by Howard Campbell
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Leonie Forbes, widely regarded as the queen of Jamaican theater, died here October 25 at the University Hospital of the West Indies at age 85. No cause of death has been given.
Forbes started her career 60 years ago in the play, Busha And Blue Beard. She went on to a stellar career on stage, in films and television.
“Any role she took on she threw herself into it. Leonie never sold her audience short, she felt if people paid to see her they deserved the best show,” said playwright Basil Dawkins.
Forbes appeared in Toy Boy and Champagne And Sky Juice, plays that helped put Dawkins on the map as a writer in the 1980s. She also starred in 12 pantomimes, and movies including Children of Babylon, Milk And Honey and Club Paradise alongside Robin Williams and Peter O’Toole.
In 1980’s Children of Babylon, Forbes’ role was Dorcas, an insecure housekeeper. That film was directed by Lennie Little-White, who hailed Forbes as “the consummate professional.”
He added that, “Despite her accomplishments in local and international film, television, theater and radio, “Leonie was the epitome of humility.”
Born in Kingston, Forbes started her career as a journalist in 1959 at the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation. She worked there for the next 30 years and established herself as one of the Caribbean’s leading broadcasters.
Along with legendary folklorist/actor Louise “Miss Lou” Bennett-Coverley, Lois Kelly-Miller and Charles Hyatt, Forbes featured in many plays that helped define modern Jamaican theater.
Dawkins said he and Forbes kept in regular contact. He last saw her in August when she attended “Hide Her Husband”, his latest play, which ran in Kingston.
“Leonie was a lady of excellence, that’s the best way I can describe her. She was excellent in everything she did.”
