Eric Portman

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eric Harold Portman (born July 13, 1901 in Akroydon near Halifax , Yorkshire , Great Britain , † December 7, 1969 in St Veep , Cornwall ) was a British character actor in stage and film.

Life

Eric Harold Portman, son of Matthew and Alice Portman, began his career in 1922 as a salesman in Leeds . In 1924 he made his debut as a professional actor at the theater in London in the play The Comedy of Errors . A little later he followed a call to the Old Vic in London . There he gave a highly acclaimed interpretation of Romeo in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in 1928 and convinced the following year as Stephen Undershaft in a performance of GB Shaw's Major Barbara .

In 1935 Eric Portman was first noticed in a movie with a conspiratorial role in Karl Grune's lavish adventure film The Red Sultan alongside Fritz Kortner . For the next three decades, Portman remained subscribed to obscure, serious and often dodgy characters with impeccable manners and icy charisma. Mostly it was about second main or major supporting roles. Many of his B-film productions were crime novels in which Portman impersonated inspectors, husbands accused of crime, but also sinister killers (like the one in Gary Cooper 's last film A Man Walks His Path ).

Portman acted most convincingly in the roles of strict, disciplined and grim-looking, high-ranking men. A typical Portman role of the later years was his Commodore Schrepke , who once served in Adolf Hitler's submarine fleet and is now assigned to a NATO ship led by Richard Widmark , in the Cold War drama incident in the Atlantic . In the Powell & Pressburger film A Canterbury Tale , Portman played an ambivalent judge of the peace and hobby local historian who puts glue in young girls' hair. He had a nice age role at the side of Edith Evans three years before his death with Archie Ross, the windy husband of an old lady, in the dramatic drama Whispering Walls .

As early as 1936, Portman was brought to Hollywood for a film guest performance ( With an iron fist ). After filming was over, he stayed in the USA until 1938 and appeared in New York in late autumn 1937 in the play Madame Bovary (based on Gustave Flaubert ). Despite regular film work, Portman felt mainly connected to the stage until the end, played again several times on Broadway from 1956 to 1962 (1957 nomination for the Tony Award for his performance in the play Separate Tables ) and made his last stage appearance in 1968 in his native London in John Galsworthy's Piece of justice .

Eric Portman took part in television recordings for the first time in 1938 and continued to appear in TV productions until the end (1969).

Filmography (selection, cinema only)

literature

  • Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 6: N - R. Mary Nolan - Meg Ryan. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 304.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Portman, Eric
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Portman, Eric Harold (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British character actor in stage and film
DATE OF BIRTH July 13, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Akroydon near Halifax , Yorkshire , UK
DATE OF DEATH 7th December 1969
Place of death St Veep , Cornwall