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.

Фільмографія

• 2007Morecambe & Wise: Christmas Specials
• 2003The Heroes of Telemark: Location report from Norway
• 1994Message for Posterity — James Player
• Performance — James Player
• The Return of Sherlock Holmes — Professor Moriarty
• 1985Oliver Twist — Fagin
• Oliver Twist — Fagin
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes — Professor Moriarty
• The Jewel in the Crown — Dimitri Bronowsky
• Шерлок Голмс — Professor Moriarty
• 1982A Shilling Life — Petersham
• 1981The Crucible — Deputy Governor Danforth
• 1981The Sin Bin — Stanley Wilkinson
• Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years — Neville Chamberlain
• 1980Hamlet — Polonius
• 1980Little Lord Fauntleroy — Mr. Havisham
• 1980Why Didn't They Ask Evans? — Dr. Nicholson
• 1979Churchill and the Generals — Gen. Sir Alan Brooke
• 1978The Thirty Nine Steps — Chief Superintendent Lomas
• Anna Karenina — Karenin
• 1977The Shetland Experience — Narrator (voice)
• 1977The Winslow Boy — Arthur Winslow
• 1976Hitler’s Germany - A World at War Special Presentation — Narrator
• 1975Hennessy — Tobin
• Private Affairs — Charles Stewart Parnell
• 1975The Final Solution — Narrator
• 1975The Statue and the Rose — Parnell
• 1975The Two Deaths of Adolf Hitler — Narrator
• 1974Callan — Hunter
• 1974From War to Peace — Narrator
• Playhouse — Petersham
• 1974Warrior - World at War Special Presentation — Narrator
• 1973Hitler: The Last Ten Days — Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim
• 1973The Belstone Fox — Asher Smith
• 1973День Шакала — Colonel Rodin
• 1972Antony and Cleopatra — Enobarbus
• 1971Hands of the Ripper — Dr. John Pritchard
• 1971Nicholas and Alexandra — Stolypin
• 1970Macbeth — Macbeth
• Play for Today — Stanley Wilkinson
• 1970Separate Tables — Major Pollock / John Malcolm
• Solo
• Civilisation — Macbeth (voice)
• 1968The Lost Continent — Lansen
• The Forsyte Saga — Soames Forsyte
• 1966Kaleidoscope — Harry Dominion
• 1966The Last Invasion — Harold
• BBC Play of the Month — Cyrano de Bergerac, Councillor Albert Parker, Arthur Winslow, Jack Tanner, Maj. Pollock / John Malcolm, Macbeth
• Knock on Any Door — Johnny Isaacs
• 1965The Heroes of Telemark — Terboven
• 1965The Wars of the Roses — Henry VII
• Theatre 625 — 'Newton'
• 1964Падіння Римської імперії — Julianus
• Theatre Night — Vadim Romanoff
• 1948Emma

Ток-шоу, премії та інші появи (4)

• 2001The Best of Morecambe and Wise — Self (archive footage)
• The World of Hammer — Self (archive footage)
• The Final Solution — Self - Narrator
• Morecambe & Wise: Christmas Specials — Himself