Albert Finney (9 May 1936 – 7 February 2019) was an English actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked in the theatre before attaining fame for movie acting during the early 1960s, debuting with The Entertainer (1960), directed by Tony Richardson, who had previously directed him in theatre. He maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television.
Finney's first film appearance was in Tony Richardson's The Entertainer (1960), with Laurence Olivier. Finney and Alan Bates played Olivier's sons. He made his film 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 (1960), produced by Richardson. The film was a success, being the third most popular movie in Britain that year. It earned more than half a million pounds of profit.[7] Finney then did Billy Liar (1960) on stage and for British television.[8] 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 to decline the role.[9]
Finney created the title role in Luther, the 1961 play by John Osborne depicting the life of Martin Luther. He performed the role with the English Stage Company in London, Nottingham, Paris and New York.[10] The original West End run at the Phoenix ended in March 1962, after 239 performances there, when Finney had to quit the cast to fulfil a contractual obligation with a movie company.[11]
1963–1977
Finney starred in the Academy Award-winning 1963 film Tom Jones, directed by Richardson and written by Osborne. Due to the success of Tom Jones, British exhibitors voted Finney the ninth most popular film actor in 1963.[12] Finney received 10% of the film's earnings, which made him over $1 million.[13]
Finney in 1966.
Finney followed this with a small part in ensemble war film The Victors (1963), which was a box-office failure. He then made his Broadway debut in Luther in 1963. When that run ended he decided to take a year off and sail around the world. "People told me to cash in on my success while I was hot," he later said. "I'd been acting for about eight years and had only had one vacation ... Captain Cook had been a hero of mine when I was a kid, and I thought it would be exciting to go to some of the places in the Pacific where he'd been."[4] The success of Tom Jones enabled Finney to produce his next film, Night Must Fall, in 1964, which he also featured in and which was directed by Reisz. A remake of the classic 1937 film of the same title, the film was a failure and Finney's performance received poor reviews.[14] Finney undertook a season of plays at the Royal National Theatre, including Miss Julie by August Strindberg in 1965.[15][16] He continued acting on films with Two for the Road (1967) co-featuring Audrey Hepburn. He and Michael Medwin formed a production company, Memorial Productions, which made Privilege (1967), directed by Peter Watkins; The Burning (1968), a short directed by Stephen Frears; and If.... (1968), directed by Lindsay Anderson. Memorial also did stage productions, such as A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, which Finney performed in London and then Broadway.[17] Memorial also produced some in which Finney did not appear, such as Spring and Port Wine and The Burgular. Memorial then made Charlie Bubbles (1968),[18] which Finney featured in and also directed. Liza Minnelli made her feature debut in the movie.[19] Finney later called it "the most intense sense of creation I've ever had."[4] Finney featured in The Picasso Summer in 1969, and played the title role in the musical Scrooge in 1970.
Finney then made Gumshoe (1971), the first feature film directed by Stephen Frears, for Memorial. Memorial continued to produce films in which Finney did not appear: Spring and Port Wine (1970), with James Mason; Loving Memory (1971), an early directorial effort from Tony Scott; Bleak Moments (1971), the first feature from Mike Leigh; O Lucky Man! (1973) for Anderson; and Law and Disorder (1974); filmed in Hollywood. In 1972, Finney returned to stage after a six-year absence with Alpha Beta, which he later filmed on television with Rachel Roberts.[16] Memorial Productions stopped producing and Finney emphasized acting. "It was OK at first," he later said, "but in the end it was sitting in an office, pitching ideas to Hollywood and waiting for the phone to ring."[20]
He announced he intended to direct the film, The Girl in Melanie Klein, for Memorial, but it was not made.[23]
Finney decided to take time off from features and focus on stage acting, doing classics at the National Theatre in London. "I felt that it needed commitment," he later said. "When you're making movies all the time, you stop breathing. You literally don't breathe in the same way that you do when you're playing the classics. When you have to deliver those long, complex speeches on stage, you can't heave your shoulders after every sentence. The set of muscles required for that kind of acting need to be trained. I really wanted to try and do justice to my own potential in the parts. I didn't want to be a movie actor just dropping in, doing Hamlet and taking off again. I wanted to feel part of the company."[4]
Finney had not played a major role in a feature film in six years, and started to think about resuming work with cinema. The last two successful films he had made were Scrooge and Orient Express in which he was heavily disguised. "Most Americans probably think I weigh 300 pounds, have black hair and talk with a French accent like Hercule Poirot," said Finney. "So I thought they should have a look at me while I was still almost a juvenile and kind of cute."[4] Finney decided to make six movies in succession "so that I could relax and get back into it again. In order to feel really assured and comfortable in front of a camera, you've got to do it for a while."[4] The first three were thrillers: Loophole (1981), with Susannah York; Wolfen (1981), directed by Michael Wadleigh; and Looker (1981), written and directed by Michael Crichton.[25] He received excellent reviews for his performance in the drama Shoot the Moon (1982).[26] Finney said the role "required personal acting; I had to dig into myself. When you have to expose yourself and use your own vulnerability, you can get a little near the edge."[4] Less well received was his performance as Daddy Warbucks in the Hollywood film version of Annie (1982), which was directed by John Huston. Finney said doing this movie after Shoot The Moon was "marvelous. I use a completely different side of myself as Warbucks. Annie is show biz; it's open, simple and direct. It needs bold, primary colors. I don't have to reveal the inner workings of the character, and that's a relief."[4]
He also played the title role of 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 played for two series broadcast in 2001 and 2003.[40] Finney had a major role in Big Fish (2003) directed by Tim Burton, and did another cameo for Soderbergh in Ocean's Twelve (2004). He sang in Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005)[41] and the film of Aspects of Love (2005).
Finney never abandoned stage work and continued his association with the National Theatre Company in London, where he had performed during the mid-1960s in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing at the Old Vic and Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard during the 1970s at the National Theatre.[44]
In 1957, Finney married actress Ann Jane Wenham Figgins ("Jane Wenham"); they had a son,[28] Simon Finney, who works in the movie industry as a camera operator. They divorced in 1961.[45] In 1970, Finney married French actress Nicole Dreyfus ("Anouk Aimée"), a union that lasted eight years. In 2006, he married Penelope Delmage, a travel agent. They remained together until Finney's death.[28][45]
In May 2011, Finney disclosed that he had been receiving treatment for kidney cancer.[46] According to a 2012 interview, he had been diagnosed with the disease five years earlier and had had surgery, followed by six rounds of chemotherapy.[47] Finney died of a chest infection at the Royal Marsden Hospital on 7 February 2019; he was 82.[48][49][50]
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.[103][98]
^ ab"Albert Finney". The Guardian. 15 March 1972. p. 10.
^Zolotow, Sam (12 December 1967). "Albert Finney to Appear Here In 'Joe Egg,' a London Success: Simon Sells "Plaza Suite" Don't Drink" Will Move". The New York Times. p. 57.
^News of the Screen: ' Sugarland' Team For 'Clearwater' 5 Adaptations Set In Theater Series Finney to Direct Comedy on Lunacy By A. H. Weiler. New York Times 12 May 1974: 49.
^Whither Albert Finney?: From Manchester to Motown Records Christon, Lawrence. Los Angeles Times 18 July 1977: f1.
^Albert Finney stages a film comeback, Blume, Mary. Los Angeles Times 19 October 1980: p67.
