Eric Porter

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: Acting

Born: Shepard's Bush, London, UK, 1928-04-08

Died: 1995-05-15

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1948	Emma		0
2	1964	The Fall of the Roman Empire	Julianus	65
3	1965	The Wars of the Roses	Henry VII	85
4	1965	The Heroes of Telemark	Terboven	69
5	1966	Kaleidoscope	Harry Dominion	49
6	1966	The Last Invasion	Harold	0
7	1968	The Lost Continent	Lansen	56
8	1970	Separate Tables	Major Pollock / John Malcolm	0
9	1970	Macbeth	Macbeth	0
10	1971	Hands of the Ripper	Dr. John Pritchard	62
11	1971	Nicholas and Alexandra	Stolypin	69
12	1972	Antony and Cleopatra	Enobarbus	56
13	1973	The Belstone Fox	Asher Smith	72
14	1973	Hitler: The Last Ten Days	Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim	61
15	1973	The Day of the Jackal	Colonel Rodin	75
16	1974	Callan	Hunter	69
17	1975	The Final Solution	Narrator	0
18	1975	The Two Deaths of Adolf Hitler	Narrator	0
19	1975	Hennessy	Tobin	47
20	1976	Hitler’s Germany - A World at War Special Presentation	Narrator	0
21	1977	The Shetland Experience	Narrator (voice)	72
22	1977	The Winslow Boy	Arthur Winslow	80
23	1978	The Thirty Nine Steps	Chief Superintendent Lomas	67
24	1979	Churchill and the Generals	Gen. Sir Alan Brooke	0
25	1980	The Crucible	Deputy Governor Danforth	10
26	1980	Why Didn't They Ask Evans?	Dr. Nicholson	64
27	1980	Hamlet	Polonius	61
28	1980	Little Lord Fauntleroy	Mr. Havisham	74
29	1981	The Sin Bin	Stanley Wilkinson	0
30	1982	A Shilling Life	Petersham	0
31	1985	Oliver Twist	Fagin	50
32	1994	Message for Posterity	James Player	0
33	2001	The Best of Morecambe and Wise	Self (archive footage)	0
34	2003	The Heroes of Telemark: Location report from Norway		0
35	2007	Morecambe & Wise: Christmas Specials		0
36		From War to Peace	Narrator	0
37		Warrior - World at War Special Presentation	Narrator	0

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1965	BBC Play of the Month	Cyrano de Bergerac	50
2	1965	BBC Play of the Month	Councillor Albert Parker	50
3	1965	BBC Play of the Month	Arthur Winslow	50
4	1965	BBC Play of the Month	Jack Tanner	50
5	1965	BBC Play of the Month	Maj. Pollock / John Malcolm	50
6	1965	BBC Play of the Month	Macbeth	50
7	1967	The Forsyte Saga	Soames Forsyte	82
8	1969	Civilisation	Macbeth (voice)	81
9	1969	Morecambe & Wise: Christmas Specials	Himself	0
10	1970	Play for Today	Stanley Wilkinson	63
11	1974	Playhouse	Petersham	70
12	1977	Anna Karenina	Karenin	58
13	1978	The BBC Television Shakespeare	Polonius	60
14	1981	Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years	Neville Chamberlain	50
15	1984	The Jewel in the Crown	Dimitri Bronowsky	67
16	1984	Sherlock Holmes	Professor Moriarty	81
17	1985	Oliver Twist	Fagin	56
18	1991	Performance	James Player	60

Eric Porter

Film

Television