Nyree Dawn Porter
{{Short description|New Zealand–British actress (1936–2001)}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Nyree Dawn Porter
| honorific_suffix = OBE
| image = Nyree Dawn Porter.png
| caption = Porter photographed by Vivienne, 1960s
| birth_name = Ngaire Dawn Porter
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1936|01|22|df=y}}
| birth_place = Napier, New Zealand
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2001|04|10|1936|01|22|df=y}}
| death_place = Wandsworth, London, England
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1954–1998
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Byron O'Leary|1959|1970|reason=died}}
- {{marriage|Robin Halstead|1975|1987|reason=divorced}}
}}
| children = 1
}}
Nyree Dawn Porter OBE (born Ngaire Dawn Porter; 22 January 1936 – 10 April 2001) was a New Zealand–British actress. She started performing on stage in New Zealand, moving to the UK in 1958. She is best known for her role as Irene in the BBC series The Forsyte Saga (1967).
Early life and education
Ngaire Dawn Porter was born in Napier, New Zealand, on 22 January 1936.
She changed her name after moving to England in 1958, so that English people could pronounce it.{{cite web | last=Fowler | first=Michael | title=Michael Fowler: Night excited Napier watched matinee idol's star rise | website=The New Zealand Herald | date=30 March 2018 | url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/michael-fowler-night-excited-napier-watched-matinee-idols-star-rise/QRJ643BBN6QTYWKLNKQY4SANAE/ | access-date=29 August 2024}}{{efn|Nyree is the phonetic spelling of how Porter's birth forename Ngaire is often pronounced in English.}}
Career
=Stage=
Porter's first professional work was touring with the New Zealand Players Trust. She was acclaimed for such roles as Jessica in The Merchant of Venice and Juliet in Romanoff and Juliet. She also performed in revues and musicals, including a local Napier production of The Desert Song in 1955.{{Cite web |title=Ngaire Porter |url=https://collection.mtghawkesbay.com/objects/94892/ngaire-porter |access-date=2023-10-12 |website=MTG Hawkes Bay |language=en}}
She moved to Britain in 1958 after winning a Miss Cinema talent competition for young actresses organised by Rank, with the prize of a round-the-world trip and a film test in London. Although the test was probably little more than a publicity stunt, she decided to stay and was soon acting in the theatre.{{Cite web|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12174052.nyree-dawn-porter/|title=Nyree Dawn Porter|website=HeraldScotland}} Look Who's Here at the Fortune Theatre in Drury Lane was her first West End appearance.{{Cite web|url=http://castalbums.org/recordings/Look-Whos-Here-1960-Original-Cast/19759|title=Look Who's Here! - 1960 Original Cast|via=castalbums.org}} She followed this with the role of Connie in Neil Simon's first West End play, Come Blow Your Horn, and a string of other appearances.
She had two roles in Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George, at the National Theatre in 1990, played Olivia in Twelfth Night at the Shaw Theatre, and Rosalind in As You Like It at the Ludlow Festival.{{Cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/play/5rf/sunday-in-the-park-with-george/production/cjx|title=Production of Sunday in the Park with George | Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}} She later toured in Australia, in Jeffrey Archer's Beyond Reasonable Doubt, and later in The King and I.{{Cite news|year=1991|title=Nyree Dawn Porter profile|newspaper=The Bulletin|location=Sydney|issue=5780|page=20}}
=Television and films=
She appeared in several television productions, including an early episode of The Avengers ("Death on The Slipway", 1961); and the title role in the BBC's 1964 adaptation of Madame Bovary.{{Cite book|author=White, Leonard|year=2003|title=Armchair Theatre: The Lost Years|location=Tiverton, Cheshire, England|publisher=Kelly Publications|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0nesK2YgNA8C&pg=PA261 261]|isbn=978-1-903053-18-8}}
Porter is probably best remembered for her role as Irene in the hit BBC series The Forsyte Saga.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/nyree-dawn-porter-p57405|title=Nyree Dawn Porter | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos|website=AllMovie}} The 1967 series, which attracted audiences of 18 million, saw her described by critics as "the first romantic sex symbol of the telly age."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/14/arts/nyree-dawn-porter-61-actress-in-the-forsyte-saga-of-the-60-s.html|title=Nyree Dawn Porter, 61, Actress In 'The Forsyte Saga' of the 60's|first=Lawrence Van|last=Gelder|work=The New York Times |date=14 April 2001|via=NYTimes.com}} She herself said, "I was an unknown theatre actress and Irene gave me international fame and opened doors for me".{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-apr-12-me-50097-story.html|title=Nyree Dawn Porter; TV, Theater Actress|date=12 April 2001|website=Los Angeles Times}}
Although subsequently finding similar high-profile roles harder to come by, she starred in the 1968 comedy series Never a Cross Word and four years later opposite Robert Vaughn in Gerry Anderson's live-action series The Protectors. Porter also played the title role in the 26-part daytime serial For Maddie with Love, as a woman with only a few months left to live.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7cb065f3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213125852/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7cb065f3|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 December 2019|title=For Maddie with Love Episode 1 (1980)|website=BFI}} Her husband was played by Ian Hendry. The programme ran for two series, in 1980 and 1981.
Her film appearances included Live Now, Pay Later (1962), The Cracksman (1963), Two Left Feet (1963), and two horror anthologies: The House That Dripped Blood (1971) and From Beyond the Grave (1974).{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9ee3269c|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209040957/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9ee3269c|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 February 2019|title=Nyree Dawn Porter|website=BFI}} She also appeared in Hilary and Jackie (1998) as the ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn.{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/1999/film/reviews/hilary-and-jackie-2-1200456484/|title=Hilary and Jackie|first1=David|last1=Stratton|date=13 January 1999}}
Awards and honours
In the 1970 Birthday Honours, Porter was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to television.
In 1975, she won the Spanish TP de Oro 'Best Foreign Actress' award for The Protectors.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/nyree-dawn-porter/awards|title=Nyree Dawn Porter | NZ On Screen|first=NZ On|last=Screen|website=www.nzonscreen.com}}
Personal life
Her first husband, Byron O'Leary, died in 1970 of an accidental drug overdose. In 1975 she married actor Robin Halstead after the birth of their daughter, Natalya Francesca Halstead. The couple divorced in 1987.{{Cite news|date=12 April 2001|title=Obituaries: Nyree Dawn Porter|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1315823/Nyree-Dawn-Porter.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228054809/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1315823/Nyree-Dawn-Porter.html|archivedate=28 February 2011|url-status=live}}
Death
She died of leukaemia in 2001 at age 65 in Wandsworth, London.{{cite news |last1=Barker |first1=Dennis |title=Nyree Dawn Porter |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/apr/12/guardianobituaries |access-date=6 February 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=12 April 2001}} She was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium, and her ashes were buried in the cemetery there.[https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&dq=nyree+porter+Putney+Vale&pg=PA599 Resting Places]
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1960
|Pam | |
| 1960
|Betty Martin | |
| 1961
|Jenny Briggs | |
| 1962
|Marjorie Mason |Also starring Ian Hendry |
| 1963
|{{sortname|The|Cracksman}} |Muriel | |
| 1965
|Eileen | |
| 1971
|{{sortname|The|House That Dripped Blood}} |Ann |Segment: "Sweets to the Sweet" |
| 1974
|Susan Warren |Segment: "The Elemental" |
| 1976
|Morir... dormir... tal vez sonar |Ana Mari | |
| 1998
| |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1959
|Vera Berridge |"Touch Wood" |
| 1960
|Julie Sykes |"1.5" |
| 1960
|Mary |"The Soul Peddlers" |
| 1960
|Stewardess |"The Island" |
| 1961
|{{sortname|The|Avengers|The Avengers (TV series)}} |Liz Wells |"Death on the Slipway" (with lead Ian Hendry) |
| 1961
|Mary Mills |"The Diamond Run" |
| 1961
|Mildred |"His Polyvinyl Girl" |
| 1961
|Mary Greer |
| 1962
|Judith Rubin |TV film |
| 1962
|{{sortname|The|Third Man|The Third Man (TV series)}} |Miss Wyvern |"A Question of Libel" |
| 1963
|Corrigan Blake |Francesca |"The Scientific Approach" |
| 1963
|Vicky West |"Death of Samantha" |
| 1963
|Caroline West |"Dead Darling" |
| 1963
|Vicky, the Princess Aziza |"Vicky and the Sultan" |
| 1964
|Madame Bovary |Emma Bovary |TV miniseries |
| 1964
|Yvette |"It Won't Be a Stylish Marriage" |
| 1964
|Judith Paris |Judith Paris |TV miniseries |
| 1964
|{{sortname|The|Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling|nolink=1}} |Janoo |"The Sending of Dana Da" |
| 1964
|{{sortname|The|Saint|The Saint (TV series)}} |Patsy Butler |"The Scorpion" |
| 1964
|Tina Morris |"Arranged for Strings" |
| 1965
|Sheila Reynolds |"I Went to Borrow a Pencil, and Look What I Found" |
| 1965
|Agnes Potter |"The Kidders" |
| 1965
|Lady Brackenstall |"The Abbey Grange" |
| 1965
|Melusine |"A Loving Disposition" |
| 1965
|Nina |"A Couple of Dry Martinis" |
| 1965
|Lisa |"Wake a Stranger" |
| 1965
|Blackmail |Mrs. Donahoe |"The Case of the Phantom Lover" |
| 1966
|{{sortname|The|Liars|nolink=1}} |Hermione |TV series |
| 1967
|{{sortname|The|Forsyte Saga|The Forsyte Saga (1967 TV series)}} |Irene Forsyte |Main role |
| 1968
|{{sortname|The|Gamblers|nolink=1}} |Rita Ironside |"Mates!" |
| 1968
|Barbara |"A Second Look" |
| 1968
|Deirdre Baldock |TV series |
| 1970
|Hassan |Pervaneh |TV film |
| 1970
|Blanche Ingram |TV film |
| 1972–1974
|{{sortname|The|Protectors}} |Contessa Caroline di Contini |Main role |
| 1973
|Stephanie |"Ross Evan's Story" |
| 1974
|Laura Vallance |"Ring Once for Death" (US title: "Death in Small Doses") |
| 1976
|Jane Rawlings |"Alarums and Excursions" |
| 1980
|{{sortname|The|Martian Chronicles|The Martian Chronicles (miniseries)}} |Alice Hathaway |TV miniseries |
| 1980
|Maddie Laurie |Main role (again alongside Ian Hendry) |
| 1986
|Mrs. Steerforth |TV miniseries |
Notes
{{Notelist}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4169316,00.html Obituary in The Guardian]
- {{IMDb name|0692239}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Nyree Dawn}}
Category:Burials at Putney Vale Cemetery
Category:Deaths from leukemia in England
Category:New Zealand television actresses
Category:New Zealand film actresses
Category:New Zealand stage actresses
Category:New Zealand emigrants to the United Kingdom
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire