Where Is Brian Forster Now?
The Role: Chris Partridge, the Drummer
Brian Forster was born on April 14, 1960, in Los Angeles, California, exactly 100 years to the day after the publication of A Tale of Two Cities, a fitting birthday for the great-great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens. He came from an acting family: his mother was actress Jennifer Raine, his father was actor Peter Forster, his stepfather was character actor Whit Bissell, and his stepgrandfather was Alan Napier, who played Alfred in the 1966-68 Batman television series. Show business was not a choice for Brian Forster; it was the family trade.
His mother started him in commercials to earn money for college. He did his first commercial at age seven for Texaco and went on to do 21 commercials in total, for United Airlines, Texaco, Nestle's Quik, and Mattel, whose Hot Wheels commercial won an award. His first big role was playing Susan Olsen's prince on an episode of The Brady Bunch in 1969. During the rehearsal, he forgot his line; the director thought the mess-up was great and they kept it in.
Then came the Partridge Family. In 1970, Jeremy Gelbwaks, who played drummer Chris Partridge in the first season, was leaving the show. The producers asked for Brian instead. He went to one interview and was told he had the job. From 1971 to 1974, across seasons two through four, Forster was Chris Partridge: the youngest boy in television's most famous fictional band, pounding away on the drums behind David Cassidy, Shirley Jones, Susan Dey, Danny Bonaduce, and Suzanne Crough.
The Open Secret: He Never Learned the Drums
Here is the detail that delights fans to this day: Brian Forster never actually learned to play the drums. He has embarrassedly admitted that he merely faked it for the cameras, and numerous real drummers have told him over the years that they were inspired to take up the instrument by his character. He faked it so convincingly that he launched actual drumming careers.
It is a perfect metaphor for child stardom: the performance of competence so total that it becomes real in its effects. Forster was good friends with the late Suzanne Crough, who played Tracy Partridge; the two kept in touch until her death in 2015. As kids they shared a trailer, rode bikes together, and had crushes on each other, though Suzanne tried to deny it. It was, by his account, a genuinely happy childhood on a genuinely happy set.
The Quiet Exit: 1977
When The Partridge Family ended in 1974, Forster was fourteen. Unlike many child stars, he did not chase the next series or spiral in public. His years active are listed as 1969 to 1977, with a single later credit in 2008. He simply stepped away from the business that had been his family's trade for generations and went to build a different life.
What he built was speed. Forster became a professional race car driver and racing instructor in northern California, a career about as far from a television soundstage as it is possible to get. Wikipedia notes that as of 2002 and 2003, Forster was a racing car driver in northern California and continued to act in community theater there. The theater kept one foot in the family trade; the racing was entirely his own.
The Racer: Life at Speed
Professional race car driving is not a hobby; it is a discipline of reflexes, nerve, and engineering, and Forster pursued it seriously. As a racing instructor, he has taught others the craft, passing on the skills of a life lived at speed. It is the kind of second career that makes perfect sense once you think about it: the child performer, raised on hitting marks and timing, applying the same precision to a racetrack.
He has lived this life privately. There are no reality shows, no tell-alls, no convention-circuit memoirs. The occasional community theater production aside, Forster has been content to be known, if he is known at all, as a driver and instructor rather than as a former child star. His IMDb biography, written by a fan, notes simply that Brian is now a race car driver in California and lives a private life. That privacy extends to his family life as well: unlike many former child stars, he has never traded on his name for headlines, and interviews with him are vanishingly rare. The racetrack, not the red carpet, is where he chose to spend his adult years, and the choice has held for nearly five decades.
The Dickens Connection
It is worth lingering on the Dickens connection, because it is genuinely remarkable. Brian Forster's great-great-great-grandfather was Charles Dickens, the author of A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and Oliver Twist. Forster was born on April 14, 1960, one hundred years to the day after A Tale of Two Cities was published. His mother Jennifer Raine and father Peter Forster were both actors; his stepfather Whit Bissell was one of Hollywood's most recognizable character actors; his stepgrandfather Alan Napier was Alfred the butler to a generation of Batman fans.
He is, in other words, show-business royalty twice over: by blood to the greatest novelist in English, and by marriage to Hollywood itself. And he walked away from all of it to drive race cars. There is something wonderfully perverse about that, and wonderfully healthy.
His Legacy
Brian Forster's legacy is Chris Partridge, the drumming kid in the grooviest family band on television. Across three seasons of The Partridge Family, from 1971 to 1974, he was part of a phenomenon: a show that sold real records, toured real concerts, and made David Cassidy a real pop star. Forster was the youngest boy in the band, faking the drums and having the time of his life.
But his larger legacy may be the exit. He left at seventeen, before the business could leave him, and built a life of speed, skill, and privacy. No flameout, no comeback tour, no bitterness. Just a former child star who decided that the rest of his life belonged to him, and spent it going very, very fast. As of October 2026, that is where Brian Forster is: on a racetrack in northern California, exactly where he wants to be.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Brian Forster now?
Brian Forster is a professional race car driver and racing instructor in northern California. The former child actor, who played Chris Partridge on The Partridge Family from 1971 to 1974, left acting in the late 1970s. He also acts in community theater and lives a private life, with his last screen credit in 2008.
Is Brian Forster related to Charles Dickens?
Yes. Brian Forster is the great-great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens. He was born on April 14, 1960, exactly 100 years to the day after the publication of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. His mother was actress Jennifer Raine and his father was actor Peter Forster.
Why did Brian Forster replace Jeremy Gelbwaks?
Jeremy Gelbwaks, who played Chris Partridge in the first season, left the show in 1970. The producers asked for Brian Forster instead; he went to a single interview and was told he had the job. Forster played Chris for seasons 2 through 4, from 1971 to 1974.
How old is Brian Forster?
Brian Forster was born on April 14, 1960, in Los Angeles, California, which makes him 66 years old as of October 2026. He was 11 when he joined The Partridge Family in 1971 and 14 when it ended in 1974.
Did Brian Forster really play the drums?
No. He has admitted that he never actually learned to play the drums and merely faked it for the cameras. Ironically, numerous real drummers have told him they were inspired to take up drumming by watching his character Chris Partridge.
When did Brian Forster stop acting?
His years active are listed as 1969 to 1977, with a single later screen credit in 2008. He left the business as a teenager after The Partridge Family ended and pursued a career as a race car driver, with occasional community theater work.
Who were Brian Forster's famous relatives?
His mother Jennifer Raine and father Peter Forster were actors. His stepfather was character actor Whit Bissell, and his stepgrandfather was Alan Napier, who played Alfred Pennyworth in the 1966-68 Batman television series. His great-great-great-grandfather was Charles Dickens.
What does Brian Forster do for a living?
He works as a professional race car driver and racing instructor in northern California. It is a serious career in motorsport, not a hobby, and he has pursued it for decades while living a private life away from Hollywood.