Francis Finlay, , 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. This led to appearances on The Morecambe and Wise Show. He also appeared in the drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire.
Early life
Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Josiah Finlay, 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, 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 rep, initially in Scotland, before winning a scholarship to RADA in London. 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, and the 1965 film adaptation Othello of that production, Finlay's performance left theatre critics unmoved, but he later received high praise for the film version and gained an Academy Award nomination. 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, Much Ado About Nothing, The Dutch Courtesan, The Crucible, Mother Courage, and Juno and the Paycock. Finlay made appearances on Broadway, in Epitaph for George Dillon, and in the National Theatre and Broadway productions of Filumena opposite Joan Plowright in 1980. Between November 1988 and April 1989, Finlay toured Australia, performing in Jeffrey Archer's Beyond Reasonable Doubt at theatres in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
Screen
One of his earliest television roles was in the family space adventure serial Target Luna, 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. Following this, he portrayed Adolf Hitler in The Death of Adolf Hitler for London Weekend Television. Finlay portrayed Richard Roundtree's nemesis, Amafi, in the film Shaft in Africa, before playing Porthos for director Richard Lester in The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers and The Return of the Musketeers. He appeared in several additional films, including The Wild Geese. Finlay starred as the father in the once controversial Bouquet of Barbed Wire, and its sequel Another Bouquet, and he was reunited with his Bouquet of Barbed Wire co-star, Susan Penhaligon, when he played Professor Van Helsing in the BBCCount Dracula, with Louis Jourdan. He appeared in two Sherlock Holmes films as Lestrade, solving the Jack the Ripper murders. 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 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, 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, for which he won a BAFTA award. He won another BAFTA award that year for his performance as Voltaire in the BBC TV production of Candide. Finlay played the role of JusticePeter Mahon in the award-winning New Zealand television serial . In the Roman Polanski film The Pianist, 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 and as Jane Tennison's father in the last two stories of Prime Suspect. 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".
