Frank Finlay
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Frank received Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations for his performance as William Shakespeare’s Iago in Stuart Burge’s 1965 film of Laurence Olivier’s staging of Othello. He also won the Best Actor Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. He later essayed the definitive screen portrayal of Alexandre Dumas’ musketeer Porthos in three movies for director Richard Lester: The Three Musketeers (1974), The Four Musketeers (1975) and The Return of the Musketeers (1989). Frank’s many other films include The Longest Day; Tony Richardson’s The Lonliness of the Long Distance Runner; Martin Ritt’s The Molly Maguires; Bob Clark’s Murder by Decree; Alan Bridges’ The Return of the Soldier (for which he recieved a BAFTA Award nomination); Franco Zeffrelli’s Sparrow; and Eric Styles’ Dreaming of Joseph Lees; and most recently Roman Polanski’s multi-award winning The Pianist and Norma Jewison’s The Statement. His similarly extensive television projects have earned him two BAFTA Awards, for his performances in The Death of Adolf Hitler (starring as Hitler, with Rex Firkin directing); The Adventures of Don Quixote (as Sancho Panza, opposite Rex Harrison, for director Alvin Rakoff); the ground breaking Bouquet of Barbed Wire and Another Bouquet; 84 Charing Cross Road; and recently the critically acclaimed series The Sins. Born in Farnworth, Lancashire, Finlay had already begun performing on stage when he earned the Sir James Knott Scholarship at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Since then he has led theatre companies in London and on Broadway. He was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1984 New Year’s Honours List, and was presented with his CBE by the Queen in February1984.
Known for
Credits
The Pianist (2002)
as Father
The Key (1983)
as Nino Rolfe
The Voyeur (1994)
as Nino Rolfe
The Longest Day (1962)
as Pvt. Coke (uncredited)
Lifeforce (1985)
as Dr. Hans Fallada
Fifty Shades of Erotica (2015)
as (archive footage)
The Three Musketeers (1973)
as Porthos / O'Reilly
The Wild Geese (1978)
as Fr. Geoghagen
A Christmas Carol (1984)
as Jacob Marley
The Four Musketeers (1974)
as Porthos
Inspector Clouseau (1968)
as Supt. Weaver
The Return of the Musketeers (1989)
as Porthos
Robbery (1967)
as Robinson
Casanova (1987)
as Razetta
The Molly Maguires (1970)
as Davies
Enigma (1982)
as Canarsky
The Statement (2003)
as Commissaire Vionnet
Shaft in Africa (1973)
as Vincent Amafi
Cromwell (1970)
as John Carter
Twisted Nerve (1968)
as Henry Durnley
Murder by Decree (1979)
as Inspector Lestrade
Count Dracula (1977)
as Abraham van Helsing
Othello (1965)
as Iago
The Martins (2001)
as Mr Heath
A Study in Terror (1965)
as Inspector Lestrade
Sitting Target (1972)
as Marty Gold
The Deadly Bees (1966)
as H.W. Manfred
Stalin (1992)
as Sergei
The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)
as Igor Bounin
Arch of Triumph (1984)
as Col. Boris Morosov
The Body (1970)
as Narrator
Station Jim (2001)
as Riorden Snr
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
as Booking Office Clerk (uncredited)
Limited Edition (1997)
as John Rathbone
Hot Enough for June (1964)
as British Embassy Porter
I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967)
as Chaplain
The Thief of Baghdad (1978)
as Abu Bakar
The Return of the Soldier (1983)
as William Grey
The Comedy Man (1964)
as Prout
Doctor in Distress (1963)
as Corsetiere
The Jokers (1967)
as Harrassed Man
For My Baby (2000)
as Rudi Wittfogel
Nothing Like a Dame (2018)
as Self (archive footage)
Dreaming of Joseph Lees (1999)
as Father
The Ploughman's Lunch (1983)
as Matthew Fox
King of the Wind (1990)
as Edward Coke
Assault (1971)
as Det. Chief Supt. Velyan
Virgin Mary (1995)
as Monsignor
The Lie (1970)
as Andrew Firth
Much Ado About Nothing (1967)
as Dogberry
Mountain of Diamonds (1991)
as Garrick
Ring of Darkness (1979)
as Paul
Eroica (2003)
as Josef Haydn
Gumshoe (1971)
as William Ginley
The Merchant of Venice (1972)
as Shylock
The Informers (1963)
as Leon Sale
The Death of Adolf Hitler (1973)
as Adolf Hitler
Sparrow (1994)
as Father Nunzio
Julius Caesar (1969)
as Brutus
Betzi (1978)
as Napoleon
Dear Brutus (1981)
as Dearth
Cthulhu Mansion (1992)
as Chandu
Sakharov (1984)
as Kravtsov
The Sandwich Man (1966)
as Second Fish Porter
Private Potter (1962)
as Capt. Patterson
Van der Valk: Gun Before Butter (1974)
as Commissaris Simon "Piet" van der Valk
Van der Valk and the Scapegoat (1975)
as Commissaris Simon "Piet" van der Valk
Life for Ruth (1962)
as Teddy's Father
The Waiting Room (2007)
as Roger
Danny Jones (1972)
Actor
Royal Variety Performance 1984 (1984)
Actor
Lighthouse Hill (2004)
as Alfred
Nineteen Nineteen (1985)
as Sigmund Freud (voice)
The Wild Affair (1965)
as Drunk
Stiff Upper Lips (1998)
as Hudson Junior
In the Secret State (1985)
as Frank Strange
A Mind to Murder (1995)
as Professor Etherege
Van der Valk and the Rich (1973)
as Commissaris Simon "Piet" van der Valk
Mona (1982)
as Captain Manson
84 Charing Cross Road (1975)
as Frank Doel
The Piano Tuner (1969)
as Wilfred Tilley
The Making Of Lifeforce (1985)
as Self
Neither the Sea Nor the Sand (1972)
as George Dabernon
The Adventures Of Don Quixote (1973)
as Sancho Panza
The Hard Knock (1962)
as Franco Angelo
The Other Side (1992)
as Arthur Conan Doyle
Olivier Talks About Othello (1965)
as (archive footage)
Saturday, Sunday, Monday (1978)
as Peppino
Romance and Rejection (So This Is Romance?) (1997)
as Mike's Dad
Blood of the Lamb (1969)
as Albert
This Happy Breed (1969)
as Frank Gibbons
Tales from the Thousand and One Nights (1981)
as Shahriar
The Spare Tyres (1967)
as Council foreman