Jean Forward(1921-2016)
- Additional Crew
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Jean Forward was born in Oakland, California, the eldest child of
Walter Levi Forward and Harriet (Gould) Forward. Jean graduated from
Oakland High School. By 1939, at age 18, items about her appearances in
various musical productions began appearing in the Oakland Tribune. For
example, on March 6, 1939, Jean appeared in the Players Auditorium in
San Francisco in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Patience" -
alternating in the lead with two other singers. An April 28, 1939 item
listed her as a "young lyric soprano". On October 9, 1941, Jean
welcomed Ezio Pinza, who was to appear in a recital that evening to
open the Oakland Forum's concert series. There is a photograph of Jean
at the piano with Mr. Pinza. He would conclude his tour with an
appearance with the San Francisco Opera Company. In September, 1942,
now 21 and able to vote, Jean and her parents registered to vote in
precinct 1738, Los Angeles County. On July 25, 1943, an item in the
Long Beach (CA)announced a performance of Gounod's "Faust" at the Long
Beach Auditorium. Jean Forward was listed as one of the five
"outstanding resident singers" who were in the production along with
David Laughlin and Jerome Hines. In a June 4,1995, interview with the
Atlanta Journal Constitution (page C/2), Jean's daughter Sherryl Nelson
told of how her mother and David Laughlin fell in love during the
production. Because Jean's mother forbade her from seeing David, they
declared their love as Faust and Marguerite on stage. They were married
not long afterward. In an Internet posting in May, 2011, her son Robert
David Laughlin noted that his parents sang with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic, and after the end of the Second World War, sang for the
USO in the Philippines, Okinawa, and Japan.