Albert Finney

At 82 years old, Albert Finney has this physical status:

Albert Finney (1936-2007) was an English actor who worked in film, television, and theatre.

He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked in theatre before finding fame in the early 1960s, starring Tony Richardson, who had previously directed him in the theatre.

He enjoyed a fruitful career in theatre, film, and television. He is best known for his appearances on Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (also 1960), Tom Jones (1967), Two for the Road (1990), Annie (1980), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2006), Scrooge (1992), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2005), And the James Bond film Skyfall (2012). Finney has been nominated for an Academy Award five times, including Best Actor four times for Tom Jones (1963), The Dresser (1984), and Best Support Actor for Erin Brockovich (2000).

He has received several accolades for his role as Winston Churchill in the BBC-HBO television biographical film The Gathering Storm, 2002.

Early life

Finney was born in Salford, Lancashire, son of Alice (née Hobson) and Albert Finney, a bookmaker. He was educated at Tootal Drive Primary School, Salford Grammar School, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), which he attended in 1956.

Personal life and death

Simon Finney, the film producer, had a son, who worked in film as a camera operator, with his first wife, Jane Wenham. Finney married French actress Anouk Aimée in 1970, nearly a decade after his divorce from Wenham. Penelope Delmage, a travel agent at the time, married him in 2006 for the third time and last time. They stayed together until Finney's death.

Finney revealed publicly that he had been fighting kidney cancer in May 2011. He had been diagnosed with the disease five years earlier and underwent surgery, followed by six rounds of chemotherapy, according to a 2012 interview. Finney died of a chest infection at the Royal Marsden Hospital on February 7, 2019; he was 82.

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Career

Finney played Mr Hardcastle in Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer early in the RADA. On Friday, the RADA students' appearances at the Vanbrugh Theatre in London were shot and broadcast by the BBC. Roy Kinnear and Richard Briers were among the cast members. Finney came from RADA and became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Finney was given a job by the Rank Organisation but decided against it to serve for the Birmingham Rep. He was in a production of The Miser for Birmingham Rep., which was shot for the BBC in 1956. He appeared in The Claverdon Road Job (1957) and View Friendship and Marriage (1958), both for the BBC. He appeared in Henry V as a champion in Birmingham, and in 1958, he made his London debut in Jane Arden's The Party, directed by Charles Laughton, who appeared alongside his wife, Elsa Lanchester. Finney appeared in Stratford in 1959, as the title bearer in Coriolanus, replacing an injured Laurence Olivier. In a television version of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1959), directed by Peter Hall, a Finney guest appeared on several episodes of Emergency-Ward 10 and was Lysander in a television version of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1959).

Finney's first film appearance appeared in Tony Richardson's The Entertainer (1960), starring Laurence Olivier. Finney and Alan Bates played Olivier and Alan Bates, according to Finney and Alan Bates. In Karel Reisz's film adaptation of Alan Sillitoe's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), directed by Richardson, he made his film debut in the same year. The film was a box-office hit and it was the third most popular film in the United Kingdom this year. It earned more than half a million pounds in sales. Billy Liar (1960) appeared on stage and on British television, and Finney did Billy Liar (1960) on film and television. After a high-quality and lengthy screen-test that took four days to shoot, Finney was chosen to play T. E. Lawrence in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia. Finney, on the other hand, was turned down for signing a multi-year deal for producer Sam Spiegel and decided not to accept the position.

Finney played Luther, the 1961 play by John Osborne depicting Martin Luther's life. He appeared with the English Stage Company in London, Nottingham, Paris, and New York. When Finney had to leave the cast to fulfill a contractual agreement with a film company, the original West End run at the Phoenix came to an end in March 1962.

Finney appeared in the Academy Award-winning 1963 film Tom Jones, directed by Richardson and written by Osborne. The success of Tom Jones made Finney the ninth most well-known celebrity at the box office in 1963. Finney's income was 10% of the film's gross, netting him more than $1 million.

Finney continued his acting in The Victors (1963), which was not a success. In 1963, he made his Broadway debut in Luther. He took a year off and sail around the world after that run came to an end. "I was told to cash in on my soaring popularity when I was hot," he later said. "I'd been working for about eight years but had only had one vacation"... I'd been a hero of mine since childhood, and I thought it would be exciting to travel to some of the Pacific islands where he'd been."

Finney's success led him to the production of Night Must Fall in 1964, which he also appeared in and that was directed by Reisz. Finney's performance was a flop, and it was a remake of the classic 1937 film of the same name.

Miss Julie was one of a season of plays at the Royal National Theatre, including Miss Julie by August Strindberg in 1965. Audrey Hepburn co-starring Two for the Road (1967) resurfaced in films.

Michael Medwin and his son formed Memorial Productions, which produced Privilege (1967), directed by Peter Watkins; The Burning (1968), directed by Stephen Frears; and If... (1968), directed by Lindsay Anderson. Finney performed in London and then Broadway, and Memorial also performed on stage, such as A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. Many items in which Finney did not appear, such as Spring and Port Wine and The Burgular, were also produced by the Memorial, which Finney did not appear.

Charlie Bubbles (1968), which Finney starred in and also directed, was on display at the memorial. Liza Minnelli made her film debut in the film. Later, Finney called it "the most intense sense of creation I've ever had."

He appeared in The Picasso Summer (1969) as an actor. In 1970, Finney played the title role in the musical Scrooge.

Finney produced Gumshoe (1971), the first feature film directed by Stephen Frears for Memorial. Finney didn't appear in films in which Finney did not appear: Spring and Port Wine (1970), James Mason's first directorial effort by Tony Scott; Bleak Moments (1971), Mike Leigh's first feature; O Lucky Man! Anderson (1973): Law and Disorder (1974); film in Hollywood (1974).

Finney returned to the stage in 1972 after a six-year absence with Alpha Beta, which he later filmed for television with Rachel Roberts.

Memorial Productions was forced to produce, but Finney stayed focused on 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."

In the film Murder on the Orient Express (1974), Finney played Agatha Christie's Belgian master detective Hercule Poirot. Finney became so well-known for his work that he argued that it typecast him for a few years, that "People really do believe I am 300 pounds with a French accent," he said.

He said he wanted to direct a film called The Girl in Melanie Klein for Memorial, but it wasn't made.

Finney decided to take time off features and concentrate on stage acting, producing hits at the National Theatre in London. "I felt that it needed to be committed," he later said. "You stop breathing when you're making movies all the time." When you're playing the classics, you literally don't breathe in the same way that you do. You can't heave your shoulders after every sentence when you have to give those long, complicated speeches on stage. For this kind of acting, the muscles must be developed. In the parts, I really wanted to try and do justice to myself. I didn't want to be a movie actor, but rather just dropping in, doing Hamlet and seeing it again. "I wanted to feel part of the company."

Finney appeared at the National for more than three years, including stints in Hamlet, Macbeth, Tamburlaine, and Anton Chekhov's role.

Finney made a television film Forever-Me-Not-Lane in 1975, Peter Nichols' first feature directed by Ridley Scott, and he appeared in The Duellists (1977), which was written by Peter Nichols. Through Motown, he has also released an album.

Finney had not appeared in a lead role in a six-year film and began to consider returning to cinema. Scrooge and Orient Express, which he had produced, were two of his most popular films, in which he was heavily disguised. "Most Americans probably believe I weigh 300 pounds, have black hair, and address with a French accent like Hercule Poirot," Finney said. "They should have a look at me when I was still a young child and kind of cute."

Finney decided to make six films in a row "so that I could relax and get back to it again." You've got to do it for a while in order to feel confident and comfortable in front of a camera."

Loophole (1981), directed by Michael Wadleigh; and Looker (1981), written and directed by Michael Crichton.

He has received raves for his role in the drama Shoot the Moon (1982). Finney said the position "required personal performance; I had to dig into myself." You might be a little close to losing yourself and using your own vulnerability when you're trying to bring yourself and your own vulnerability."

In the Hollywood film version of Annie (1982), which was directed by John Huston, his role as Daddy Warbucks was less well-received. After Shooting the Moon, Finney said going into this film was "marvelous." As Warbucks, I use a completely different version of myself. Annie is a showbiz; it's simple and straightforward. It needs bold, primary colors. I no longer have to reveal the character's inner workings, which is a relief."

Finney started The Dresser (1983), directed by Peter Yates, which earned him a Best Actor Oscar Nomination. He appeared in the television film Pope John Paul II (1984), his first appearance on American television.

Finney was cast in the lead role of Under the Volcano (1984), which earned both men acclaim and a second Oscar nomination for Finney.

Following a London run, Finney played the lead role in The Biko Inquest, a 1984 dramatization of the inquest into Steve Biko's death, which was shot for television following a London run.

In 1986, Finney appeared on stage in Orphanage, followed by Alan J. Pakula's film version. He was the lead in a television miniseries called The Endless Game (1989), written and directed by Bryan Forbes.

Finney appeared in The Image (1990), a 1990 documentary film starring Bill Clinton. He received acclaim for his role as the gangster boss in Miller's Crossing (1990), despite the fact that Trey Wilson was fired just before filming.

Finney appeared at Roger Waters' The Wall (1990), where he appeared as "The Judge" during "The Trial" on the stage in Berlin.

Finney appeared in the BBC TV series The Green Man, based on the Kingsley Amis novel.

He followed it with The Playboys (1992) for Gillies MacKinnon, and Bruce Beresford's Rich in Love (1994) for Suri Krishnamma; The Run of the Country (1995) for Peter Yates. Finney, a gay bus conductor in Dublin, 1994, was a Man of No Importance.

He was in charge of Dennis Potter's last two plays, Karaoke (1996) and Cold Lazarus (both 1996). He played a frozen, disembodied head in the latter.

Finney did Nostromo (1997) for television and Agnieszka Holland's 1997 for Washington Square (1997), which later became A Rather English Marriage (1998) with Tom Courtenay. He appeared in Breakfast of Champions (1999) and Simpatico (1999).

Finney had his best hit in several years with Erin Brockovich (2000), as well as Julia Roberts for Steven Soderbergh.

Finney appeared in Soderbergh's Traffic (2001) and played Ernest Hemingway in Hemingway, the Hunter of Death (2001) for television.

He was the leading actor in Delivering Milo (2001), and his critically acclaimed portrayal of Winston Churchill in The Gathering Storm earned him the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and Emmy and Golden Globe awards as Best Actor in 2002.

He appeared in the television series My Uncle Silas, based on H. E. Bates' short stories about a roguish but loving poacher-cum-farm laborer looking after his great-nephew. In 2001 and 2003, the show appeared on two series broadcast.

Finney was instrumental in Big Fish (2003), directed by Tim Burton, and he appeared in Ocean's Twelve (2004). He appeared in Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005) and Aspects of Love (2005).

In A Good Year (2006), Finney was reunited with Ridley Scott. He appeared in Amazing Grace (2006), The Bourne Ultimatum (2006), and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007). In Skyfall (2012), his last film role was played.

Finney, a lifelong supporter of Manchester United, narrated the documentary Munich, which was broadcast on United's television channel MUTV in February 2008.

He received Tony Award nominations for Luther (1964) and A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1968), as well as in stage in Love for Peace, Strindberg's Miss Julie, The Country Wife, Alpha Beta, Beckett'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 performance.

In 1986, he received the Olivier Award for Orphanage and three Evening Standard Theatre Awards for Best Actor.

Finney never ceased performing in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing at the National Theatre in London, where he appeared in the mid-1960s in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

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