Frank Finlay
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.
Born: 06 August 1926 • Died: 30 January 2016
Played In
Nothing Like a Dame
Self (archive footage)
Fifty Shades of Erotica
(archive footage)
Rosamunde Pilcher's Four Seasons
Alexander 'Alex' Combe
Merlin
Anhora
The Waiting Room
Roger
Johnny and the Bomb
Tom Maxwell
Lighthouse Hill
Alfred
Life Begins
Eric Thornhill
The Statement
Commissaire Vionnet
Eroica
Josef Haydn
The Lost Prince
Asquith
The Pianist
Father
Station Jim
Riorden Snr
The Martins
Mr Heath
The Sins
Uncle Irwin Green
For My Baby
Rudi Wittfogel
Longitude
Admiral Wagner
The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns
General Bulstrode
Dreaming of Joseph Lees
Father
Stiff Upper Lips
Hudson Junior
How Do You Want Me?
Romance and Rejection (So This Is Romance?)
Mike's Dad
The Grand
Edward Lawrence
Limited Edition
John Rathbone
Virgin Mary
Monsignor
A Mind to Murder
Professor Etherege
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Professor Coram / Sergius
Charlemagne, le prince à cheval
Alcuin
Sparrow
Father Nunzio
The Voyeur
Nino Rolfe
An Exchange of Fire
Pavel Rhele
Stalin
Sergei
The Other Side
Arthur Conan Doyle
Heartbeat
Howard Franklin
Cthulhu Mansion
Chandu
Mountain of Diamonds
Garrick
Mountain of Diamonds
Garrick
Prime Suspect
Arnold Tennison
The Burning Shore
Garrick
King of the Wind
Edward Coke
The Return of the Musketeers
Porthos
Erebus: The Aftermath
Justice Peter Mahon
Casanova
Razetta
Lovejoy
Harold Plumb
Nineteen Nineteen
Sigmund Freud (voice)
Lifeforce
Dr. Hans Fallada
In the Secret State
Frank Strange
Screen Two
Frank Strange
The Making Of Lifeforce
Self
Arch of Triumph
Col. Boris Morosov
Royal Variety Performance 1984
A Christmas Carol
Jacob Marley
Sakharov
Kravtsov
Sherlock Holmes
Professor Coram / Sergius
The Key
Nino Rolfe
Blackadder
The Witchsmeller Pursuivant
The Ploughman's Lunch
Matthew Fox
The Spanish Civil War
Self - Narrator
The Return of the Soldier
William Grey
Enigma
Canarsky
Mona
Captain Manson
All for Love
Captain Manson
Wogan
Self
Tales from the Thousand and One Nights
Shahriar
Dear Brutus
Dearth
Ring of Darkness
Paul
Tales of the Unexpected
Arthur Pearson
Murder by Decree
Inspector Lestrade
Betzi
Napoleon
The Wild Geese
Fr. Geoghagen
The Thief of Baghdad
Abu Bakar
Saturday, Sunday, Monday
Peppino
Count Dracula
Abraham van Helsing
Count Dracula
Professor Van Helsing
Another Bouquet
Laurence Olivier Presents
Peppino
Bouquet of Barbed Wire
Peter Manson
84 Charing Cross Road
Frank Doel
Van der Valk and the Scapegoat
Commissaris Simon "Piet" van der Valk
Van der Valk: Gun Before Butter
Commissaris Simon "Piet" van der Valk
The Four Musketeers
Porthos
Van der Valk and the Rich
Commissaris Simon "Piet" van der Valk
The Three Musketeers
Porthos / O'Reilly
Shaft in Africa
Vincent Amafi
The Death of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
The Adventures Of Don Quixote
Sancho Panza
Neither the Sea Nor the Sand
George Dabernon
Sitting Target
Marty Gold
Danny Jones
The Merchant of Venice
Shylock
Gumshoe
William Ginley
Casanova
Giovanni Jacopo Casanova
Assault
Det. Chief Supt. Velyan
The Lie
Andrew Firth
Play for Today
Play for Today
Dearth
The Body
Narrator
Cromwell
John Carter
The Molly Maguires
Davies
Blood of the Lamb
Albert
Julius Caesar
Brutus
The Piano Tuner
Wilfred Tilley
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
Wilfred Tilley
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
Adolf Hitler
This Happy Breed
Frank Gibbons
Twisted Nerve
Henry Durnley
The Shoes of the Fisherman
Igor Bounin
Inspector Clouseau
Supt. Weaver
I'll Never Forget What's'isname
Chaplain
Les Misérables
Jean Valjean
Robbery
Robinson
The Jokers
Harrassed Man
Much Ado About Nothing
Dogberry
The Spare Tyres
Council foreman
The Deadly Bees
H.W. Manfred
NET Playhouse
Marcus Brutus
The Sandwich Man
Second Fish Porter
Othello
Iago
The Wild Affair
Drunk
BBC Play of the Month
Marcus Brutus
BBC Play of the Month
Shylock
BBC Play of the Month
Sancho Panza
BBC Play of the Month
Voltaire
Thirty-Minute Theatre
The Man
A Study in Terror
Inspector Lestrade
Olivier Talks About Othello
(archive footage)
The Wednesday Play
Albert
The Comedy Man
Prout
Theatre 625
Dr Dee
Hot Enough for June
British Embassy Porter
The Informers
Leon Sale
Doctor in Distress
Corsetiere
The Longest Day
Pvt. Coke (uncredited)
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
Booking Office Clerk (uncredited)
Life for Ruth
Teddy's Father
The Hard Knock
Franco Angelo
Studio 4
Fernand Destayac
Z-Cars
Private Potter
Capt. Patterson
You Can't Win
George Lander
The Younger Generation
Ross Mayer
The Younger Generation
George Tremaine
Drama 61-67
Albert Hope
Target Luna
Conway Henderson
Armchair Theatre
Franco Angelo
Armchair Theatre
Bosun
Armchair Theatre
Patrick Kelly
Armchair Theatre
David Field
Sunday Night Theatre
Louis