Eric Porter

A highly respected Shakespearean for five decades until his death of colon cancer in 1995 classical actor Eric Porters claim to international fame would ironically be outside of that realm with one superb portrayal in one superb miniseries The Forsyte Saga1967 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 walkon in a production of William Shakespeares 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 postwar 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 Londons 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 midcareer with The Fall of the Roman Empire 1964 at age 36 but it was the BBC that made him an international favorite as the everproper 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 Continent1968 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