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Frank Finlay

Frank Finlay

Birthday: 1926-08-06 | Place of Birth: Farnworth, Lancashire, UK

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.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

2018
Nothing Like a Dame

as    Self (archive footage)

2009
Four Seasons - Winter

as    Alexander 'Alex' Combe

2008
Four Seasons - Summer

as    Alexander 'Alex' Combe

2007
The Waiting Room

as    Roger

2006
Prime Suspect: The Final Act

as    Arnold Tennison

2006
Johnny and the Bomb

as    Tom Maxwell

2004
Lighthouse Hill

as    Alfred

2004
Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness

as    Arnold Tennison

2003
The Statement

as    Commissaire Vionnet

2003
Eroica

as    Josef Haydn

2002
The Pianist

as    Father

2001
The Martins

as    Mr Heath

2001
Station Jim

as    Riorden Snr

2000
Sins

as    Uncle Irwin Green

1999
The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns

as    General Bulstrode

1993
Charlemagne

as    Alcuin

1992
Cthulhu Mansion

as    Chandu

1992
Stalin

as    Sergei

1990
King of the Wind

as    Edward Coke

1985
Arch of Triumph

as    Col. Boris Morosov

1985
Lifeforce

as    Dr. Hans Fallada

1983
Enigma

as    Canarsky

1979
Murder by Decree

as    Inspector Lestrade

1979
Ring of Darkness

as    Paul

1978
The Wild Geese

as    Fr. Geoghagen

1977
Count Dracula

as    Abraham van Helsing

1973
The Three Musketeers

as    Porthos / O'Reilly

1973
Shaft in Africa

as    Vincent Amafi