Nyree Dawn Porter OBE
Porter photographed byVivienne, 1960s
Born	Ngaire Dawn Porter (1936-01-22)22 January 1936 Napier, New Zealand
Died	10 April 2001(2001-04-10) (aged 65) Wandsworth,London, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1954–1998
Spouses	Byron O'Leary ​ ​ (m. 1959; died 1970)​ Robin Halstead ​ ​ (m. 1975; div. 1987)​
Children	1

Nyree Dawn PorterOBE (bornNgaire Dawn Porter; 22 January 1936 – 10 April 2001) was a New Zealand–British actress. She started performing on stage in New Zealand, moving to the UK in 1958. She is best known for her role as Irene in theBBC seriesThe Forsyte Saga (1967).

Ngaire Dawn Porter^[1] was born inNapier, New Zealand, on 22 January 1936.^[2]

She changed her name after moving to England in 1958, so that English people could pronounce it.^[1][a]

Porter's first professional work was touring with theNew Zealand Players Trust. She was acclaimed for such roles as Jessica inThe Merchant of Venice and Juliet inRomanoff and Juliet.^[3] She also performed in revues and musicals, including a local Napier production ofThe Desert Song in 1955.^[4]

She moved to Britain in 1958 after winning a Miss Cinema talent competition for young actresses organised byRank, with the prize of a round-the-world trip and a film test in London.^[3] Although the test was probably little more than a publicity stunt, she decided to stay and was soon acting in the theatre.^[5]Look Who's Here at theFortune Theatre in Drury Lane was her first West End appearance.^[6] She followed this with the role of Connie inNeil Simon's first West End play,Come Blow Your Horn, and a string of other appearances.^[3]

She had two roles inStephen Sondheim'sSunday in the Park with George, at theNational Theatre in 1990, played Olivia inTwelfth Night at theShaw Theatre, and Rosalind inAs You Like It at the Ludlow Festival.^[7][3] She later toured in Australia, inJeffrey Archer'sBeyond Reasonable Doubt, and later inThe King and I.^[8]

She appeared in several television productions, including an early episode ofThe Avengers ("Death on The Slipway", 1961); and the title role in theBBC's 1964 adaptation ofMadame Bovary.^[9][2]

Porter is probably best remembered for her role as Irene in the hitBBC seriesThe Forsyte Saga.^[10] The 1967 series, which attracted audiences of 18 million, saw her described by critics as "the first romantic sex symbol of the telly age."^[5][11] She herself said, "I was an unknown theatre actress and Irene gave me international fame and opened doors for me".^[12]

Although subsequently finding similar high-profile roles harder to come by, she starred in the 1968 comedy seriesNever a Cross Word and four years later oppositeRobert Vaughn inGerry Anderson's live-action seriesThe Protectors.^[11][12] Porter also played the title role in the 26-part daytime serialFor Maddie with Love, as a woman with only a few months left to live.^[13] Her husband was played byIan Hendry. The programme ran for two series, in 1980 and 1981.

Her film appearances includedLive Now, Pay Later (1962),The Cracksman (1963),Two Left Feet (1963), and two horror anthologies:The House That Dripped Blood (1971) andFrom Beyond the Grave (1974).^[2] She also appeared inHilary and Jackie (1998) as the ballerinaDame Margot Fonteyn.^[14]

In the1970 Birthday Honours, Porter was appointed an Officer of theOrder of the British Empire (OBE) for services to television.^[11]

In 1975, she won the SpanishTP de Oro 'Best Foreign Actress' award forThe Protectors.^[15]

Her first husband, Byron O'Leary, died in 1970 of an accidental drug overdose. In 1975 she married actor Robin Halstead after the birth of their daughter, Natalya Francesca Halstead. The couple divorced in 1987.^[3]

She died inWandsworth, London, in 2001 fromleukaemia, aged 65.^[16] She was cremated atPutney Vale Crematorium and her ashes buried in the cemetery there.^[17]

• Obituary inThe Guardian
• Nyree Dawn Porter atIMDb

• 1936 births
• 2001 deaths
• Burials at Putney Vale Cemetery
• Deaths from leukemia in England
• New Zealand television actresses
• New Zealand film actresses
• New Zealand stage actresses
• New Zealand emigrants to the United Kingdom
• Officers of the Order of the British Empire
• People from Napier, New Zealand
• 20th-century New Zealand actresses

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use British English from March 2012
• Use dmy dates from January 2021
• Articles with hCards