Known For
Acting
Born
Apr 08, 1928
Died
May 15, 1995
Place of Birth
Shepard's Bush, London, UK
Credits
59 titles
Eric Porter
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.
Known For
Filmography
Morecambe & Wise: Christmas Specials
The Heroes of Telemark: Location report from Norway
The Best of Morecambe and Wise
Self (archive footage)
Message for Posterity
James Player
The World of Hammer
Self (archive footage)
Performance
James Player
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
Professor Moriarty
Oliver Twist
Fagin
Oliver Twist
Fagin
Sherlock Holmes
Professor Moriarty
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Professor Moriarty
The Jewel in the Crown
Dimitri Bronowsky
A Shilling Life
Petersham
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years
Neville Chamberlain
The Sin Bin
Stanley Wilkinson
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Mr. Havisham
Hamlet
Polonius
Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
Dr. Nicholson
The Crucible
Deputy Governor Danforth
Churchill and the Generals
Gen. Sir Alan Brooke
The Thirty Nine Steps
Chief Superintendent Lomas
Anna Karenina
Karenin
The Winslow Boy
Arthur Winslow
The Shetland Experience
Narrator (voice)
Hitler’s Germany - A World at War Special Presentation
Narrator
Hennessy
Tobin
The Final Solution
Self - Narrator
The Statue and the Rose
Parnell
Private Affairs
Charles Stewart Parnell
The Two Deaths of Adolf Hitler
Narrator
The Final Solution
Narrator
Callan
Hunter
From War to Peace
Narrator
Warrior - World at War Special Presentation
Narrator
Playhouse
Petersham
The Day of the Jackal
Colonel Rodin
Hitler: The Last Ten Days
Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim
The Belstone Fox
Asher Smith
Antony and Cleopatra
Enobarbus
Nicholas and Alexandra
Stolypin
Hands of the Ripper
Dr. John Pritchard
Play for Today
Stanley Wilkinson
Macbeth
Macbeth
Separate Tables
Major Pollock / John Malcolm
Solo
Morecambe & Wise: Christmas Specials
Himself
Civilisation
Macbeth (voice)
The Lost Continent
Lansen
The Forsyte Saga
Soames Forsyte
The Last Invasion
Harold