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.
Known for
The Voyeur
Nino Rolfe
Heartbeat
Howard Franklin
Merlin
Anhora
Prime Suspect
Arnold Tennison
Sherlock Holmes
Professor Coram / Sergius
Blackadder
The Witchsmeller Pursuivant
Play for Today
Play for Today
Dearth
The Pianist
Father
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
Tales of the Unexpected
Arthur Pearson
Enigma
Canarsky
Theatre 625
Dr Dee
The Body
Narrator
Sitting Target
Marty Gold
King of the Wind
Edward Coke
Othello
Iago
The Longest Day
Pvt. Coke (uncredited)
For My Baby
Rudi Wittfogel
The Three Musketeers
Porthos / O'Reilly
Private Potter
Capt. Patterson
The Key
Nino Rolfe
Z-Cars
The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns
General Bulstrode
Fifty Shades of Erotica
(archive footage)
The Lie
Andrew Firth
Eroica
Josef Haydn
The Wild Geese
Fr. Geoghagen
The Waiting Room
Roger
Betzi
Napoleon
Lovejoy
Harold Plumb
Sakharov
Kravtsov
Dear Brutus
Dearth
Stalin
Sergei
Station Jim
Riorden Snr
Danny Jones
Gumshoe
William Ginley
Doctor in Distress
Corsetiere
Lighthouse Hill
Alfred
The Molly Maguires
Davies
Studio 4
Fernand Destayac
Lifeforce
Dr. Hans Fallada
The Lost Prince
Asquith
Nothing Like a Dame
Self (archive footage)
A Christmas Carol
Jacob Marley
How Do You Want Me?
The Merchant of Venice
Shylock
Casanova
Razetta
Drama 61-67
Albert Hope
The Piano Tuner
Wilfred Tilley
Longitude
Admiral Wagner
The Four Musketeers
Porthos
The Hard Knock
Franco Angelo
Bouquet of Barbed Wire
Peter Manson
Life Begins
Eric Thornhill
The Other Side
Arthur Conan Doyle
Julius Caesar
Brutus
Saturday, Sunday, Monday
Peppino
The Sins
Uncle Irwin Green
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
Booking Office Clerk (uncredited)
Mona
Captain Manson
Inspector Clouseau
Supt. Weaver
Laurence Olivier Presents
Peppino
The Spanish Civil War
Self - Narrator
Romance and Rejection (So This Is Romance?)
Mike's Dad
The Martins
Mr Heath
Johnny and the Bomb
Tom Maxwell
Les Misérables
Jean Valjean
Charlemagne, le prince à cheval
Alcuin
Murder by Decree
Inspector Lestrade
Rosamunde Pilcher's Four Seasons
Alexander 'Alex' Combe
Count Dracula
Abraham van Helsing
The Return of the Musketeers
Porthos
The Statement
Commissaire Vionnet
Hot Enough for June
British Embassy Porter
The Younger Generation
Ross Mayer
The Younger Generation
George Tremaine
Target Luna
Conway Henderson
The Shoes of the Fisherman
Igor Bounin
A Study in Terror
Inspector Lestrade
Shaft in Africa
Vincent Amafi
Cromwell
John Carter
Robbery
Robinson
The Return of the Soldier
William Grey
Limited Edition
John Rathbone
Twisted Nerve
Henry Durnley
Count Dracula
Professor Van Helsing
The Thief of Baghdad
Abu Bakar
The Burning Shore
Garrick
The Informers
Leon Sale
Another Bouquet
The Deadly Bees
H.W. Manfred
The Jokers
Harrassed Man
Erebus: The Aftermath
Justice Peter Mahon
Assault
Det. Chief Supt. Velyan
Sparrow
Father Nunzio
Mountain of Diamonds
Garrick
Dreaming of Joseph Lees
Father
The Ploughman's Lunch
Matthew Fox
Ring of Darkness
Paul
Casanova
Casanova
I'll Never Forget What's'isname
Chaplain
Olivier Talks About Othello
(archive footage)
The Spare Tyres
Council foreman
Virgin Mary
Monsignor
Life for Ruth
Teddy's Father
The Making Of Lifeforce
Self
The Comedy Man
Prout
Arch of Triumph
Col. Boris Morosov
An Exchange of Fire
Pavel Rhele
The Death of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Van der Valk and the Rich
Commissaris Simon "Piet" van der Valk
Cthulhu Mansion
Chandu
The Adventures Of Don Quixote
Sancho Panza
Nineteen Nineteen
Sigmund Freud (voice)
Much Ado About Nothing
Dogberry
Royal Variety Performance 1984
The Sandwich Man
Second Fish Porter
Van der Valk and the Scapegoat
Commissaris Simon "Piet" van der Valk
Stiff Upper Lips
Hudson Junior
The Wild Affair
Drunk
In the Secret State
Frank Strange
A Mind to Murder
Professor Etherege
Tales from the Thousand and One Nights
Shahriar
Van der Valk: Gun Before Butter
Commissaris Simon "Piet" van der Valk
Neither the Sea Nor the Sand
George Dabernon
84 Charing Cross Road
Frank Doel
Blood of the Lamb
Albert
Wogan
Self