Eric Porter, a reclusive British stage star best known for his leading role in the hit television drama “The Forsyte Saga,” died May 15 at the age of 67.
Porter died in a north London hospital while being treated for colon cancer, said his agent, Jonathan Altaras.
“He lived his life exactly as he wanted to – he didn’t live to work and only worked when he wanted to,” said Altaras.
Porter will be best remembered for playing the hero Soames Forsyte in “The Forsyte Saga,” a role that won him many awards.
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The period drama was one of the most successful in the history of the British Broadcasting Corp., attracting more than 20 million British viewers in 1967. It was sold to television companies worldwide and was a big hit on PBS stations.
Porter also had a string of big-screen roles, appearing in “Day of the Jackal” and a 1978 remake of “The 39 Steps.”
But Porter’s first and lasting love was classical theater.
He made his professional debut in 1945 when he was paid $4.69 a week to carry a spear on stage. From there, Porter went on to enjoy a long career, playing the title roles in “King Lear” and “Uncle Vanya” and appearing under the directorship of John Gielgud in the 1950s.
His portrayal of Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at London’s National Theatre won rave reviews in 1988. Colleagues recalled Porter as a perfectionist in his work and a loner in his private life with a dry sense of humor.
He sporadically tried to give up acting but the stage always lured him back. Porter never married. He once described his private life as “negligible – only an annex to my professional life.”
