Robert Porter came from a large Catholic family and was raised in Los Angeles. In the early 1970s, he lived at Sycamore Farms, a horse stable in Malibu, California, which he leased with his brother Peter.
The brothers built a large two-story horse barn using materials "borrowed" from the county building site, and the stable became a popular spot for socialites, actors, and models. The trainer, Captain Pat Conar, was an Irishman who had served in the British Cavalry and had coached Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet.
Robert's girlfriend at the time was Erin Murphy, a beautiful hippie local whose grandfather was director Dudley Murphy, founder of the famous Holiday House hotel and restaurant. Their relationship was a tumultuous and passionate affair that seemed straight out of an Italian movie.
As Robert began to focus on independent film work, he became known for his charismatic performances and his ability to connect with his female co-stars. He was heavily influenced by the Actors Studio and Method Acting, and his throwback style was out of place in the new industry, which had taken on television-level mass production values and cookie-cutter acting styles.
Robert's friendship with talents like Zalman King, who later gained notoriety for cult films like Wild Orchid, encouraged him to step off into independent roles that would let him stretch his acting chops. He appeared in films like The Jesus Trip and Trip With the Teacher, which were inspired by European New Wave films like Antonioni's Zabriskie Point.
In his later years, Robert dropped out of the horse business and got into agriculture, first with a pot grow near the Malibu/Ventura county line and later as a farmer on the McGrath Family Farms in Oxnard. He also worked as a stonemason in Sacramento and talked about returning to acting as a teacher.
