Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Frederic Forrest

  • Actor
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Frederic Forrest
Home Video Trailer from Avalanche
Play trailer1:37
Militia (2000)
20 Videos
29 Photos
Frederic Forrest, the Oscar-nominated character actor, was born two days before Christmas Day in 1936 in Waxahachie, Texas, the same home town as director Robert Benton. Forrest had long wanted to be an actor, but he was so nervous that he ran out of auditions for school plays. Later, at Texas Christian University, he took a minor in theater arts while majoring in radio and television studies. His parents opposed his aspirations as a thespian as it was a precarious existence, but he moved on to New York and studied with renowned acting teacher Sanford Meisner. He eventually became an observer at the Actors Studio, where he was tutored by Lee Strasberg. During this time, he supported himself as a page at the NBC Studios in Rockefeller Plaza.

His theatrical debut was in the Off-Broadway production of "Viet-Rock", an anti-war play featuring music. He became part of avant-garde director Tom O'Horgan's stock company at La Mama, appearing in the infamous "Futz", among other productions. After starring in the off-Broadway play "Silhouettes", Forrest moved with the production to Los Angeles, intent on breaking into movies. While the production ran for three months and was visited by agents bird-dogging new talent, Forrest got no offers and had to support himself as a pizza-baker after the show closed. Eventually, he began auditing classes at Actors Studio West, and director Stuart Millar saw him in a student showcase production of Clifford Odets' "Watiting for Lefty" and cast him in When the Legends Die (1972). He copped a 1973 Golden Globe nomination as "Most Promising Newcomer - Male" for the role.

Forrest landed a small but very important part in "Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974). He and Cindy Williams are the two people having that titular conversation (recorded by Gene Hackman: so Forrest's voice is heard throughout the film). And Coppola wasn't done with him! Playing "Chef" in Apocalypse Now (1979) garnered Forrest the best notices of his career, and he parlayed that into Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations as Best Supporting Actor for The Rose (1979), his second hit that year. He was named Best Supporting Actor by the National Society of Film Critics for both films. Then he was cast as the star in Coppola's "One From The Heart". In Apocalypse Now (1979), his character ("Chef") is yelling for the Playboy Playmates from the crowd, one of whom is played by Colleen Camp, who, four years later, would play his hippie wife in the film Valley Girl (1983).
BornDecember 23, 1936
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornDecember 23, 1936
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Nominated for 1 Oscar

Photos29

Frederic Forrest in Apocalypse Now (1979)
Miranda Richardson and Frederic Forrest in Die Kinder (1990)
Miranda Richardson and Frederic Forrest in Die Kinder (1990)
Frederic Forrest and Cindy Williams in The Conversation (1974)
Frederic Forrest and Cindy Williams in The Conversation (1974)
Frederic Forrest and Cindy Williams in The Conversation (1974)
Christian Slater, Jeff Bridges, Elias Koteas, Frederic Forrest, and Mako in Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
Laurence Fishburne, Frederic Forrest, and Sam Bottoms in Apocalypse Now (1979)
Laurence Fishburne, Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest, and Sam Bottoms in Apocalypse Now (1979)
Nastassja Kinski and Frederic Forrest in One from the Heart (1981)
Nastassja Kinski, Teri Garr, Raul Julia, and Frederic Forrest in One from the Heart (1981)
Dennis Hopper, Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest, and Sam Bottoms in Apocalypse Now (1979)

Known for

Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now (1979)
Apocalypse Now
8.5
  • Jay 'Chef' Hicks
  • 1979
Gene Hackman in The Conversation (1974)
The Conversation
7.8
  • Mark
  • 1974
Michael Douglas in Falling Down (1993)
Falling Down
7.6
  • Surplus Store Owner
  • 1993
The Rose (1979)
The Rose
6.9
  • Dyer
  • 1979

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actor

  • Sean Penn in All the King's Men (2006)
    All the King's Men
    • (as Frederic F. Forrest)
  • The Quality of Light (2003)
    The Quality of Light
  • Path to War (2002)
    Path to War
  • Theresa Russell, Sean Young, and James Russo in The House Next Door (2002)
    The House Next Door
  • Militia (2000)
    Militia
  • The Spreading Ground (2000)
    The Spreading Ground
  • Tyne Daly, Frederic Forrest, Robert Breuler, Marc Grapey, Rebecca Harrell Tickell, and Andreas Katsulas in A Piece of Eden (2000)
    A Piece of Eden
  • Shadow Hours (2000)
    Shadow Hours
  • Graham Greene in Shadow Lake (1999)
    Shadow Lake
  • Amy Jo Johnson in Sweetwater (1999)
    Sweetwater
  • Implicated (1998)
    Implicated
  • Clara Bellar in The First 9 1/2 Weeks (1998)
    The First 9 1/2 Weeks
  • Black Thunder (1998)
    Black Thunder
  • Whatever (1998)
    Whatever
  • Point Blank (1998)
    Point Blank

Videos20

Music Box
Clip 1:18
Music Box
Trailer
Trailer 1:45
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:25
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:03
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:45
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:01
Official Trailer
Trailer [OV]
Trailer 2:31
Trailer [OV]
The Conversation
Trailer 1:56
The Conversation
It Lives Again
Trailer 0:37
It Lives Again
Whatever
Trailer 1:52
Whatever
Implicated
Trailer 0:44
Implicated
Tucker: The Man and His Dream
Trailer 1:56
Tucker: The Man and His Dream

Personal details

Edit
    • December 23, 1936
    • Waxahachie, Texas, USA
    • Marilu HennerSeptember 28, 1980 - 1983 (divorced)
  • Other works
    Stage: Appeared in "Viet-Rock", off-Broadway.
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Article

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Acted in two movies with Robert Duvall, Apocalypse Now (1979), and Falling Down (1993); however, their characters do not interact or share scenes. Also acted with Robert Duvall in the miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989).
  • Quotes
    It's a continual problem when you don't have the lead. There's always the possibility you'll get cut; you have no control. If there's a scene with a character who isn't the lead and if it threatens the main story or detracts from it in any way, it doesn't make a difference how good it is. It goes.
    • Tattoo of Iron Cross

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.