Justus Miles Forman | |
Birth Date: | 1 November 1875 |
Birth Place: | Le Roy, New York |
Death Place: | , Atlantic Ocean |
Signature: | Signature of Justus Miles Forman.png |
Justus Miles Forman (November 1, 1875 - May 7, 1915) was an American novelist and playwright.
Forman was born on November 1, 1875, in Le Roy, New York.[1] He attended Yale University.
His only play, The Hyphen, appeared in 1915 but did not receive the success Forman expected. The Hyphen was a topical drama about "German-Americans" and "Irish-Americans" whose patriotism and fidelity to the United States is questioned due to events in Europe during World War I. Forman hoped that the drama would do better business in a production in London and decided to book a first-class passage aboard the RMS Lusitania. Days before he was to board the liner, however, he received a mysterious phone call from a man with a thick German accent who warned him not to board the Lusitania. Forman ignored the phone call and embarked on the Lusitania on May 1, 1915.[2] The Lusitania was torpedoed on May 7, 1915, and Forman was among the 1,198 passengers who perished in the sinking.[3] His body was never recovered.