Eric Portman
| Eric Portman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
Eric Harold Portman 13 July 1901 Akroydon, Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire, United Kingdom |
| Died |
7 December 1969 (aged 68) St Veep, Cornwall, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Years active | 1933-1969 |
Eric Portman (13 July 1901 – 7 December 1969) was an English stage and film actor. He is probably best remembered for his roles in several films for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger during the 1940s.
Biography
He started work in 1922 as a salesman in the menswear department at Marshall and Snelgrove's department store in Leeds and acted in the amateur Halifax Light Opera Society. He made his professional stage debut in 1924 with Henry Baynton's company,[1] before he was engaged by Lilian Baylis for the Old Vic Company. In 1928, he starred as Romeo in the rebuilt Old Vic and forged a reputation as a noted Shakespearian actor. In the 1930s, he began appearing in films. In 1935, he appeared in four films, including Maria Marten or Murder in the Red Barn.
In 1941 he had his first important film role playing Nazi on the run Herth in Powell and Pressburger's 49th Parallel, which led to leading roles in the British cinema of the 1940s and 1950s, including One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942) and A Canterbury Tale (1944) for Powell and Pressburger, as well as We Dive at Dawn (1943), Millions Like Us (1943), Dear Murderer (1947), The Spider and the Fly (1949), Cairo Road (1950) and The Colditz Story (1955). In 1945, exhibitors voted him the 10th most popular star at the British box office.[2] He maintained that ranking the following year.[3]
In the semi-autobiographical play Dinner with Ribbentrop by screenwriter Norman Hudis, a former personal assistant to Portman, Hudis relates a claim made often by Portman. According to Portman, in 1937, before the start of the Second World War, he had had a dinner in London with Joachim von Ribbentrop (then the Nazi Ambassador to Britain). Portman claimed that Ribbentrop had told him that "when Germany wins the war, Portman would be installed as the greatest English star in the New Europe" at a purpose-built film studio in Berlin.[4][5]
He played the bogus Major in Terence Rattigan's play Separate Tables in 1957 on Broadway. For this performance, he was nominated for a Tony Award (Best Actor (Dramatic)).
Portman was probably homosexual, although newspapers never reported this during the mid-1950s when homosexuality was illegal in the UK. Newspapers refrained from identifying his sexuality throughout the 1960s when it could still have damaged his career.[6]
Near the end of his life he played character roles including Number Two in the TV series The Prisoner, appearing in the episode "Free For All" (1967), as well as films including The Whisperers (1967) and Deadfall (1968), both for director Bryan Forbes.
Death
Portman died at age 68 at his home in St Veep, Cornwall from undisclosed causes.[7]
Filmography
References
- ↑ http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~calderdalecompanion/p112_2.html
- ↑ "CROSBY and HOPE try their luck in Alaska.". The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.: 1860-1954) (Hobart, Tas.: National Library of Australia). 2 March 1946. p. 3 Supplement: The Mercury Magazine. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
- ↑ "FILM WORLD.". The West Australian (Perth, WA: National Library of Australia). 28 February 1947. p. 20 (2nd edition). Retrieved 27 April 2012.
- ↑ "Dinner with Ribbentrop". Rudeguerrilla.org. 2004-05-06. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
- ↑ "Dinner with Ribbentrop". Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- ↑ Rattigan, Terence (1999). Separate Tables. Nick Hern Books. p. xxx. ISBN 978-1-85459-424-2.
- ↑ "Biography". Retrieved 3 May 2010.
Bibliography
- Owens, Andy. Our Eric: A Portrait of Eric Portman. England, Sigma Press, October 2013. ISBN 1-850-5898-1-X
External links
- Eric Portman at the Internet Movie Database
- Eric Portman at the Internet Broadway Database
- Performances in Theatre Archive University of Bristol
- Photographs and literature
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