Obituary : Eric Porter; Starred in ‘The Forsyte Saga’

Eric Porter, the distinguished stage actor whose craggy, lived-in face became known to millions around the world because of his featured role in television’s “The Forsyte Saga,” has died.

A spokesman said he died Mondayin London of cancer at age 67.

Although he worked as a classical actor for most of his career with such British groups as the Royal Shakespeare Co., the National Theater, the Bristol and London’s Old Vic Theatre, he will best be remembered as Soames Forsyte, the imperious attorney of property in the 26-part BBC serial.

“The Forsyte Saga,” based on John Galsworthy’s novel of the same name, drew more than 20 million British viewers when it went on the air in 1967.

It later was syndicated to television stations worldwide, was broadcast in countries as disparate as Czechoslovakia and Japan, and became a particular favorite in the United States.

The series (filmed in black and white) centered around the lives of a wealthy family living in the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Porter also appeared in several films, among them “The Pumpkin Eater” in 1964, “The Heroes of Telemark” in 1965, “Nicholas and Alexandra” in 1972 and “The Day of the Jackal” in 1973.

He also was featured in a 1978 remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The 39 Steps.”

But Shakespeare and other classics remained his primary interest.

“If you can do Shakespeare, you can do anything,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1969 while in town for the title role in “Doctor Faustus” at the Ahmanson Theater.

He also appeared on stage as “King Lear,” “Richard III,” “Macbeth,” “Uncle Vanya” and Big Daddy in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

He made his theatrical debut in 1945 as a $5-a-week spear carrier in regional English theater and went on to appear in 27 of the 36 Shakespeare plays.

He first appeared on Broadway in 1958 in “The Visit,” which starred Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, and his directors over the years included Sir John Gielgud.

His other TV appearances included Polonius to Derek Jacobi’s “Hamlet” in 1980, a Soviet adviser to an Indian rajah in “The Jewel in the Crown” in 1984 and Fagin in “Oliver Twist,” an American PBS production in 1986.