Eric Richard Porter (8 April 1928 - 15 May 1995) was an English actor of stage, film and television.
Porter was born in Shepherd's Bush, London to Richard John Porter and Phoebe Elizabeth Spall. He was educated at Wimbledon College before making his stage debut in Cambridge in 1945 at the age of 17.
In 1955, he played the title role in Ben Jonson's Volpone at the Bristol Old Vic. In 1960 he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company; that year, he play...
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Eric Richard Porter (8 April 1928 - 15 May 1995) was an English actor of stage, film and television.
Porter was born in Shepherd's Bush, London to Richard John Porter and Phoebe Elizabeth Spall. He was educated at Wimbledon College before making his stage debut in Cambridge in 1945 at the age of 17.
In 1955, he played the title role in Ben Jonson's Volpone at the Bristol Old Vic. In 1960 he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company; that year, he played Ferdinand in John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi. In 1962, his performance as Iachimo in Cymbeline was widely praised.
Porter's greatest success was as the tortured solicitor Soames Forsyte in the BBC dramatization of John Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga (1967). For this role he won a BAFTA Best Actor award.
Eric Porter was a leading member of Peter Hall's Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford during the 1960's, where his roles included Ulysses, Macbeth, Leontes, Malvolio, Shylock, King Lear and Henry IV, as well as Barabas in Marlowe's Jew...
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