Eric Porter
Acting
Born 1928-04-08
Died 1995-05-15
Shepard's Bush, London, UK
59 credits
Read biography
A highly respected Shakespearean for five decades until his death of colon cancer in 1995, classical actor Eric Porter's claim to international fame would, ironically, be outside of that realm, with one superb portrayal in one superb miniseries, The Forsyte Saga(1967), in which he won the BAFTA award. The son of Richard John Porter and Phoebe Elizabeth Spall, Porter first attended Wimbledon Technical College before stepping onto the stage as a walk-on in a production of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" in February 1945 at the Arts Theatre in Cambridge. He continued in repertory until joining the National Service with the RAF during the war years. Early post-war credits would include touring with Sir Donald Wolfit and Sir Barry Jackson in their prestigious companies. Favorite roles in his repertoire would eventually include "Macbeth", "King Lear" and "Uncle Vanya". He won London's Evening Standard Award for "Rosmersholm" in 1959. Joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1960, he became a prime, esteemed resident for decades. Porter made his film debut in mid-career with The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) at age 36, but it was the BBC that made him an international favorite as the ever-proper but intensely emotional and unhinged "Soames Forsyte". Taboos were broken on that series with a violent rape scene that had people talking for months. Along with the newly acquired fame came leads in lesser films such as The Lost Continent(1968) and Hands of the Ripper (1971), adding class to both those atmospheric horrors. On the plus side, Porter engaged himself frequently in quality TV miniseries fare includingAnna Karenina (1977), The Jewel in the Crown (1984) and Oliver Twist (1985) (as Fagin), while transferring many classics to TV as well, with "Cyrano de Bergerac", "Man and Superman" and "Macbeth" being but a few.
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Filmography
Acting
55 credits
The World of Hammer
Play for Today
Sherlock Holmes
BBC Play of the Month
Playhouse
Theatre 625
Performance
The Day of the Jackal
The Forsyte Saga
The Jewel in the Crown
The Fall of the Roman Empire
Theatre Night
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Heroes of Telemark
Oliver Twist
Little Lord Fauntleroy
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
Nicholas and Alexandra
Civilisation
Anna Karenina
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years
The Thirty Nine Steps
Knock on Any Door
Private Affairs
The Lost Continent
Kaleidoscope
Hitler: The Last Ten Days
Antony and Cleopatra
Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
Hennessy
Churchill and the Generals
Hands of the Ripper
The Wars of the Roses
Hamlet
The Sin Bin
Separate Tables
Morecambe & Wise: Christmas Specials
The Belstone Fox
The Two Deaths of Adolf Hitler
The Best of Morecambe and Wise
The Shetland Experience
Callan
The Statue and the Rose
The Final Solution
Macbeth
The Crucible
The Winslow Boy
Message for Posterity
The Last Invasion
Oliver Twist
Warrior - World at War Special Presentation
A Shilling Life
Hitler’s Germany - A World at War Special Presentation
The Final Solution
From War to Peace
Other credits
4 credits
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