Beth Porter
Encyclopedia
Beth Jane Porter, is an American
stage, film and television actress and writer, who has worked in Britain for most of her career.
touring company. She studied acting on scholarship at the Stratford
Connecticut
Shakespeare Festival and with Helen Menken
at the American Theatre Wing
.
-winning New York LaMaMa Troupe
under director Tom O'Horgan
(Hair), where she starred in the play and later film of Futz!, and featured in Paul Foster's Tom Paine and Melodrama Play by Sam Shepard
. A critic declared of her co-starring role in Futz!: "Beth Porter makes the Whore of Babylon look like the Singing Nun."
Porter founded the London LaMaMa, and became its administrative and artistic director, touring all over Europe. She featured in their plays, including Groupjuice, Little Mother by Ross Alexander, Groupjuice, Hump, a dramatization of the novel by David Benedictus.
US television guest spots include Baretta
and Kojak
. UK television roles include co-starring in Rock Follies of '77 (1977) and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
, in which she reprised her role as The Marketing Girl from the original radio series. Her television films include Blue Money with Tim Curry
, and Pleasure (1994), part of the Alan Bleasdale Presents series. She guest starred with Bill Nighy
in The Men's Room (1991).
Feature film roles include Reds (1981), Mrs. McKee in The Great Gatsby
(1974), Woody Allen
's sister-in-law Anna in Love and Death
(1975), and Yentl
(1983), in which she worked as Barbra Streisand
's understudy and played Sophie, Amy Irving
's maid in an uncredited role. She appeared in several saucy UK comedies in the 1970s including Eskimo Nell
(1975), an early feature film by Martin Campbell
.
' album The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking
as The Wife. Her voice has been heard on re-voices and dubbings of many films. She was the White Witch
in the animated version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
. She and John Ratzenberger
did all the post-synch voices in John Schlesinger
's Honky Tonk Freeway
(1981), and she re-voiced the death throes of Veronica Cartwright
in Alien
(1979).
, she produced The Husband, The Wife and The Stranger, starring Adam Faith
and Derrick O'Connor
, and for Channel 4
Television, Unusual Ground Floor Conversion, a short film directed by Mark Herman
, Little Voice. She later joined BBC Television Drama as a development executive for new drama series.
A number of her radio plays and short stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4
.
Porter first became a journalist
at age 12 when she was hired as a weekly columnist for The Patent Trader, a Westchester County newspaper chain. Years later, she served as a relief theatre critic for The Times
, and contributed media-related articles to The Listener and The Independent. In 1988 she became a film critic, joining The Critics' Circle
and served for 10 years as London Editor for Film Journal International
.
She subsequently became a senior Web Producer for leading web-house Online Magic, part of the Omnicom Group, and she was asked to contribute to various web-related magazines including .net
for Future Publishing. This led to the publication of her book, The Net Effect, for which David Puttnam
contributed the foreword. 2009 was her 12th year as a nominating judge for the International Webby Awards
and she has served as a contributor to policy advisers on eDemocracy issues.
She continues to make websites for private clients and currently writes a fort-nightly media-related column for The Morning Star
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
stage, film and television actress and writer, who has worked in Britain for most of her career.
Early life
Beth Porter made her first professional appearance at age 12 in a Westchester CountyWestchester County, New York
Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
touring company. She studied acting on scholarship at the Stratford
Stratford, Connecticut
Stratford is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located on Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Housatonic River. It was founded by Puritans in 1639....
Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
Shakespeare Festival and with Helen Menken
Helen Menken
Helen Menken was an American actress, born Helen Meinken to a German-French father, Frederick Meinken, and an Irish-born mother, Mary Madden....
at the American Theatre Wing
American Theatre Wing
The American Theatre Wing is a New York City-based organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre," according to its mission statement...
.
Career
In 1966, Porter was chosen as a member of original Obie AwardObie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
-winning New York LaMaMa Troupe
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is an off-off Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, and named in reference to her. Located on Manhattan's Lower East Side, the theatre grew out of Stewart's tiny basement boutique for her fashion designs; the boutique's space acted as a theatre for...
under director Tom O'Horgan
Tom O'Horgan
Tom O'Horgan was an American theatre and film director, composer, actor and musician. He is best known for his Broadway work as director of the hit musicals Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar...
(Hair), where she starred in the play and later film of Futz!, and featured in Paul Foster's Tom Paine and Melodrama Play by Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
. A critic declared of her co-starring role in Futz!: "Beth Porter makes the Whore of Babylon look like the Singing Nun."
Porter founded the London LaMaMa, and became its administrative and artistic director, touring all over Europe. She featured in their plays, including Groupjuice, Little Mother by Ross Alexander, Groupjuice, Hump, a dramatization of the novel by David Benedictus.
US television guest spots include Baretta
Baretta
Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma...
and Kojak
Kojak
Kojak is an American television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, bald New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theo Kojak. It aired from October 24, 1973, to March 18, 1978, on CBS. It took the time slot of the popular Cannon series, which was moved one hour earlier...
. UK television roles include co-starring in Rock Follies of '77 (1977) and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (TV series)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is a BBC television adaptation of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy broadcast in January and February 1981 on BBC Two...
, in which she reprised her role as The Marketing Girl from the original radio series. Her television films include Blue Money with Tim Curry
Tim Curry
Timothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
, and Pleasure (1994), part of the Alan Bleasdale Presents series. She guest starred with Bill Nighy
Bill Nighy
William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...
in The Men's Room (1991).
Feature film roles include Reds (1981), Mrs. McKee in The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby (1974 film)
The Great Gatsby is a 1974 romantic drama film distributed by Newdon Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by David Merrick, from a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola based on F...
(1974), Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
's sister-in-law Anna in Love and Death
Love and Death
Love and Death is a 1975 comedy film by Woody Allen. Starring Woody Allen and Diane Keaton, Love and Death is a satirical take on Russian epic novels. Coming in between Sleeper and Annie Hall, Love and Death is in many respects an artistic transition between the two...
(1975), and Yentl
Yentl (film)
Yentl is a 1983 romantic musical drama film from United Artists, and directed, co-written, co-produced, and starring Barbra Streisand based on the play of the same name by Leah Napolin and Isaac Bashevis Singer, itself based on Singer's short story, "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy".The dramatic story...
(1983), in which she worked as Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
's understudy and played Sophie, Amy Irving
Amy Irving
Amy Davis Irving is an American actress, known for her roles in the films Crossing Delancey, The Fury, Carrie, and Yentl as well as acclaimed roles on Broadway and Off-Broadway. She has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, and has won an Obie award...
's maid in an uncredited role. She appeared in several saucy UK comedies in the 1970s including Eskimo Nell
Eskimo Nell (film)
Eskimo Nell, a.k.a. The Ballad of Eskimo Nell a.k.a The Sexy Saga of Naughty Nell and Big Dick , is a 1975 British film directed by Martin Campbell and produced by Stanley Long...
(1975), an early feature film by Martin Campbell
Martin Campbell
-Life and career:Campbell was born in Hastings, New Zealand. He directed two James Bond films, 1995's GoldenEye, starring Pierce Brosnan, and 2006's Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig, and was the first Bond director since John Glen to direct more than one film, as well as the oldest director in...
.
Voice acting
Porter featured on Roger WatersRoger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
' album The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking
The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking
The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking is a 1984 concept album and the first solo album by English musician Roger Waters. The album was certified gold in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 1995.-Concept history:...
as The Wife. Her voice has been heard on re-voices and dubbings of many films. She was the White Witch
White Witch
Jadis is the main antagonist of The Magician's Nephew and of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in C.S. Lewis' series, The Chronicles of Narnia...
in the animated version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1979)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is an animated television film that was broadcast in 1979.-Plot:When four children Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy stumble into an old Wardrobe they find themselves in a magical land called Narnia with talking animals, fauns, hags, the Wicked White Witch and the...
. She and John Ratzenberger
John Ratzenberger
John Deszo Ratzenberger is an American actor, voice actor, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his role as Cliff Clavin in Cheers.-Early life:...
did all the post-synch voices in John Schlesinger
John Schlesinger
John Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director and actor.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
's Honky Tonk Freeway
Honky Tonk Freeway
Honky Tonk Freeway is a UK comedy film directed by John Schlesinger. It was released in August 1981 by Universal Studios. The film, conceived and co-produced by Don Boyd, was one of the most expensive box office flops in history, losing its British backers Thorn-EMI an estimated $11,000,000 and...
(1981), and she re-voiced the death throes of Veronica Cartwright
Veronica Cartwright
Veronica A. Cartwright is an English-born American actress who has worked mainly in American film and television. She is best known for her role of Lambert in Alien, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress....
in Alien
Alien (film)
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which...
(1979).
Later career
Porter later trained as a television script editor and producer. For BBC TelevisionBBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
, she produced The Husband, The Wife and The Stranger, starring Adam Faith
Adam Faith
Terence "Terry" Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith was a Teen idol English singer, actor and later financial journalist. He was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the Top 5...
and Derrick O'Connor
Derrick O'Connor
Derrick O'Connor is an Irish character actor, mostly known for his roles in Terry Gilliam films. He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company....
, and for Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
Television, Unusual Ground Floor Conversion, a short film directed by Mark Herman
Mark Herman
Mark Herman is an English film director and screenwriter best known for writing & directing the 2008 film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas....
, Little Voice. She later joined BBC Television Drama as a development executive for new drama series.
A number of her radio plays and short stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
.
Porter first became a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
at age 12 when she was hired as a weekly columnist for The Patent Trader, a Westchester County newspaper chain. Years later, she served as a relief theatre critic for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, and contributed media-related articles to The Listener and The Independent. In 1988 she became a film critic, joining The Critics' Circle
The Critics' Circle
The Critics' Circle is a professional association of British critics of dance, drama, film, music, visual arts and architecture. It was established in 1913 as an offshoot of the Society of Dramatic Critics, which had been formed six years earlier but had become inactive.For many years the Circle...
and served for 10 years as London Editor for Film Journal International
Film Journal International
Film Journal International is a motion-picture industry trade magazine published by the American company Prometheus Global Media. It is a sister publication of Adweek, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and other periodicals....
.
She subsequently became a senior Web Producer for leading web-house Online Magic, part of the Omnicom Group, and she was asked to contribute to various web-related magazines including .net
.net (magazine)
.net is a monthly Internet magazine published in the UK by Future Publishing. Founded in 1994, .net magazine is published every four weeks . The magazine is aimed at professional and amateur web designers, and a significant proportion of its readers are full-time web developers. The front cover...
for Future Publishing. This led to the publication of her book, The Net Effect, for which David Puttnam
David Puttnam
David Terence Puttnam, Baron Puttnam, CBE, FRSA is a British film producer. He sits on the Labour benches in the House of Lords, although he is not principally a politician.-Early life:...
contributed the foreword. 2009 was her 12th year as a nominating judge for the International Webby Awards
Webby Awards
A Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....
and she has served as a contributor to policy advisers on eDemocracy issues.
She continues to make websites for private clients and currently writes a fort-nightly media-related column for The Morning Star
The Morning Star
The Morning Star is a left wing British daily tabloid newspaper with a focus on social and trade union issues. Articles and comment columns are contributed by writers from socialist, social democratic, green and religious perspectives....
.
Films
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | The Naked Witch | Beth | |
| 1969 | Me and My Brother Me and My Brother (film) Me and My Brother is a 1969 independent film directed by Robert Frank. The film stars Julius Orlovsky, Peter Orlovsky, John Coe, Seth Allen and Christopher Walken. It is Sam Shepard's film debut. The film tells a story of Julius and Peter Orlovsky... |
||
| Futz! | Majorie Satz | ||
| 1971 | Long Drawn-Out Trip: Sketches from Los Angeles | Various | (voice) |
| 1974 | Feelings | Mrs. Lustig | |
| The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby (1974 film) The Great Gatsby is a 1974 romantic drama film distributed by Newdon Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by David Merrick, from a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola based on F... |
Mrs. McKee | ||
| 1975 | Eskimo Nell Eskimo Nell (film) Eskimo Nell, a.k.a. The Ballad of Eskimo Nell a.k.a The Sexy Saga of Naughty Nell and Big Dick , is a 1975 British film directed by Martin Campbell and produced by Stanley Long... |
Billie Harris | |
| Love and Death Love and Death Love and Death is a 1975 comedy film by Woody Allen. Starring Woody Allen and Diane Keaton, Love and Death is a satirical take on Russian epic novels. Coming in between Sleeper and Annie Hall, Love and Death is in many respects an artistic transition between the two... |
Anna | ||
| Dick Deadeye, or Duty Done Dick Deadeye, or Duty Done Dick Deadeye, or Duty Done is a 1975 British animated film musical, based on the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan.The comically convoluted plot is a pastiche of many in the Gilbert and Sullivan canon, particularly Trial by Jury, The Sorcerer,... |
Yum-Yum | (voice) | |
| 1978 | What's Up Superdoc! | Melanie | |
| On a Paving Stone Mounted | American Woman | ||
| 1980 | Superman II Superman II Superman II is the 1980 sequel to the 1978 superhero film Superman and stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Terence Stamp, Ned Beatty, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, and Jack O'Halloran. It was the only Superman film to be filmed by two directors... |
Football Fan | (uncredited) |
| 1981 | Reds | ||
| 1983 | Yentl Yentl (film) Yentl is a 1983 romantic musical drama film from United Artists, and directed, co-written, co-produced, and starring Barbra Streisand based on the play of the same name by Leah Napolin and Isaac Bashevis Singer, itself based on Singer's short story, "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy".The dramatic story... |
Sophie |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Thirty Minute Theatre | Joanna | Episode "The Baby's Name Being Kitchener" |
| Armchair Theatre Armchair Theatre Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series, which ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television after 1968.... |
Barbara | Episode "Verite" | |
| 1974 | Mousey | Sandra | aka Cat and Mouse |
| 1975 | Baretta Baretta Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma... |
Nightclub Hostess | Episode "Nobody in a Nothing Place" |
| 1977 | Seven Faces of Woman | Anne Liebowitz | Episode "She: Anxious Anne" |
| Rock Follies of '77 | Kitty Schreiber | 6 episodes, 1977 | |
| 1978 | Crown Court Crown Court (TV series) Crown Court was an afternoon television courtroom drama produced by Granada Television for the ITV network that ran from 1972, when the Crown Court system replaced Assize courts and Quarter sessions in the legal system of England and Wales, to 1984.... |
Episode "Scalped" | |
| 1979 | The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1979) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is an animated television film that was broadcast in 1979.-Plot:When four children Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy stumble into an old Wardrobe they find themselves in a magical land called Narnia with talking animals, fauns, hags, the Wicked White Witch and the... |
Jadis, The White Witch | (voice) |
| The Deep Concern | Carrie Stone | (6 episodes) | |
| 1980 | Tales of the Unexpected Tales of the Unexpected (TV series) Tales of the Unexpected is a British television series originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by Anglia Television for ITV. Filming began in 1978.The series was an anthology of different tales... |
Joanna Bligh | Episode "Taste" |
| 1981 | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (TV series) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is a BBC television adaptation of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy broadcast in January and February 1981 on BBC Two... |
Marketing Girl | Episode #1.6 |
| 1982 | Blue Money | Barmaid | |
| 1988 | Floodtide | American Woman | Season 2 Episodes 4 and 5 |
| 1988 | Square Deal Square Deal The Square Deal was President Theodore Roosevelt's domestic program formed upon three basic ideas: conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection... |
Hannah | Episodes #1.1 and #1.7 |
| 1990 | Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Davina Ilbert | Episode "Put on by Cunning" |
| 1994 | Pleasure | Amber | aka Alan Bleasdale Presents Pleasure |