Frank Finlay

Template:Short description Template:For multi Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Francis Finlay, Template:Post-nominals (6 August 1926 – 30 January 2016) was an English actor. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Iago in Othello (1965).<ref name=BBCnews/> His first leading television role came in 1971 in Casanova.<ref name=BBCnews>BBC News, "Actor Frank Finlay dies aged 89", 31 January 2016. Accessed 1 February 2016.</ref> This led to appearances<ref name="1978 Christmas Show">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref> on The Morecambe and Wise Show.<ref>Gary Morecambe, Eric Morecambe: Life's Not Hollywood It's Cricklewood. BBC Books, 2004, p. 210.</ref> Finlay starred alongside famous Italian actress Stefania Sandrelli in Tinto Brass' The Key, the most successful Italian film of the 1983-1984 season. He also appeared in the drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire.<ref name=Telegraph>Daily Telegraph.</ref>

A four-time BAFTA nominee, Finlay won one for his television performances in 1974.

Early life

Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Josiah Finlay,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Margaret Finlay. He was educated at St Gregory the Great School, but left at 14 to train as a butcher at Toppings,<ref name="Bolton News">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> gaining a City and Guilds Diploma in the trade.

Stage career

Finlay made his first stage appearances at the local Farnworth Little Theatre, in plays that included Peter Blackmore's Miranda in 1951.<ref name=BBCnews/><ref name="Bolton News"/> The current Little Theatre president, also in the cast of that Miranda production, remembers him as a perfectionist in his craft. He also played in repertory, initially in Scotland, before winning a scholarship to RADA in London.<ref name="Bolton News"/><ref name=BBCnews/>

There followed several parts in productions at the Royal Court Theatre, such as the Arnold Wesker trilogy. He became particularly associated with the National Theatre, especially during the years when Laurence Olivier was director. Playing Iago opposite Olivier's title character in John Dexter's 1965 production of Othello,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the film adaptation of that production (also 1965),<ref name=BBCnews/><ref name="Bolton News"/> Finlay's performance left theatre critics unmoved, but he later received high praise for the film version and gained an Academy Award nomination.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The critic John Simon wrote that the close-ups in the film allowed Finlay to give a more subtle and effective performance than he had done on stage.

At the Chichester Festival Theatre, Finlay played roles ranging from the First Gravedigger in Hamlet to Josef Frank in Weapons of Happiness. He also appeared in The Party, Plunder, Saint Joan, Hobson's Choice, Amadeus (as Salieri),<ref name=Herald/> Much Ado About Nothing (as Dogberry), The Dutch Courtesan, The Crucible, Mother Courage, and Juno and the Paycock.

Finlay made appearances on Broadway, in Epitaph for George Dillon (1958–1959), and in the National Theatre and Broadway productions of Filumena opposite Joan Plowright in 1980.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Between November 1988 and April 1989, Finlay toured Australia, performing in Jeffrey Archer's Beyond Reasonable Doubt at theatres in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Screen

One of his earliest television roles was in the family space adventure serial Target Luna (1960), as journalist Conway Henderson. Finlay's first major television success was as Jean Valjean in the BBC's 1967 ten-part adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. He played the title role of Dennis Potter's BBC 2 series Casanova (1971).<ref name=BBCnews/> Following this, he portrayed Adolf Hitler in The Death of Adolf Hitler (1973) for London Weekend Television.<ref name=Herald/>

Finlay was one of the stars of Martin Ritt's highly acclaimed 1970 feature The Molly Maguires. He portrayed Richard Roundtree's nemesis, Amafi, in the film Shaft in Africa (1973), before playing Porthos for director Richard Lester in The Three Musketeers (also 1973),<ref name=BBCnews/> The Four Musketeers (1975) and The Return of the Musketeers (1989).<ref name=BBCnews/> He appeared in several additional films, including The Wild Geese (1978)<ref name=BBCnews/> and The Key by Tinto Brass.

Finlay starred as the father in the once-controversial Bouquet of Barbed Wire (1976), and its sequel Another Bouquet (1977), and he was reunited with his Bouquet of Barbed Wire co-star, Susan Penhaligon, when he played Professor Van Helsing in the BBC's Count Dracula (also 1977), with Louis Jourdan. He appeared in two Sherlock Holmes films as Lestrade, solving the Jack the Ripper murders (A Study in Terror, 1965, and Murder by Decree, 1979). He also played a role as the primary antagonist in an adaptation of "The Golden Pince-Nez" of the Granada Television series of Sherlock Holmes starring Jeremy Brett, in which his son Daniel played a minor role as well. Finlay appeared on American television in A Christmas Carol (1984) playing Marley's Ghost opposite George C. Scott's Ebenezer Scrooge. He also guest-starred as a farcical witch-smeller in an episode of The Black Adder ("Witchsmeller Pursuivant", 1983), opposite Rowan Atkinson.<ref name=BBCnews/>

In 1994 he played Howard Franklin in fourth-series Heartbeat episode "Lost and Found".

Finlay played Sancho Panza opposite Rex Harrison's Don Quixote in the 1973 British made-for-television film The Adventures of Don Quixote,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> for which he won a BAFTA award.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He won another BAFTA award that year for his performance as Voltaire in the BBC TV production of Candide.<ref name=Herald/>

Finlay played the role of Justice Peter Mahon in the award-winning New Zealand television serial Erebus: The Aftermath (1988). In the Roman Polanski film The Pianist (2002),<ref name=BBCnews/><ref name="Bolton News"/> he took on the part of Adrien Brody's father. He starred alongside Pete Postlethwaite and Geraldine James in the BBC drama series The Sins in 2000, playing the funeral director "Uncle" Irwin Green. He appeared in the TV series Life Begins (2004–2006)<ref name=BBCnews/> and as Jane Tennison's father in the last two stories of Prime Suspect (2006 and 2007). In 2007, he guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio adventure 100. Finlay appeared in November 2008 in the eleventh episode of the BBC drama series Merlin, as "Anhora, Keeper of the Unicorns".<ref name=BBCnews/>

Personal life and honours

Finlay met his future wife Doreen Shepherd when both belonged to Farnworth Little Theatre. They had three children,<ref name="Bolton News"/> lived in Shepperton, Middlesex. She died in 2005 aged 79.<ref name="Bolton News"/> As a Roman Catholic,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Finlay became a member of the British Catholic Stage Guild (now the Catholic Association of Performing Arts).

Finlay was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year's Honours of 1984<ref name=BBCnews/><ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and an honorary doctor of the University of Bolton in 2009.<ref name="Bolton News"/>

Death

Finlay died on 30 January 2016 at his home in Weybridge, Surrey, aged 89, from heart failure.<ref name=BBCnews/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=Independent>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=Herald>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Awards and nominations

Year	Awards	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1966	Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Othello	Template:Nom	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture		Template:Nom
	San Sebastián International Film Festival	Silver Shell for Best Actor		Template:Won
1967	British Academy Film Awards	Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles		Template:Nom	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1972	British Academy Television Awards	Best Actor	Casanova	Template:Nom	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1974			Play of the Month: The Adventure of Don Quixote / Candide / ITV Sunday Night Theatre: The Death of Adolf Hitler	Template:Won
1976	Laurence Olivier Awards	Actor of the Year in a New Play	When It Comes Down / Weapons of Decree	Template:Nom	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1983	British Academy Film Awards	Best Actor in a Supporting Role	The Return of the Soldier	Template:Nom	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Template:Tooltip
1962	Life for Ruth	Henry – Teddy's father
	The Longest Day	Private Coke	Uncredited
	The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner	Booking Office clerk		<ref name=Herald/>
	Private Potter	Captain Patterson
1963	Doctor in Distress	Corsetiere		<ref name=Herald/>
	The Informers	Leon Sale
1964	Hot Enough for June	British Embassy porter	Uncredited
	The Comedy Man	Prout
1965	A Study in Terror	Inspector Lestrade	Reprised the role fourteen years later in Murder by Decree	<ref name=Herald/>
	The Wild Affair	Drunk
	Othello	Iago		<ref name=BBCnews/>
1966	The Sandwich Man	Second fish porter
	The Deadly Bees	H.W. Manfred
1967	The Jokers	Harassed man
	Robbery	Robinson
	I'll Never Forget What's'isname	Chaplain
	The Spare Tyres	Council foreman	Short
1968	Inspector Clouseau	Superintendent Weaver
	The Shoes of the Fisherman	Igor Bounin
	Twisted Nerve	Henry Durnley
1970	The Molly Maguires	Davies
	Cromwell	John Carter
1971	Assault	Det. Chief Supt. Velyan
	Gumshoe	William Ginley
1972	Sitting Target	Marty Gold
	Danny Jones	Mr. Jones
	Neither the Sea Nor the Sand	George Dabernon
1973	Shaft in Africa	Amafi
	The Three Musketeers	Porthos / O'Reilly		<ref name=BBCnews/><ref name=Herald/><ref name=Independent/>
1974	The Four Musketeers	Porthos	Sequel to The Three Musketeers	<ref name=BBCnews/><ref name=Herald/><ref name=Independent/>
1978	The Wild Geese	Father Geoghagen		<ref name=BBCnews/>
1979	Murder by Decree	Inspector Lestrade
	Template:Interlanguage link multi	Paul	aka Satan's Wife
1982	The Return of the Soldier	William Grey
	Enigma	Canarsky
1983	The Ploughman's Lunch	Matthew Fox
	The Key	Nino Rolfe
1985	1919	Sigmund Freud	Voice
	Lifeforce	Dr. Hans Fallada
1989	The Return of the Musketeers	Porthos	Final film in the Musketeers trilogy	<ref name=BBCnews/><ref name=Herald/>
1990	King of the Wind	Edward Coke
1992	Cthulhu Mansion	Chandu
	Stalin	Sergei Alliluyev	TV movie
1993	Sparrow	Father Nunzio
1995	Gospa	Monsignor
1996	Tiré à part	John Rathbone
1997	For My Baby	Rudi Wittfogel
	So This Is Romance?	Mike's dad
	The Road to Glory	Yudah Lieb Gold
	Put K Slave
1998	Stiff Upper Lips	Hudson Junior
1999	Dreaming of Joseph Lees	Father
2000	Ghosthunter	Charlie Fielding	Short
2001	The Martins	Mr. Heath
2002	The Pianist	Samuel Szpilman		<ref name=BBCnews/><ref name="Bolton News"/><ref name=Herald/>
	Silent Cry	Dr. Robert Barrum
2003	The Statement	Commissaire Vionnet
2004	Lighthouse Hill	Alfred
2007	The Waiting Room	Roger

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Template:Tooltip
1970	Play For Today	Andrew Firth	Episode: "The Lie" (written by Ingmar Bergman)	<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
1971	Casanova	Casanova	Main role	<ref name=BBCnews/>
1973	ITV Sunday Night Theatre	Adolf Hitler	Episode: "The Death of Adolf Hitler"	<ref name=Herald/>
1976	Bouquet of Barbed Wire	Peter Manson	TV mini-series	<ref name=Telegraph/><ref name=Herald/><ref name=Independent/>
1977	Count Dracula	Abraham Van Helsing	TV movie	<ref name=Herald/>
1983	The Black Adder	The Witchsmeller Pursuivant	Episode: "Witchsmeller Pursuivant"	<ref name=BBCnews/><ref name=Herald/>
1984	Sakharov	Kravtsov	TV movie
	A Christmas Carol	Jacob Marley's Ghost		<ref name=Herald/>
1987	Casanova	Razetta		<ref name=Independent/>
1988	Erebus: The Aftermath	Justice Peter Mahon	TV Mini-Series
1998–1999	How Do You Want Me?	Astley Yardley	10 episodes
2000	The Sins	'Uncle' Irwin Green	BBC drama series
2003	Eroica	Joseph Haydn	TV movie
	The Lost Prince	H.H. Asquith
2004	Life Begins	Eric	ITV Series
2008	Merlin	Anhora	Episode: "The Labyrinth of Gedref"	<ref name=BBCnews/>

External links

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• Obituary at the Bolton News [1 February 2016] Retrieved 7 February 2016.