- Eric Porter
Infobox actor
name = Eric Porter
caption = Eric Porter asProfessor Moriarty inGranada Television 's "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (1985)
birthname = Eric Richard Porter
birthdate = 8 April 1928
birthplace =Shepherds Bush , London, England
deathdate = 15 May 1995
deathplace = London, England
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yearsactive = 1945 - 1994
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influenced =Peter O'Toole
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baftaawards = Best Actor in a Leading Role
1967 "The Forsyte Saga "
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awards =Evening Standard Drama Awards:
Best Actor
1988 "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ".Eric Richard Porter (8 April 1928 - 15 May 1995) was a distinguished English actor who appeared on stage as well as in cinema and television.
Early life
Porter was born in
Shepherds Bush , London to Richard John Porter and his wife Phoebe Elizabeth née Spall and educated at Wimbledon Technical College before making his stage debut in Cambridge at the age of seventeen.Career
In 1955, he played the title role in
Ben Jonson 's "Volpone " at theBristol Old Vic . In 1960 he joined theRoyal Shakespeare Company ; that year, he played Ferdinand inJohn 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 theBBC dramatization ofJohn Galsworthy 's "The Forsyte Saga " (1967). For this role he won aBAFTA 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 asMarlowe 'sJew of Malta (Barabas) with Tony Church, Donald Burton, Bruce Condell and Timothy West.He was a versatile actor who played memorable roles in television dramas such as "The Jewel in the Crown"; he was also seen as
Fagin in the 1985 BBC version of "Oliver Twist " and asProfessor Moriarty oppositeJeremy Brett 'sSherlock Holmes inGranada Television 's "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" stories "The Red-Headed League " and "The Final Problem " (both 1985). He also playedPolonius in a 1980 television production of "Hamlet ", made as part of theBBC Shakespeare series, and starringDerek Jacobi in the title role.Porter continued to act on stage, winning the
London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor in 1988 for his role in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ".Death
Porter died of colon cancer in London in 1995. On 17 January 2007,
Peter O'Toole was interviewed on theCharlie Rose Show and was asked by Rose which actor had influenced him the most, and O'Toole replied, "Eric Porter."References
* Michael Billington, ‘Porter, Eric Richard (1928–1995)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/58011, accessed 7 Feb 2008]
External links
*
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