RIP Beth Porter

 

American born British actress Beth Porter died on August 1, 2023, in East Sussex, England, she was 81. Born in New York City on May 23, 1942, she made her first professional appearance at age 12 in touring company; studied at Stratford Connecticut Shakespeare Festival; member of original Obie-Award winning NY LaMaMa Troupe under director Tom O'Horgan where she starred in play and film of "Futz" and featured in Tom Paine, and Melodrama Play Sam Shepard. Moving to London she founded LaMaMa, and became its administrative and artistic director, touring all over Europe. She was featured in several plays Little Mother, Groupjuice, Hump. She appeared in several US television guest spots in ‘Baretta’ and ‘Kojak’. UK television roles include costarring in ‘Rock Follies’ and ‘Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy’; TV films included “Blue Money” with Tim Curry, and “Pleasure”. Feature films include “The Great Gatsby”, “Reds”, “Love and Death”, and “Yentl” [in which she worked as Barbra Streisand's understudy and played Sophie, Amy Irving's maid, uncredited]. She wrote several plays and film scripts, and became a film critic in 1988, serving for 10 years as London Editor for Film Journal International. Beth also worked as a voice actress and made her only Euro-western animated film “Lucky Luke: Ballad of the Daltons” in 1978 as the English voice of Miss Worthlesspenny.