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 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. ''Look Who's Here'' at the
Fortune Theatre in Drury Lane was her first West End appearance. 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.
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. The 1967 series, which attracted audiences of 18 million, saw her described by critics as "the first romantic sex symbol of the telly age." She herself said, "I was an unknown theatre actress and Irene gave me international fame and opened doors for me". 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. 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). She also appeared in
Hilary and Jackie (1998) as the ballerina
Dame Margot Fonteyn. ==Awards and honours==