Albert Finney
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albert-finney-actor-theatregold-erin

 


 

Albert Finney – Actor of Stage and Screen

Albert Finney (9 May 1936 – 7 February 2019) was an English actor, producer and director of film, television and theatre. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began to work in the theatre as a Shakespearean actor before attaining prominence on screen in the early 1960s, debuting with The Entertainer (1960), directed by Tony Richardson, who had previously directed him in the theatre. He maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television.
He is known for his roles in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (also 1960), Tom Jones (1963), Two for the Road (1967), Scrooge (1970), Annie (1982), The Dresser (1983), Miller’s Crossing (1990), A Man of No Importance (1994), Erin Brockovich (2000), Big Fish (2003), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007), The Bourne Legacy (2012), and the James Bond film Skyfall (2012).
A recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe, Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Awards, Finney was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor four times, for Tom Jones (1963), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Dresser (1983), and Under the Volcano (1984); he was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Erin Brockovich (2000). His performance as Winston Churchill in the BBC–HBO television biographical film The Gathering Storm (2002) saw him receive a number of accolades.

Life

Finney was born in the Charlestown suburb of Salford, the son of Alice (née Hobson) and Albert Finney, a bookmaker.[1] He was educated at Tootal Drive Primary School, Salford Grammar School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), from which he graduated in 1956.[2]
By his first wife, Jane Wenham, he had a son, Simon, who works in the film industry as a camera operator. From 1970 to 1978, he was married to French actress Anouk Aimée.[8] In May 2011, Finney disclosed that he had been receiving treatment for kidney cancer.[22][23] Finney succumbed to a chest infection, on 7 February 2019, at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Brompton, London, at the age of 82.[24][25][26]

Career

In February 1956 John Fernald, principal of RADA, gave Finney his first major role in the Vanbrugh Theatre’s student production of Ian Dallas’ play The Face of Love, as Shakespeare’s Troilus.[3] Finney graduated from RADA and became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His career began in the theatre, and he made his first appearance on the London stage in 1958, in Jane Arden’s The Party, directed by Charles Laughton, who starred in the production along with his wife, Elsa Lanchester. Then, in 1959, he appeared at Stratford in the title role in Coriolanus, replacing an ill Laurence Olivier.[4]
Finney created the title role in Luther, the 1961 play by John Osborne depicting the life of Martin Luther, one of the foremost instigators of the Protestant Reformation. He performed the role with the English Stage Company at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt, Paris, the Holland Festival, the Royal Court Theatre, London, the Phoenix Theatre, London, and the St. James Theatre, New York.albert-finney-actor-theatregold
His first film appearance was a role in Tony Richardson’s The Entertainer (1960), with Laurence Olivier, and he made his breakthrough in the same year with his portrayal of a disillusioned factory worker in Karel Reisz’s film version of Alan Sillitoe’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (also 1960). This led to his starring in the Academy Award-winning 1963 film Tom Jones. Prior to this, Finney had been chosen to play T. E. Lawrence in David Lean’s production of Lawrence of Arabia after a successful, and elaborate, screen-test that took four days to shoot. However, Finney baulked at signing a multi-year contract for producer Sam Spiegel and chose not to accept the role.[5] The success of Tom Jones saw British exhibitors vote Finney the ninth most popular star at the box office in 1963.[6]
After Charlie Bubbles (1968), which he also directed, his film appearances became less frequent as he focused more on acting on stage. During this period, one of his high-profile film roles was as Agatha Christie’s Belgian master detective Hercule Poirot in the film Murder on the Orient Express (1974). Finney became so well known for the role that he complained that it typecast him for a number of years. “People really do think I am 300 pounds with a French accent,” he said.[7]
While being known for his dramatic roles, Finney appeared and sang in two musical films: Scrooge (1970) and the Hollywood film version of Annie (1982), which was directed by John Huston, who then directed him once again in Under the Volcano (1984) two years later.[8] He also sang in Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2005).[9]
Finney made several television productions for the BBC in the 1990s, including The Green Man (1990), based on a novel by Kingsley Amis,[10] the drama A Rather English Marriage (1998) (with Tom Courtenay),[11] and the lead role in Dennis Potter’s final two plays, Karaoke (1996) and Cold Lazarus (both 1996). In the latter he played a frozen, disembodied head.[12][13]
Finney also made an appearance at Roger Waters’ The Wall Concert in Berlin, where he played “The Judge” during the performance of “The Trial”.[14]
Even with his success on the big screen, Finney never abandoned his stage performances. He continued his association with the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic in London, where he performed in the mid-1960s in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. He received Tony Award nominations for Luther (1964) and A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1968),[8] and also starred on stage in Love for Love, Strindberg’s Miss Julie, Black Comedy, The Country Wife, Alpha Beta, Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, Tamburlaine the Great, Another Time and, his last stage appearance, in 1997, ‘Art’ by Yasmina Reza, which preceded the 1998 Tony Award-winning Broadway run. He won an Olivier Award for Orphans in 1986 and won three Evening Standard Theatre Awards for Best Actor.[15] Finney also directed and played the lead role of Sidney Kentridge in The Biko Inquest, a 1984 dramatisation of the inquest into the death of Steve Biko which was filmed for TV following a London run.[16] In 1994 he played a gay bus driver in early 1960’s Dublin in A Man of No Importance.[17]
In 2002 his critically acclaimed portrayal of Winston Churchill in The Gathering Storm won him BAFTA, Emmy and Golden Globe awards as Best Actor.[8][18][19]
He also played the title role in the television series My Uncle Silas, based on the short stories by H. E. Bates, about a roguish but lovable poacher-cum-farm labourer looking after his great-nephew. The show ran for two series broadcast in 2001 and 2003.[20]
A lifelong supporter of Manchester United, Finney narrated the documentary Munich, about the air crash that killed most of the Busby Babes in 1958, which was shown on United’s TV channel MUTV in February 2008.[21]

 

Awards and Honours

 

Finney turned down the offer of a CBE in 1980, and a knighthood in 2000. He criticised the honours system for “perpetuating snobbery”.[27]
He received five Oscar nominations but never won. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor four times, for Tom Jones (1963), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Dresser (1983), and Under the Volcano (1984); and once for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Erin Brockovich (2000).[8]
Julia Roberts mentioned Finney in her Oscar acceptance speech for Best Actress in Erin Brockovich, thanking him and “sharing” the Oscar with him.[28]

Finney received 13 BAFTA nominations (9 film, 4 TV), winning two:[8]
1960 Best British Actor for Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
1960 Most Promising Newcomer for Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Won
1963 Best British Actor for Tom Jones
1973 Best Actor for Gumshoe

Murder on the Orient ExpressPix – Murder on the Orient Express

1974 Best Actor for Murder on the Orient Express
1982 Best Actor for Shoot the Moon
1984 Best Actor for The Dresser
1990 Best Actor (BAFTA TV Awards) for The Green Man
1996 Best Actor (BAFTA TV Awards) for Karaoke/Cold Lazarus
1998 Best Actor (BAFTA TV Awards) for A Rather English Marriage
2000 Best Supporting Actor for Erin Brockovich
2002 Best Actor (BAFTA TV Awards) for The Gathering Storm Won
2003 Best Supporting Actor for Big Fish
In addition Finney received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2001.[29]
He won an Emmy Award, for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Made for TV Movie, for his performance as Winston Churchill in HBO’s The Gathering Storm.[19] He had previously been nominated for the HBO telefilm The Image (1990).[30]
He received nine Golden Globe nominations, winning three:[31]
1963 Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Tom Jones
1963 Most Promising Newcomer (Male) for Tom Jones – Won
1970 Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Scrooge, Won
1982 Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for Shoot the Moon
1983 Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for The Dresser
1984 Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for Under the Volcano
2000 Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for Erin Brockovich
2002 Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television for The Gathering Storm Won
2003 Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for Big Fish
For his work on Broadway, Finney was nominated for two Tony Awards, both for Best Actor in a Play, for Luther in 1964, and A Day in the Death of Joe Egg in 1968.[8] For the London stage, he won the Olivier Award, for Best Actor, for Orphans in 1986.[32] He won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor three times, for A Flea in Her Ear in 1966, Tamburlaine the Great in 1976 and Orphans in 1986.[33]
Other awards include: a Golden Laurel for his work on Scrooge (1970) and for his work on Tom Jones, for which he was the 3rd Place Winner for the “Top Male Comedy Performance” for 1964. He was honored by the Los Angeles Film Critics’ Association as Best Actor for Under the Volcano (which he tied with F. Murray Abraham for Amadeus),[34] the National Board of Review Best Actor award for Saturday Night and Sunday Morning,[35] and the New York Film Critics’ Circle Best Actor award for Tom Jones.[36]
Finney won two Screen Actors’ Guild Awards, for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, for Erin Brockovich, and as a member of the acting ensemble in the film Traffic. He was also nominated for The Gathering Storm, for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries, but did not win.[37][38]
He won the Silver Berlin Bear award for Best Actor, for The Dresser, at the 34th Berlin International Film Festival in 1984.[39]
He won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, for Tom Jones, at the Venice Film Festival.[40]

Albert On Broadway

 

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg – Bri (Play, Comedy, Original) – Feb 01, 1968 – Jun 15, 1968
Luther – [Play, Original] – Martin – Sep 25, 1963 – Mar 28, 1964

 

Film

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1960 The Entertainer Mick Rice [41]
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Arthur Seaton BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles
Mar del Plata International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Nominated- BAFTA Award for Best British Actor
[41]
1963 Tom Jones Tom Jones Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male
Volpi Cup for Best Actor
Nominated- Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated- BAFTA Award for Best British Actor
Nominated- Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy
Nominated- Golden Laurel Award for Top Male Comedic Performance
[41]
The Victors Russian Soldier [41]
1964 Night Must Fall Danny [41]
1967 Two for the Road Mark Wallace [41]
1968 Charlie Bubbles Charlie Bubbles Also director[41] [41]
1969 The Picasso Summer George Smith [41]
1970 Scrooge Ebenezer Scrooge Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy
Nominated- Golden Laurel Award for Top Male Comedic Performance
[41]
1971 Gumshoe Eddie Ginley Nominated- BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role [41]
1974 Alpha Beta Frank Elliot
Murder on the Orient Express Hercule Poirot Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor
Nominated- Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated- BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
[41]
1975 The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother Man in opera audience Cameo; uncredited
1977 The Duellists Fouche [42]
1981 Loophole Mike Daniels [41]
Wolfen Dewey Wilson Nominated- Saturn Award for Best Actor [41]
Looker Dr. Larry Roberts [41]
1982 Shoot the Moon George Dunlap Nominated- BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated- Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Drama
[41]
Annie Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks [41]
1983 The Dresser Sir Nominated- Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated- BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated- Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Drama
Nominated- Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actor
[41]
1984 Under the Volcano Geoffrey Firmin Nominated- Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated- Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Drama
Nominated- Joseph Plateau Award for Best Actor
Nominated- National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
[41]
1987 Orphans Harold [41]
1990 Miller’s Crossing Leo O’Bannon [41]
Roger Waters – The Wall (Live in Berlin) The Judge [42]
1992 The Playboys Constable Brendan Hegarty [41]
1993 Rich in Love Warren Odom [41]
1994 The Browning Version Andrew Crocker-Harris [41]
A Man of No Importance Alfred Byrne [41]
1995 The Run of the Country Danny’s Father
1997 Washington Square Dr. Austin Sloper [41]
1999 Breakfast of Champions Kilgore Trout [41]
Simpatico Simms [41]
2000 Erin Brockovich Ed Masry SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated- BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated- Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated- Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor
[41]
Traffic White House Chief of Staff SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture [41]
2001 Delivering Milo Elmore Dahl
2003 Big Fish Edward Bloom, Sr. Nominated- BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated- Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated- Saturn Award for Best Actor
[41]
2004 Ocean’s Twelve Gaspar LeMarc Cameo; Uncredited [42]
2005 Corpse Bride Finis Everglot Voice [41]
2006 A Good Year Uncle Henry Skinner [41]
Amazing Grace John Newton [41]
2007 The Bourne Ultimatum Dr. Albert Hirsch [41]
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead Charles Hanson Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Ensemble Performance [41]
2012 The Bourne Legacy Dr. Albert Hirsch [41]
Skyfall Kincade Final film role [41]
2016 Jason Bourne Dr. Albert Hirsch Stock footage from The Bourne Ultimatum [43]

 

References

  1. “Albert Finney Biography”. filmreference.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2008. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  2. Quentin Falk (1993). Albert Finney in Character: A Biography. Robson Books. ISBN 0-86051-823-X.
  3. Quentin Falk – Albert Finney in Character: A Biography – 1992 Page 23 “This was Fernald’s production of Ian Dallas’s The Face of Love, a modern-dress version of Troilus and Cressida.”
  4. Laurence Olivier, Confessions of an Actor, Orion, 1994, p243
  5. “David Lean” by Stephen M. Silverman (Abrams, New York, 1992)
  6. “Most Popular Films Of 1963.” Times [London, England] 3 January 1964: 4. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 11 July 2012.
  7. Hughes, David (28 December 2018). “Poirot actors: from David Suchet to Kenneth Branagh, the stars who’ve played Agatha Christie’s sleuth”. The Independent.
  8. “Obituary: Albert Finney”. BBC News. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  9. “TIM BURTON’S CORPSE BRIDE”. BBFC. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  10. “Dorset On Screen: A Report On The Use Of Dorset As A Film-TV Location For The British Film Centenary 1996”. South Central Media. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  11. Elley, Derek. “A Rather English Marriage”. Variety. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  12. Elley, Derek. “Cold Lazarus”. Variety. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  13. Cole, Simon. “Dennis Potter’s ‘Karaoke’ & ‘Cold Lazarus’ DVD review”. Cult Box. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  14. “The Trial – Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig”. Genius. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  15. “Albert Finney: in Character”. Quentin Falk. Robson Books. 2002.
  16. O’Connor, John J. (12 September 1985). “TV review; ‘The Biko Inquest’ on Showtime”. The New York Times. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  17. critic, Michael Wilmington, Tribune movie. “ALBERT FINNEY FINDS SIGNIFICANCE IN `MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE. chicagotribune.com.
  18. Lyman, Rick. Chicago,’ ‘Hours’ Win Top Golden Globe Awards”. The New York Times. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  19. “54th Emmy Awards Nominees and Winners”. Emmys.com. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  20. “Albert Finney: a career in pictures”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  21. Albert Finney remembers. Timesonline.co.uk. 5 February 2008
  22. Eden, Richard (15 May 2011). “Film star Albert Finney won’t let cancer grind him down”. The Daily Telegraph. telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  23. Taylor, Paul (30 November 2012). “Actor Albert Finney – son of Salford – loves to come home”. Manchester Evening News. manchestereveningnews.co.uk. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  24. “Actor Albert Finney dies aged 82”. BBC News. BBC.
  25. CNN, Jack Guy. “Albert Finney, five-time Oscar nominee, dead at 82”. CNN.
  26. “Albert Finney, ‘Angry Young Man’ Who Became a Hollywood Star, Dies at 82”. The New York Times. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  27. “Revealed: secret list of 300 who scorned honours“, The Sunday Times, 21 December 2003
  28. “2000 (73rd) Academy Awards – Actress in a Leading Role”. Academy Awards Acceptance Speech Database. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  29. Davies, Hugh. “Delight at last as Billy Elliot boy conquers Hollywood gladiator”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  30. “42nd Emmy Awards Nominees and Winners”. Emmys.com. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  31. “Albert Finney – Golden Globe Awards”. Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  32. “Oliver Winners 1986”. Oliver Awards. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  33. Celebration: 25 Years of British Theatre. W. H. Allen Ltd. 1980. ISBN 0-491-02770-2.
  34. “10TH ANNUAL LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARDS”. LAFCA. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  35. “National Board of Review – Best Actor”. National Board of Review. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  36. Weiler, A.H. “Film Critics Vote ‘Tom Jones’ Best of Year; Finney Named Top Actor for Title Role –‘Hud’ Honored Finney in 3d Film”. The New York Times. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  37. “The 9th Screen Actors Guild Awards”. SAG Awards. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  38. “The 7th Screen Actors Guild Awards”. SAG Awards. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  39. “Berlinale: 1984 Prize Winners”. berlinale.de. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
  40. “Venice Film Festival – 1963 Awards”. IMDB. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  41. “Filmography for Albery Finney”. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  42. “Albert Finney List of Movies and TV Shows”. TV Guide. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  43. “Mort de Albert Finney, acteur de Skyfall et Jason Bourne”. BFM TV (in French). Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  44. “Emergency – Ward 10 (1957-67)”. BFI. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  45. “Finney to make TV debut”. Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  46. “The Endless Game (1989)”. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  47. “Albert Finney – Credits”. TV Guide. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  48. Moore, Gene M. (1997). Conrad on Film. Cambridge University Press. p. 249. ISBN 978-0-521-55448-0. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
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  60. “Winners & Nominees 1984”. HFPA. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
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  63. “Winners & Nominees 1985”. HFPA. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
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  65. “Television – Actor in 1991”. Bafta.org. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  66. “BSFC Winners 1990s”. Boston Society of Film Critics. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
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  68. “Television – Actor in 1999”. Bafta.org. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
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