Forrest Compton Dies Of COVID-19 At 94

According to the Shelter Island Reporter, close friends of Compton confirmed his death. Forrest Compton, who is known for his role in the long-running soap opera The Edge of Night died on Sunday due to the coronavirus. The actor was 94.

As Col. Gray, Compton regularly chewed out Frank Sutton's Sgt. Vince Carter on Gomer Pyle, which aired on CBS from 1964-69. The actor was the third actor to play former cop and crusading Monticello district attorney Mike Karr on The Edge of Night, starring on the CBS-ABC serial from 1971 until the show's cancellation in 1984. He later appeared on two other soaps, As the World Turns and All My Children.

Compton was born on September 15, 1925, in Reading, Pennsylvania. He served with the 103rd Infantry Division in France during World War II and then went on to enrol in Swarthmore College where he studied pre-law and Political Science before shifting gears to English.  He studied acting at the Yale Drama School, where one of his classmates was Paul Newman.

He has been on shows like Death Valley Days, Route 66, The Twilight Zone, 77 Sunset Strip, My Three Sons, That Girl, Mannix, The F.B.I. and Ed.