Robert Forster

Name at birth: Robert Wallace Forster, Jr.

American actor Robert Forster was a nearly-forgotten veteran of TV and movies when he was picked for the role of a compassionate bail bondsman in the Quentin Tarantino film Jackie Brown (1997). Forster was nominated for an Oscar and his career was given a shot in the arm. He got his start on the stage in the early 1960s, and his performance in a 1965 New York production of A Streetcar Named Desire led to his first movie role, with Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando in 1967's Reflections in a Golden Eye. After a few good movies, including 1969's Medium Cool, Forster kept working, but often appeared in small roles on TV or bigger roles in B movies. Then came Jackie Brown, providing a new career and a new generation of fans. Forster went on to appear in The Descendants (2011, starring George Clooney), Mulholland Drive (2001, directed by David Lynch) and What They Had (2018). On television, Forster appeared in Heroes (2007-08), the reboot of Twin Peaks (2017) and the Tim Allen comedy series Last Man Standing (2011-19). His final appearance on television premiered the day he died, the 2019 movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.