Frank Finlay

Francis Finlay, CBE (6 August 1926 – 30 January 2016), known as Frank Finlay, was an English stage, film and television actor, Oscar-nominated for a supporting role as Iago in Laurence Olivier's 1965 film adaptation of Othello. His first leading television role came in 1971 in Casanova.[1] This led to appearances on The Morecambe and Wise Show.[2] He also appeared in the drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire.[3]

Frank Finlay CBE
Born	Francis Finlay 6 August 1926 Farnworth, Lancashire, England
Died	30 January 2016 (aged 89) Weybridge, Surrey, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1958–2009
Spouse(s)	Doreen Shepherd (1954–2005, her death)
Children	3
Website	Official website

Early life

Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Josiah Finlay,[4] a butcher, and Margaret Finlay. He was educated at St Gregory the Great School, but left at 14 to train as a butcher himself at the family firm,[5] 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. 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.[5]

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,[6] and the 1965 film adaptation Othello of that production (also 1965), Finlay's performance left theatre critics unmoved, but he later received high praise for the film version and gained an Academy Award nomination.[7] 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), 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.[8] Between November 1988 and April 1989, Finlay toured Australia, performing in Jeffrey Archer's Beyond Reasonable Doubt at theatres in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.[9]

Screen

Finlay as Jacob Marley's Ghost

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). Following this, he portrayed Adolf Hitler in The Death of Adolf Hitler (1972) for London Weekend Television.

Finlay 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), The Four Musketeers (1975) and The Return of the Musketeers (1989). He appeared in several additional films, including The Wild Geese (1978).

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 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 ("The Witchsmeller Pursuivant", 1983), opposite Rowan Atkinson.

Finlay played Sancho Panza opposite Rex Harrison's Don Quixote in the 1973 British made-for-television film The Adventures of Don Quixote,[10] for which he won a BAFTA award.[11] He won another BAFTA award that year for his performance as Voltaire in the BBC TV production of Candide.

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), 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) 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".

Private life and honours

Finlay met his future wife Doreen Shepherd when both belonged to Farnworth Little Theatre. They and three children, Stephen, Cathy and Daniel, lived in Shepperton, Middlesex. She died in 2005 aged 79.[5] As a Roman Catholic,[12] 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[13] and an honorary doctor of the University of Bolton in 2009.[5]

Finlay died on 30 January 2016 at his home in Weybridge, Surrey, England, aged 89, from heart failure.[14][15][16][17]

Partial filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1962	Life for Ruth	Henry – Teddy's father
	The Longest Day	Private Coke	Uncredited
	The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner	Booking Office clerk	Uncredited
	Private Potter	Captain Patterson
1963	Doctor in Distress	Corsetiere
	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
	The Wild Affair	Drunk
	Othello	Iago	San Sebastián International Film Festival Award for Best Actor Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated — BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
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
1974	The Four Musketeers	Porthos	Sequel to The Three Musketeers
1977	Count Dracula	Abraham Van Helsing	TV movie
1978	The Wild Geese	Father Geoghagen
1979	Murder by Decree	Inspector Lestrade
	Ring of Darkness	Paul	aka Satan's Wife
1982	The Return of the Soldier	William Grey	Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
	Enigma	Canarsky
1983	The Ploughman's Lunch	Matthew Fox
	The Black Adder	The Witchsmeller Pursuivant	Episode: "Witchsmeller Pursuivant"
	The Key	Nino Rolfe
1984	Sakharov	Kravtsov	TV movie
	A Christmas Carol	Jacob Marley's Ghost	TV movie
1985	1919	Sigmund Freud	Voice
	Lifeforce	Dr. Hans Fallada
1987	Casanova	Razetta	TV movie
1988	Erebus: The Aftermath	Justice Peter Mahon	TV Mini-Series
1989	The Return of the Musketeers	Porthos	Final film in the Musketeers trilogy
1990	King of the Wind	Edward Coke
1992	Cthulhu Mansion	Chandu
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
1998–1999	How Do You Want Me?	Astley Yardley	10 episodes
1999	Dreaming of Joseph Lees	Father
2000	Ghosthunter	Charlie Fielding	Short
2000	The Sins	'Uncle' Irwin Green	BBC drama series
2001	The Martins	Mr. Heath
2002	The Pianist	Samuel Szpilman
	Silent Cry	Dr. Robert Barrum
2003	Eroica	Joseph Haydn	TV movie
	The Statement	Commissaire Vionnet
	The Lost Prince	H.H. Asquith	TV movie
2004	Lighthouse Hill	Alfred
	Life Begins	Eric	ITV Series
2007	The Waiting Room	Roger
2008	Merlin	Anhora	Episode: "The Labyrinth of Gedref"

References

1. BBC News, "Actor Frank Finlay dies aged 89", 31 January 2016. Accessed 1 February 2016.
2. Gary Morecambe, Eric Morecambe: Life's Not Hollywood It's Cricklewood. BBC Books, 2004, p. 210.
3. Daily Telegraph.
4. "Frank Finlay profile". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
5. "Family pays tribute to 'loving grandfather' and 'damn fine actor' Frank Finlay". The Bolton News.
6. Fox, Margalit (6 February 2016). "Frank Finlay, 89, Is Dead; Was Iago to Olivier's Othello". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
7. "Awards listing". Awardsdatabase.oscars.org. Archived from the original on 14 January 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
8. The Broadway League. "Frank Finlay profile". IBDB.com. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
9. "Beyond Reasonable Doubt". FrankFinlay.Net. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
10. Josephdreams. "Frank Finlay website". Frank Finlay. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
11. "BAFTA Television Awards". Bafta.org. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
12. Deborah Ross (24 February 1998). "Interview: Frank Finlay: Getting over the barbed wire". The Independent. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
13. "No. 49583". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1983. p. 8.
14. Josephdreams. "Frank Finlay". frankfinlay.net.
15. "Frank Finlay dead: British Oscar-nominated actor who played opposite Olivier dies aged 89". The Independent. 30 January 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
16. "Actor Frank Finlay dies aged 89". BBC News. 30 January 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
17. "Obituary: Frank Finlay". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 1 August 2017.

External links

• Official website
• Frank Finlay at IMDb
• Frank Finlay at the Internet Broadway Database
• Obituary at the Bolton News [1 February 2016] Retrieved 7 February 2016.