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Albert Finney

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{{Infobox actor | name = Albert Finney | image = Replace this image male.svg | birthdate = | location = Salford, Greater Manchester, England, UK | spouse = Jane Wenham (1957-1961)
Anouk Aimée (1970-1978)
Katherine Attson (1989-1991) | baftaawards = Best Newcomer
1960 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
2001 Academy Fellowship
Best TV Actor
2002 The Gathering Storm | emmyawards = Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries/Movie
2002 The Gathering Storm | goldenglobeawards = Most Promising Newcomer - Male
1964 Tom Jones
Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1971 Scrooge
Best Actor - Miniseries/TV Movie
2003 The Gathering Storm | laurenceolivierawards = Best Actor in a New Play
1987 Orphans | sagawards = Outstanding Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
2000 Erin Brockovich
Outstanding Cast - Motion Picture
2000 Traffic|}

Stage Career



Biography

Five-time Academy Award nominee ALBERT FINNEY (Uncle Henry) is the dynamic British stage and film actor whose career, now spanning a half century, is one of the most accomplished in the annals of contemporary acting.

Though widely known and praised for inspired performances in such films as "Tom Jones," "Night Must Fall," "Two for the Road," "Murder on the Orient Express," "Shoot the Moon," "The Dresser," "Under the Volcano" and "Erin Brockovich," Finney first achieved acclaim for his work on the classical theatre stage.

After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (accepted when he was just 17), the Salford, Lancashire, England, native joined the Birmingham Repertory Company and made his London debut in the company's production of Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra" in 1956. During his two years with the BRC, he debuted in the West End opposite Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester in "The Party," then starred in the title roles of "Macbeth" and "Othello" before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1959 for the centenary anniversary season at Stratford-on-Avon.

There, he essayed such roles as Cassio in "Othello" (directed by Tony Richardson, with Paul Robeson playing the title character), Lysander in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (again working with the legendary Laughton) and understudying another English stage legend, Laurence Olivier, in "Coriolanus," receiving critical acclaim when he briefly took over the lead.

While he continued to triumph on the English stage (in such plays as "The Lily White Boys" and, especially, "Billy Liar" with the Royal Court Theatre), movies beckoned, with 1960 becoming a watershed year for the acting talent. Finney played the small part of Olivier's son, Mick Rice, in "The Entertainer" (reuniting with director Tony Richardson), then won critical acclaim and enormous success as the brawling, nonconformist factory worker, Arthur Seaton, in Karel Reisz's milestone in British realist cinema, "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning." Only his second motion picture role, Finney's performance earned him two BAFTA nods (one as Best Actor, the other, winning as Most Promising Newcomer), as well as the Best Actor prize from the National Board of Review.

That role led Richardson to cast the then 26-year-old as Henry Fielding's rakish, picaresque, bawdy "Tom Jones." The 1963 film, which won four Oscars, including Best Picture, and earned Finney his first of five Academy Award nominations, cemented his international stardom. Additionally, he collected his third (of thirteen) BAFTA nomination, the New York Film Critics honor and two Golden Globe® nods -- Best Actor/Comedy or Musical, and Best Male Newcomer (which he won).

After the huge success of "Tom Jones," Finney returned to films (after a sojourn back on the stage) with Reisz's 1964 drama, "Night Must Fall" (which the actor also produced), followed by Stanley Donen's classic 1967 romantic drama, "Two for the Road," in which he starred opposite the luminous Audrey Hepburn. That same year, Finney stepped behind the camera for his directorial debut on "Charlie Bubbles," which also marked the debut of actress Liza Minnelli.

Over the ensuing years, Finney has commanded the motion picture screen in such projects as Sidney Lumet's "Murder on the Orient Express" (Oscar and BAFTA nominations), Ridley Scott's "The Duellists" (the first of four collaborations with Scott), Ronald Neame's "Scrooge" (BAFTA nomination), Alan Parker's "Shoot the Moon" (BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations), Stephen Frears' "Gumshoe" (BAFTA nod) Peter Yates' "The Dresser" (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations, as well as the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival), John Huston's musical "Annie" and his drama "Under the Volcano" (Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Award), Alan J. Pakula's "Orphans" (a role he originated on the London stage), the Coen Bros.' "Miller's Crossing," Mike Figgis' "The Browning Version" (produced by Ridley Scott), Yates' "The Run in the Country," Bruce Bereford's "Rich in Love," Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic" and "Erin Brockovich" (Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations) and Tim Burton's "Big Fish" (BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations). He recently reteamed with Burton, providing the voice for one of the animated characters in his highly-anticipted feature, "Corpse Bride," and just completed work on Michael Apted's 18th historical drama, "Amazing Grace."

No less accomplished on the small screen, Finney delivered award-winning performances in such telefilms and miniseries as HBO's "The Gathering Storm" (winning BAFTA, Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for his portrayal of Sir Winston Churchill in the feature produced by Ridley Scott), "A Rather English Marriage" (BAFTA nomination), "Karaoke" and "Cold Lazarus" (combined BAFTA nomination for both 1996 Dennis Potter telefilms), "The Green Man" (BAFTA nomination), "The Biko Inquest" (his second directorial effort, for which he collected a CableACE nomination for his performance), HBO's "The Image" (his first Emmy nomination), and CBS-TV's "Pope John Paul II," playing the title role.

In addition to producing the 1964 feature "Night Must Fall," Finney also produced (under his Memorial Enterprises Productions banner) "Charlie Bubbles," Lindsay Anderson's "If..." and "O Lucky Man!" and Frears' "Gumshoe."

Even with his success on the big screen, Finney never abandoned his stage roots, continuing his association with the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic in London, where he performed in the mid-1960s in Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" and Chekov's "The Cherry Orchard." He won Tony Award nominations for "Luther" (1964) and "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg" (1968), and also starred onstage in "Armstrong's Last Goodnight," "Love for Love," Strindberg's "Miss Julie," "Black Comedy," "The Country Wife," "Alpha Beta," Beckett's "Krapp's Last Tape," "Cromwell," "Tamburlaine the Great," "Another Time" and, his last stage appearance in 1997, "Art," which preceded the 1998 Tony Award-winning Broadway run. He won Olivier Awards for "A Flea in Her Ear" and "Orphans" and the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Osborne's "Luther."

| awards = NBR Award for Best Actor
1960 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
NYFCC Award for Best Actor
1963 Tom Jones
Volpi Cup for Best Actor
1963 Tom Jones
Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actor
1983 The Dresser }}

Albert Finney, Jr. (born May 9 1936) is a five-time Academy Award-nominated and Emmy winning English actor. Hailed as a "second Olivier" as a young stage actor in the late 1950s, Finney rose to film star fame in the early 1960s. Although his early fame was later tempered by long absences from major motion pictures, he continues to earn awards and acclaim in a varied five decade career on stage, films, and television.

Biography

Personal life

Finney was born in Pendleton, Salford, Lancashire, England, the son of Alice (née Hobson) and Albert Finney, Sr., a bookmaker. He attended Salford Grammar School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1990, Finney had one son with his third wife, Katherine Attson; his son, named Declan, is also an actor, having starred in several small films.

Career

Finney's first film was The Entertainer (1960), but his breakthrough came with his portrayal of a hedonistic, disillusioned factory worker in Karel Reisz's film of Alan Sillitoe's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. This led to a series of "angry young man" roles in kitchen sink dramas, before he starred in the Academy Award winning 1963 film Tom Jones, for which he turned down the role of T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia.

After he starred in and directed Charlie Bubbles in 1968, his film appearances became less frequent. One of his more high profile later roles was as Agatha Christie's Belgian master detective Hercule Poirot in the 1974 film Murder On The Orient Express. Finney was so effective in the role that he complained that it typecast him for a number of years. "People really do think I am 300 pounds with a French accent" he said. Finney made several television productions for the BBC in the 1990s, including The Green Man (1990), based on a story by Kingsley Amis, the acclaimed drama A Rather English Marriage (1998) (with Tom Courtenay), and the lead role in Dennis Potter's final two plays Karaoke and Cold Lazarus in 1996 and 1997. In the latter he played a frozen, disembodied head. Finney also made an appearance at Roger Waters' The Wall Concert in Berlin, where he played "The Judge" during the performance of "The Trial." In 2002, he played Winston Churchill in The Gathering Storm, for which he won BAFTA and Emmy awards as Best Actor. Finney also had a voice-over role as Finnis Everglot in Tim Burton's 2005 film Corpse Bride.

He also played the leading role in the television series My Uncle Silas, about a Cornish country gentleman looking after his great-nephew. The series ran from 2000 until 2002, then again for a mini-series in 2003.

Awards and nominations

Albert Finney turned down the offer of a CBE in 1980 and a knighthood in 2000.

He has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor four times, for Tom Jones (1963), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Dresser (1983), and Under the Volcano (1984). He was nominated for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Erin Brockovich (2000).

Finney received a BAFTA award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles in 1961 for Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960). He was also nominated for Best British Actor for the same film. Despite being nominated 15 more times, he finally won for The Gathering Storm. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his performance in the HBO telefilm The Image (1990), and won an Emmy, for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Mini-Series or TV Film, for his performance as Winston Churchill in HBO's The Gathering Storm in 2002.

He has received Golden Globe nominations for his performances in:

Additionally, he has won Golden Globes for The Gathering Storm, Scrooge, and for Tom Jones.

  • For The Gathering Storm, he won "Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television" for 2003.
  • For his role in Scrooge, his portrayal of the both the old miser and the young Ebenezer Scrooge earned him "The Best Motion Picture Actor in a Musical/Comedy" for 1971.
  • For Tom Jones, he shared a win as "Most Promising Newcomer - Male" for 1964.

In 1971 he was nominated for a Golden Laurel for his work on Scrooge. For his work on Tom Jones, he was the 3rd Place Winner for the "Top Male Comedy Performance" for 1964. He was honoured by the Los Angeles Film Critics' Association as Best Actor for Under the Volcano (which he tied with F. Murray Abraham for Amadeus), the National Board of Review for Best Actor in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, and the New York Film Critics' Circle for Best Actor in Tom Jones.

Finney has also received three nominations from the Screen Actors' Guild Awards, being nominated for his performance in The Gathering Storm, winning for his performances in Erin Brockovich, and as a member of the acting ensemble in the film Traffic. He won the Silver Berlin Bear award for Best Actor for The Dresser at the 1984 Berlin International Film Festival.

Finney been nominated for two Tony Awards for his performances in the plays, "Luther" and "Joe Egg". He won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for Tom Jones at the Venice Film Festival.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1960 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Arthur Seaton BAFTA win & nomination: Best Newcomer, Best Actor
1963 Tom Jones Tom Jones Academy Award nomination: Best Actor
BAFTA nomination: Best Actor
Golden Globe win & nomination: Most Promising Male Newcomer & Best Musical/Comedy Actor
1964 Night Must Fall Danny
1967 Two for the Road Mark Wallace
1968 Charlie Bubbles Charlie Bubbles Also director
1970 Scrooge Ebenezer Scrooge Golden Globe win: Best Musical/Comedy Actor
1972 Gumshoe Eddie Ginley BAFTA nomination: Best Actor
1974 Murder on the Orient Express Hercule Poirot Academy Award nomination: Best Actor
BAFTA nomination: Best Actor
1981 Looker Dr. Larry Roberts
Wolfen Dewey Wilson
1982 Annie Daddy Warbucks
Shoot the Moon George Dunlap BAFTA nomination: Best Actor
Golden Globe nomination: Best Drama Actor
1983 The Dresser Sir Academy Award nomination: Best Actor
BAFTA nomination: Best Actor
Golden Globe nomination: Best Drama Actor
1984 Under the Volcano Geoffrey Firmin Academy Award nomination: Best Actor
Golden Globe nomination: Best Drama Actor
1990 Miller's Crossing Leo O'Bannon
1990 Roger Waters - The Wall (Live in Berlin) The Judge
1993 Rich in Love Warren Odom
1994 The Browning Version Andrew Crocker-Harris
A Man of No Importance Alfred Byrne
1997 Washington Square Dr. Austin Sloper
1999 Breakfast of Champions Kilgore Trout
2000 Erin Brockovich Ed Masry Academy Award nomination: Best Supporting Actor
BAFTA nomination: Best Supporting Actor
Golden Globe nomination: Best Supporting Actor
Traffic White House Chief of Staff
2002 The Gathering Storm (2002) Winston Churchill BAFTA win: Best TV Actor
Emmy win: Outstanding Lead Actor - Mini-series/Film
Golden Globe win: Best Mini-series/TV Film Actor
2003 Big Fish older Edward Bloom BAFTA nomination: Best Supporting Actor
Golden Globe nomination: Best Supporting Actor
2004 Ocean's Twelve Gaspar LeMarque (uncredited)
2005 Tim Burton's Corpse Bride Finis Everglot (voice)
2006 A Good Year Uncle Henry Skinner
2007 Amazing Grace John Newton
The Bourne Ultimatum Dr. Albert Hirsch
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead Charles Hanson

References

External links



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Last updated on Wednesday March 05, 2008 at 14:57:40 PST (GMT -0800)
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