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IMDbPro

Albert Finney(1936-2019)

  • Actor
  • Producer
  • Director
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,000758
Albert Finney at an event for Erin Brockovich (2000)
Trailer 2 for Skyfall
Play trailer2:23
Skyfall (2012)
35 Videos
99+ Photos
The son of a Lancashire bookmaker, Albert Finney came to motion pictures via the theatre. In 1956, he won a scholarship to RADA where his fellow alumni included Peter O'Toole and Alan Bates. He joined the Birmingham Repertory where he excelled in plays by William Shakespeare. A member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Finney understudied Laurence Olivier at Stratford-upon-Avon, eventually acquiring a reputation as 'the new Olivier'. He first came to critical attention by creating the title role in Keith Waterhouse's "Billy Liar" on the London stage. His film debut soon followed with The Entertainer (1960) by Tony Richardson with whom had earlier worked in the theatre. With the changing emphasis in 60s British cinema towards gritty realism and working-class milieus, Finney's typical screen personae became good-looking, often brooding proletarian types and rebellious anti-heroes as personified by his Arthur Seaton in Karel Reisz's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960). His exuberant defining role, however, was in the bawdy period romp Tom Jones (1963) in which Finney revealed a substantial talent for comedy. In the same vein, he scored another hit opposite Audrey Hepburn in the charming marital comedy Two for the Road (1967).

By 1965, Finney had branched out into production, setting up Memorial Enterprises in conjunction with Michael Medwin. In 1968, he directed himself in Charlie Bubbles (1968) and three years later produced the Chandleresque homage Gumshoe (1971), in which he also starred as Eddie Ginley, a bingo-caller with delusions of becoming a private eye. From 1972 to 1975, Finney served as artistic director of the Royal Court Theatre. His intermittent forays to the screen confirmed him as a versatile international actor of note, though not what one might describe as a mainstream star. His roles have ranged from Ebenezer Scrooge in the musical version of Scrooge (1970) to Daddy Warbucks in Annie (1982) and (in flamboyant over-the-top make-up) Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (1974). He appeared as Minister of Police Joseph Fouché in Ridley Scott's superb period drama The Duellists (1977) and as a grandiloquent Shakespearean actor in The Dresser (1983) for which he received an Oscar nomination. For the small screen Finney essayed Pope John Paul II (1984) and was a totally believable Winston Churchill in the acclaimed The Gathering Storm (2002). His final movie credit was in the James Bond thriller Skyfall (2012).

Finney was five-times nominated for Academy Awards in 1964, 1975, 1984, 1985 and 2001. He won two BAFTA Awards in 1961 and 2004. True to his working-class roots, he spurned a CBE in 1980 and a knighthood in 2000, later explaining his decision by stating that the 'Sir thing' "slightly perpetuates one of our diseases in England, which is snobbery". Albert Finney was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2011. He died on February 7 2019 at a London hospital from a chest infection at the age of 82. Upon his death, John Cleese described him as "the best" and "our greatest actor".
BornMay 9, 1936
DiedFebruary 7, 2019(82)
BornMay 9, 1936
DiedFebruary 7, 2019(82)
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,000758
  • Nominated for 5 Oscars

Photos176

Albert Finney, Daniel Massey, and Joan Plowright in The Entertainer (1960)
Albert Finney in The Duellists (1977)
Keith Carradine and Albert Finney in The Duellists (1977)
Albert Finney in Charlie Bubbles (1968)
Albert Finney and Liza Minnelli in Charlie Bubbles (1968)
Albert Finney in Charlie Bubbles (1968)
Albert Finney and Liza Minnelli in Charlie Bubbles (1968)
Albert Finney in The Playboys (1992)
Albert Finney in The Playboys (1992)
Albert Finney in Pope John Paul II (1984)
Albert Finney and Diane Cilento in Tom Jones (1963)
Albert Finney and Clive Moss in Scrooge (1970)

Known for

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Murder on the Orient Express
7.2
  • Hercule Poirot
  • 1974
Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich (2000)
Erin Brockovich
7.4
  • Ed Masry
  • 2000
Big Fish (2003)
Big Fish
8.0
  • Ed Bloom (senior)
  • 2003
Scrooge (1970)
Scrooge
7.5
  • Ebenezer Scrooge
  • 1970

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Daniel Craig in Skyfall (2012)
    Skyfall
  • Jeremy Renner in The Bourne Legacy (2012)
    The Bourne Legacy
  • Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)
    Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
  • Matt Damon in The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
    The Bourne Ultimatum
  • Romola Garai and Ioan Gruffudd in Amazing Grace (2006)
    Amazing Grace
  • Russell Crowe in A Good Year (2006)
    A Good Year
  • Aspects of Love
  • Corpse Bride (2005)
    Corpse Bride
    • (voice)
  • Ocean's Twelve (2004)
    Ocean's Twelve
    • (uncredited)
  • Big Fish (2003)
    Big Fish
  • My Uncle Silas (2001)
    My Uncle Silas
  • The Gathering Storm (2002)
    The Gathering Storm
  • Anton Yelchin in Delivering Milo (2001)
    Delivering Milo
  • Hemingway, the Hunter of Death
  • Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle, Dennis Quaid, Benicio Del Toro, and Catherine Zeta-Jones in Traffic (2000)
    Traffic

Producer

  • Law and Disorder (1974)
    Law and Disorder
    • (uncredited)
  • Albert Finney and Rachel Roberts in Alpha Beta (1974)
    Alpha Beta
    • (uncredited)
  • O Lucky Man! (1973)
    O Lucky Man!
    • (uncredited)
  • Gumshoe (1971)
    Gumshoe
    • (uncredited)
  • Bleak Moments (1971)
    Bleak Moments
    • (uncredited)
  • Rosamund Greenwood in Loving Memory (1971)
    Loving Memory
    • (uncredited)
  • NBC Experiment in Television (1967)
    NBC Experiment in Television
    • (uncredited)
  • James Mason, Susan George, Rodney Bewes, Diana Coupland, Hannah Gordon, and Len Jones in Spring and Port Wine (1970)
    Spring and Port Wine
    • (uncredited)
  • Malcolm McDowell in If.... (1968)
    If....
    • (uncredited)
  • The Burning
    • (uncredited)
  • Privilege (1967)
    Privilege
    • (uncredited)
  • Albert Finney in Night Must Fall (1964)
    Night Must Fall
    • (uncredited)

Director

  • The Biko Inquest (1984)
    The Biko Inquest
  • Charlie Bubbles (1968)
    Charlie Bubbles

Videos35

The Duellists
Clip 2:12
The Duellists
A Rather English Marriage
Clip 2:23
A Rather English Marriage
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Clip 1:37
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Clip 1:22
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Trailer
Trailer 1:27
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:19
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:23
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:00
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:11
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:25
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:38
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:17
Trailer

Personal details

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    • May 9, 1936
    • Salford, Lancashire, England, UK
    • February 7, 2019
    • Chelsea, London, England, UK(chest infection)
    • Pene Delmage2006 - February 7, 2019 (his death)
    • Simon Finney
  • Other works
    Album: "Albert Finney's Album" (Motown Records)
  • Publicity listings
    • 2 Print Biographies
    • 2 Interviews
    • 5 Articles
    • 1 Pictorial
    • 4 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    He did not have an agent or a manager.
  • Quotes
    Call me Sir if you like! Maybe people in America think being a Sir is a big deal. But I think we should all be misters together. I think the Sir thing slightly perpetuates one of our diseases in England, which is snobbery. And it also helps keep us 'quaint,' which I'm not a great fan of. You don't get much with the title anymore. That was all carved up by the robber barons in the Middle Ages.
    • His versatility as an actor and range of voices and accents
    • Annie
      (1982)
      $1,000,000

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