Forrest Compton

American supporting actor, on screen from 1954. A chemist's son, he was raised in Pennsylvania and saw action in France during World War II with the 103rd Infantry Division. After demobilisation, he studied acting at Swarthmore College and then spent three years at Yale Drama School (graduating with a Master of Fine Arts) where his classmates included future star Paul Newman. Compton's first screen work consisted of TV commercials for cheese crackers. In 1957, he moved to Los Angeles and began acting in serial television, usually typecast as uniformed army types. He had a recurring role as Lt. Col. Edward Gray, the base commander in Gomer Pyle: USMC (1964), appearing in some 41 episodes. He also played Capt. Chester Albertson in the season two opener of The Invaders (1967) and essayed assorted German officers in the spoof Hogan's Heroes (1965). In 1971, Compton found a regular niche on daytime television as the central protagonist in the long-running soap The Edge of Night (1956). For thirteen years and spanning 430 episodes he became the third actor to portray crime fighting district attorney Mike Karr. Compton retired in 2002 and moved to Shelter Island, New York, where he died on April 4 2020 at the age of 94.