Editing Edwin Forrest (section)

==Early life==
Forrest was born in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], the son of Rebecca (''née'' Lauman) and William Forrest. His father, a [[Scottish people|Scottish]] merchandise peddler, moved from [[Dumfriesshire]] to [[Trenton, New Jersey]] in 1791. His mother was a member of an affluent [[German Americans|German-American]] family. A business setback led William to relocate to Philadelphia, where he married Rebecca and was able to secure a position with a local branch of the [[First Bank of the United States|United States Bank]].<ref name= "Forrest">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofedwinforr00rees|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifeofedwinforr00rees/page/381 381]|last=Rees|first=James|title=The life of Edwin Forrest: With Reminiscences and Personal Recollections|publisher=T. B. Peterson|date=1874|access-date=December 13, 2012}}</ref><ref name= "Edwin Forrest">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/edwinforrest00barriala|quote=edwin forrest  barrett.|last1=Barrett|first1=Lawrence|last2=Forrest|first2=Edwin|title=Edwin Forrest|publisher=J.R. Osgood|date=1881|access-date=December 13, 2012}}</ref> As boys, Forrest and his brother William joined a local [[Amateur theatre|juvenile thespian club]] and participated in theatrical performances staged in a sparsely decorated woodshed.

At the age of 11, Forrest made his first appearance on the legitimate stage at Philadelphia's South Street Theatre, playing the female role Rosalia de Borgia in the John D. Turnbull melodrama ''Rudolph: or, The Robbers of Calabria''. After Forrest's father died in 1819, he attempted to apprentice with a printer, a cooper, and finally a ship chandler. When attending a lecture in early 1820, he volunteered to participate in an experiment on the effects of [[nitrous oxide]]. While under the influence of the gas, he broke into a [[soliloquy]] from [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s [[Richard III (play)|''Richard III'']] that impressed eminent Philadelphia lawyer John Swift so much that Swift arranged an audition at the [[Walnut Street Theatre]]; this led to Forrest's formal stage debut on November 27, 1820, as Young Norval in [[John Home]]'s [[Douglas (play)|''Douglas'']].<ref name= "Forrest" /><ref name= "Edwin Forrest" /><ref>{{cite book|title=The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume IV|chapter=Forrest, Edwin|date=1904|pages=152–3}}</ref>