was an American actor, best known for playing the villainous "Crown" in the 1959 film version of ''Porgy and Bess'', and Tom Robinson in the 1962 film ''To Kill a Mockingbird ...

. Forrest played later

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

William Borah in the 1963 episode "The Lion of Idaho" of the

syndicated television Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States whe ...

anthology series An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different ca ...

Death Valley Days ''Death Valley Days'' is an American Western (genre), Western anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was ...

''. In the storyline, Borah as a young attorney defends a woman in

Nampa, Idaho Nampa () is the most populous city in Canyon County, Idaho, United States. The population was 100,200 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is Idaho's List of cities in Idaho, third-most populous city. Nampa is about west of Boise, Id ...

, on a

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

charge. In 1965, Forrest and his family moved to London, where he starred as John Mannering in the title role of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

'' The Baron''. His other television credits included '' The DuPont Show with June Allyson'', ''

Storefront Lawyers ''Storefront Lawyers'' (also known as ''Men at Law'') is an American legal drama that ran from September 1970 to January 1971 and February 1971 to March 1971 on CBS. The series starred Robert Foxworth, Sheila Larken, David Arkin, and A Mart ...

'', '' S.W.A.T.'', '' Hollywood Wives'', and

Rod Serling Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter and television producer best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his Anthology series, anthology television series ''The Twilight Zone (1 ...

's hour-long '' Twilight Zone'' episode "

The Parallel "The Parallel" is episode 113 of the American television anthology series '' The Twilight Zone''. In this episode an astronaut returns from a voyage to find the world not quite the same as he remembers it. It was an early example of the concept ...

", as well as Serling's ''

Night Gallery ''Night Gallery'' is an American anthology television series that aired on NBC from December 16, 1970, to May 27, 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, '' The Twilight Zon ...

'' segment "The Waiting Room". On a 1969 episode of ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centered on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central charact ...

'' titled "Mannon", he portrayed Will Mannon — one of the very few men ever to outdraw

Matt Dillon Matthew Raymond Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild Award and two Independent Spirit Awards alongside nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, ...

— then reprised the character 18 years later for the 1987 television film '' Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge'' with James Arness.

Jock Ewing John Ross "Jock" Ewing Sr. (1909–1982) is a fictional character in the American television series ''Dallas'' created by David Jacobs. Jock was played by Jim Davis in the show's first four seasons from 1978 to 1981, and as a young man by Dale ...

, the character played by Jim Davis in the television series ''

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

'' from 1978 to 1981, was presumed to have been killed in a helicopter crash during the 1981–1982 season, although Jock's body was never found. This storyline was written into the series script on account of Davis' real-life death. In 1986

Lorimar Television Lorimar Television, formerly Lorimar Productions, Inc. and Lorimar Distribution, was an American production company that was later a subsidiary of Warner Bros., active from 1969

, now renamed Lorimar Tele-Pictures, extended Forrest's contract from the 1985–1986 season of "Dallas" (the " Dream Season"), during which he had played the character Ben Stivers. They brought him back as a similar character renamed Wes Parmalee, who would be revealed to actually be Jock Ewing, in the 1986-1987 season. While the season was still in production, the news leaked that Forrest would be playing the new Jock Ewing. Fans of the show believed the new storyline was disrespectful to the memory of Davis. Lorimar was forced to drop the Wes Parmalee character and change the story outcome. In 1953, he earned the Most Promising Newcomer award from the Golden Globes for his performance in the Warner Bros. film ''So Big''. In a career that spanned six decades, among films he appeared in were ''Prisoner of War'' (1954), ''The Living Idol'' (1957), ''Flaming Star'' (1960), ''The Longest Day'' (1962), ''Rascal'' (1969), ''The Wild Country'' (1970), ''North Dallas Forty'' (1979), ''Mommie Dearest'' (1981), ''Sahara'' (1983), ''Amazon Women on the Moon'' (1987) and ''S.W.A.T.'' (2003). Among television series in which he was featured were ''Playhouse 90'', ''Outlaws'', ''Death Valley Days'', ''The Virginian'', ''Rawhide'', ''Bonanza'', ''Insight'', ''Alias Smith and Jones'', ''Ironside'', ''Night Gallery'', ''Medical Center'', ''The Rookies'', ''Dallas'', and several different roles on ''Murder, She Wrote''. However, his most memorable television role was that of Lt. Dan "Hondo" Harrelson on ''S.W.A.T.'' from 1975 through 1976.

Personal life

Forrest married Christine Carilas on December 23, 1948. They had three sons: Michael, Forrest, and Stephen. An avid and accomplished golfer, Forrest often played in charity tournaments. He competed in 1976, for example, on the U.S. team at the

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

Great Britain vs. U.S.A. Tournament, which was held that year in Scotland at Gleneagles. Forrest died of natural causes on May 18, 2013, in

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, located in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles. Approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, it is named after the many oak trees pr ...

, aged 87.

Partial filmography

*'' The Ghost Ship'' (1943) as Sailor (uncredited) *'' Sealed Cargo'' (1951) as Holtz (uncredited) (this film starred his brother

) *'' Geisha Girl'' (1952) as Rocky Wilson *''

The Bad and the Beautiful ''The Bad and the Beautiful'' is a 1952 American melodrama film that tells the story of a film producer who alienates everyone around him. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli, written by George Bradshaw and Charles Schnee, and stars Lan ...

'' (1952) as Actor in Georgia's Screen Test (uncredited) *'' The Clown'' (1953) as Young Man *'' Last of the Comanches'' (1953) as Lieutenant Floyd (uncredited) *'' Battle Circus'' (1953) as Sergeant *'' I Love Melvin'' (1953) as Photographer on Crane (uncredited) *'' Dream Wife'' (1953) as Louis *''

The Band Wagon ''The Band Wagon'' is a 1953 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. The plot follows an aging musical star who hopes a Broadway show will revive his career, but the play ...

'' (1953) as Passenger on Train (uncredited) *'' So Big'' (1953) as Dirk DeJong *'' Take the High Ground!'' (1953) as Lobo Naglaski *'' Phantom of the Rue Morgue'' (1954) as Professor Paul Dupin *''

Prisoner of War A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

'' (1954) as Corporal Joseph Robert Stanton *'' Rogue Cop'' (1954) as Eddie Kelvaney *'' The Long Gray Line'' (1955) as Sergeant (uncredited) *'' Bedevilled'' (1955) as Gregory Fitzgerald *'' Meet Me in Las Vegas'' (1956) as Steve Forrest (uncredited) *'' The Living Idol'' (1957) as Terry Matthews *''

Alfred Hitchcock Presents ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' is an American television anthology series created, hosted and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, airing on CBS and NBC, alternately, between 1955 and 1965. It features dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. Between 1962 ...

'' (TV series) (1957) (Season 2 Episode 22: "The End of Indian Summer") as Joe Rogers *''

'' (TV series) (1958) (Season 3 Episode 33: "Post Mortem") as Steve Archer *'' It Happened to Jane'' (1959) as Lawrence Clay "Larry" Hall *'' Heller in Pink Tights'' (1960) as Clint Mabry *'' Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre'' (1960, TV series) as Mike Bagley *'' Five Branded Women'' (1960) as Sargeant Paul Keller *''

Flaming Star ''Flaming Star'' is a 1960 American Western film starring Elvis Presley, Barbara Eden, and Steve Forrest, based on the book ''Flaming Lance'' (1958) by Clair Huffaker. Critics agreed that Presley gave one of his better acting performances as ...

'' (1960) as Clint Burton *'' The Second Time Around'' (1961) as Dan Jones *'' The Longest Day'' (1962) as Captain Harding *''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

'' (1963, TV series) as Major Robert Gaines *''

The Yellow Canary ''The Yellow Canary'' is a 1963 American thriller film directed by Buzz Kulik and starring Pat Boone and Barbara Eden. It was adapted by Rod Serling from a novel by Whit Masterson, who also wrote the novel that was the basis for Orson Welles' '' ...

'' (1963) as Hub Wiley *'' The Virginian'' (1963–1964, TV series) as James Templeton / Roger Layton *'' 12 O'Clock High'' (1965, TV series) as Major Peter Gray *''

Rawhide Rawhide may refer to: *Rawhide (material), a hide or animal skin that has not been tanned * Whip made from rawhide Entertainment * ''Rawhide'' (1926 film), a Western directed by Richard Thorpe * ''Rawhide'' (1938 film), a Western starring baseball ...

'' (1965, TV series) as Cable *'' The Fugitive'' (1965, TV series) as Barry Craft *'' Burke's Law'' (1965, TV series) as Jocko Creighton *'' The Baron'' (1966–1967, TV series) as John Mannering 'The Baron' *''

Cimarron Strip ''Cimarron Strip'' is an American Western television series starring Stuart Whitman as Marshal Jim Crown. The series was produced by the creators of ''Gunsmoke'' and aired on CBS from September 1967 to March 1968. Reruns of the original show w ...

'' (1967–1968, TV series) as Clayton Tyce / Wiley Harpe *''

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running Western, the second-longest-running Western series on ...

'' (1967-1969, TV series) as Dan Logan / Josh Tanner *'' Rascal'' (1969) as Willard North *''

'' (1970–1973, TV series) as Scott Coltrane / Cord Wrecken / Cole Morgan / Will Mannon *'' The High Chaparral'' (1970, TV series) as Johnny Rondo *'' The F.B.I.'' (1970) as Lee Barrington *'' The Wild Country'' (1970) as Jim Tanner *'' The Late Liz'' (1971) as Jim Hatch *'' Mission: Impossible'' (1971, TV series) as Edward Granger *'' Nichols'' (1971, TV series) as Sam Yeager *''

Alias Smith and Jones ''Alias Smith and Jones'' is an American Western television series that originally aired on ABC from January 1971 to January 1973. The show initially starred Pete Duel (and, after Duel's death, Roger Davis) as Hannibal Heyes and Ben Murphy ...

'' (1972, TV series) as Jake Halloran *''

'' (1972, TV series) as Grant Wilson (segment "Hatred Unto Death") / Sam Dichter (segment "The Waiting Room") *''

The Sixth Sense ''The Sixth Sense'' is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist whose patient ( Haley Joel Osment) claims he can see and talk to the dead. Released ...

'' (1972, TV series) as Glenn Tuttle *''

Ghost Story A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...

'' (1972, TV series) as Andrew Alcott *'' Hec Ramsey'' (1972, TV series) as Wes Durham *''

The Streets of San Francisco ''The Streets of San Francisco'' is an American television crime drama filmed on location in San Francisco and produced by Quinn Martin, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros. Television (QM produced the show on its ow ...

'' (1973, TV series) as Art Styles *'' The Hanged Man'' (1974) (TV pilot) as James Devlin *''

The Six Million Dollar Man ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After being seriously injured in a NASA test f ...

'' (1974, TV series) as Quail *''

Cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...

'' (1974, TV series) as Arthur Rogers *'' S.W.A.T.'' (1975–1976, TV series) as Lieutenant Dan "Hondo" Harrelson *''Testimony of Two Men'' (1977, TV series) as Martin Eaton *'' Last of the Mohicans'' (1977, TV movie) as Hawkeye *''Maneaters Are Loose!'' (1978) as David Birk *''The Deerslayer'' (1978) as Hawkeye *''

Captain America Captain America is a superhero created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in '' Captain America Comics'' #1, published on December 20, 1940, by Timely C ...

'' (1979, TV movie) as Lou Brackett *'' North Dallas Forty'' (1979) as Conrad Hunter *''

Condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

'' (1980, TV movie) as Gus Garver *''

'' (1981) as Greg Savitt *''

Hotline A hotline is a Point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point information transfer, communications Data link, link in which a telephone call, call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by t ...

'' (1982, TV movie) as Tom Hunter *'' Malibu'' (1983, TV movie) as Rich Bradley *''

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

'' (1983) as Gordon *'' Hollywood Wives'' (1985, TV series) as Ross Conti *''

'' (1985) as General Sline *''

'' (1985 & 1986, TV series) as Ben Stivers (1985, The Dream Season) & Wes Parmalee (1986) *'' Amazon Women on the Moon'' (1987) as Captain Steve Nelson (segment "Amazon Women on the Moon") *'' Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge'' (1987, TV movie) as Will Mannon *'' Dream On'' (1990, TV series) as Eden Pilott *''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

— Night of the Coyote'' (1992, TV series) *'' Storyville'' (1992) as Judge Quentin Murdoch *'' Columbo: A Bird in the Hand'' (1992) as Big Fred *'' Killer: A Journal of Murder'' (1995) as Warden Charles Casey *'' S.W.A.T.'' (2003) as SWAT Truck Driver (cameo) (final film role)

Radio appearances

References

External links

* *
Obituary - Hollywood Reporter

Obituary - Dignity Memorial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forrest, Steve (actor) 1925 births 2013 deaths 20th-century American male actors 20th-century Baptists 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American male television actors American male stage actors Baptists from Texas Burials at Valley Oaks Memorial Park People from Huntsville, Texas Male actors from Texas Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players Military personnel from Texas New Star of the Year (Actor) Golden Globe winners UCLA Film School alumni United States Army personnel of World War II Western (genre) television actors