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Eric Portman

Eric Portman (born Halifax, West Yorkshire on 13 July, 1901 and died St Veep, Cornwall on 7 December, 1969) was a distinguished 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. He was in the top ten of Britain's biggest box office draws in 1942.

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, before he was engaged by Lilian Baylis for the Old Vic Company. In 1928 he starred as Romeo in the rebuilt Old Vic and he 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,

He was a lifelong bachelor, and gay, who died at the age of 68 at his home in St Veep, Cornwall. The phrase "he was a lifelong bachelor" was often used in articles about Portman in fan magazines and in some obituaries. It was a well known euphemism intended to imply that he was homosexual. But it should be noted that homosexuality was illegal in the UK until the passing of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act.

Works

Cinema Portman became a familiar British figure in films during and about World War II. Among his roles were:

Film	Year	Role
Forty-Ninth Parallel	1941	Stranded U-boat commander
One of Our Aircraft is Missing	1942	Stranded RAF officer
Squadron Leader X	1943	Stranded Luftwaffe pilot
We Dive at Dawn	1943	Stranded RN submariner
Millions Like Us	1943	Factory manager
A Canterbury Tale	1944	The Magistrate
Wanted for Murder	1946	Son of a hangman
The Colditz Story	1955	Senior British Officer
The Good Companions	1957
The Bedford Incident	1965	Former U-boat commander-cum-advisor
The Whisperers	1967
Deadfall	1968	Thief
Assignment to Kill	1968	Notary

Television He also played Number Two in The Prisoner, episode; Free for All, screened on 22 October, 1967.

Honours

He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor (Dramatic) for his Broadway performance as the bogus Major, in Terence Rattigan's play Separate Tables in 1957.