Born in Bromley and having been evacuated during the war and then completing his National Service in the RAF, Eric played in professional repertory theatre for 10 years, and then became a teacher of English and drama. He first played here in 1971 in The Flip Side, cemented his place in the Barn hierarchy as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman in 1978, and followed in succeeding years with Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, the hedonistic Bishop of Southwark in Racing Demon, and many more strong and memorable performances until his last in Blue Stockings in 2014.