Edwin Forrest

(1806 - 1872)

In 1846 American actor Edwin Forrest hissed during an Edinburgh performance of Hamlet starring British actor William Charles Macready. Their feud grew—through published notices in newspapers—exploding on May 7, 1849. Macready was to perform Macbeth at New York’s Astor Place Opera House, but Forrest planned a competing production for the same night. Fights broke out between their fans. On May 10, when Macready attempted a rescheduled performance, a mob gathered. The state militia was summoned and fired into the rioting crowd, killing twenty-two people.