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Eric Porter | |
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| Born | Eric Richard Porter (1928-04-08)8 April 1928 Shepherd's Bush,London, England |
| Died | 15 May 1995(1995-05-15) (aged 67) London, England |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1945–1994 |
Eric Richard Porter (8 April 1928 – 15 May 1995) was an English actor of stage, film and television.
Porter was born inShepherd's Bush,London, to bus conductor Richard John Porter and Phoebe Elizabeth (née Spall). His parents hoped he would become an electrical engineer, so he was educated at the Technical College in Wimbledon, then worked for theMarconi Telegraph and Wireless company as a joint-solderer. He made his stage debut at theCambridge Arts Theatre in 1945 at the age of 17.[1][2]
In 1955, Porter played the title role inBen Jonson'sVolpone at theBristol Old Vic.[3] He won the London Evening Standard award in 1959 for his performance in Ibsen'sRosmersholm at theRoyal Court Theatre.[2][4] In 1960 he joined theRoyal Shakespeare Company; that year, he played Ferdinand inJohn Webster'sThe Duchess of Malfi.[5] In 1962, he performed as Iachimo inCymbeline.[6] Other roles includedUlysses,Macbeth,Leontes,Malvolio,Shylock,King Lear andHenry IV, as well as Barabas inMarlowe'sJew of Malta.[1][7] Porter was seen as the tortured solicitorSoames Forsyte in theBBC dramaThe Forsyte Saga (1967).[8] The series was a huge international success, and his role, for which he won aBAFTA Best Actor award, also made him a star.[9][10][1]Porter was one of the guests on theMorecambe and Wise 1970 Christmas Special, performing "If They Could See Me Now" fromSweet Charity with the duo, revealing his song and dance skills with panache.[11]
Porter's 1981 portrayal ofNeville Chamberlain inWinston Churchill: The Wilderness Years won critical praise.[12] He played Count Bronowsky inThe Jewel in the Crown; he was also seen asFagin in the 1985 BBC version ofOliver Twist; asThomas Danforth in the 1980 BBC production ofThe Crucible; and asProfessor Moriarty oppositeJeremy Brett'sSherlock Holmes inGranada Television'sThe Adventures of Sherlock Holmes storiesThe Red-Headed League andThe Final Problem (both 1984).[13] He also playedPolonius in a 1980 television production ofHamlet, made as part of theBBC Shakespeare series, and starringDerek Jacobi in the title role.[14]
Porter continued to act on stage, again winning theEvening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor in 1988 for his role inCat on a Hot Tin Roof.[15] His last on-screen role was as painter James Player in the remake ofMessage for Posterity (1994), a television play byDennis Potter.[13]
As quoted in the 2016 biographyPeter O'Toole: The Definitive Biography by Robert Sellers,Susan Engel told the biographer that Eric Porter was gay: "His memorable BAFTA Best Actor Award-winning performance as Soames in the BBC's 1967 television adaptation ofThe Forsyte Saga should have led to greater things, but it didn't. 'He couldn't cope with his own sexuality,' says Susan. 'It was so awful for gay men in those days. I don't know how some of them managed to survive; and many didn't. You went to prison if you were caught. I think he suffered terribly. He was tortured.'"[16]
InThe Telegraph, Ben Lawrence, in an article onThe Forsyte Saga, observed that "the series made a star of Porter who, according to some sources, was secretly gay and deeply uncomfortable about the attention whichThe Forsyte Saga foisted on him."[17] In1956 and All that: The Making of Modern British Drama (1999), the dramatist and academicDan Rebellato includes Porter in a list of "gay men ... powerful in the British theatre of the forties and fifties".[18]
The 2017 biographyEric Porter: The Life of an Acting Giant, by Porter's "friend and chosen biographer" Helen Monk, indicates that he was "previously understood ... to be secretly gay", and details his relationships with "a string of female lovers", including "the foremost woman in his life for 40 years until his death ... glamorous Dutch widow, Therese Megaw", Australian artist Alexandra Alderson, and his live-in secretary, Kay, a "Judi Dench-lookalike", with Monk concluding Porter "probably was bisexual".[19][20]
Porter died ofcolon cancer in London in 1995, aged 67.[9]
