Finney as Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express, 1974 (Image: NC)
Despite possessing the kind of resonant voice which characterised earlier generations of stage actors, Finney never lost his down-to-earth attitude – refusing both a CBE and a knighthood after criticising the honours system. “I think the Sir thing slightly perpetuates one of our diseases in England,” he once said, “which is for perpetuating snobbery.” The five-time Oscar nominated actor returned often to Salford, where he was born in 1936, and despite taking on some of the most coveted roles on stage and screen, he was never in thrall to the trappings of fame, stardom or wealth. Not only did he never receive a gold statuette, he never attended the awards ceremonies. “It’s a long way to go for a party, sitting there for six hours not having a cigarette or a drink,” he once declared. “It’s a waste of time.”
Finney may have shunned the showbiz lifestyle, but he was still part of that world – as shown by yesterday’s tributes after his death aged 82 from a chest infection while being treated for cancer.
James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson said they were “heartbroken” at the loss of the actor, whose final screen role was as gamekeeper Kincade in 2012’s Skyfall.
“It was a privilege to work with him and an honour to have had him as part of our Bond family,” they said. After a career spanning more than five decades, Finney disappeared from public view for four years.
In 2011 Nigel Bennett, his agent and lawyer, confirmed the star had cancer, which Finney later said affected his kidney.
He recovered and the following year appeared in Skyfall and The Bourne Legacy and continued to work in his beloved theatre.
TRAGIC: Screen legend Albert Finney has died, aged 82 (Image: Getty)
In his early years, Finney was synonymous with the “Angry Young Men” roles of the 1960s. It began with Saturday Night And Sunday Morning when he played a working-class anti-hero who escapes his mindless factory job with a reckless love life.
Based on a novel by Alan Sillitoe, it featured extramarital sex and abortion, earning it an X-certificate from the British Board of Film Censors.
“I remember, in terms of the sex,” Finney said, “there were great discussions because the law then was you had to have one foot on the floor.”
It made Finney a household name and ranks highly among gritty British films that became known as kitchen-sink dramas.
Together with actors such as Tom Courtenay, Peter O’Toole and Alan Bates, he helped transform the face of British theatre and cinema.
However, Finney’s first Oscar nomination came in 1964 for his role in period comedy Tom Jones, which made him an international star.
Finney in Macbeth at London’s National Theatre, 1978 (Image: Shutterstock)
He was nominated for a second Oscar for his role as Hercule Poirot in Sidney Lumet’s star-studded 1975 version of Agatha Christie’s Murder On The Orient Express.
But Finney’s primary love was always the stage and he became closely associated with The National Theatre in the 1970s.
He was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in John Osborne’s Luther, and another for A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg. He also appeared in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard.
Although, at school Finney failed all but one of his ‘O’ Levels two years running, his performances in school plays prompted headteacher Eric Simm to recommend that the teenager apply to RADA. He did, won a scholarship and found himself in the same class as O’Toole and Bates.
After drama school Finney went to the Birmingham Rep, the Old Vic and National Theatre in London.
Finney alongside Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich, 2000 (Image: NC)
“I was dead lucky,” Finney recalled. “I thought people from my background didn’t become actors. I thought actors were bred in special places – a stud farm in Mayfair.”
Fortune shone when he was called to replace a poorly Laurence Olivier as Coriolanus at Stratford. In 1960, he appeared with Olivier in his first film, The Entertainer.
Hollywood did not really come to call until the early 1980s, when he appeared in Michael Crichton’s Looker (1981), Alan Parker’s Shoot The Moon (1983) and his first collaboration with director John Huston in musical Annie (1982).
A Manchester United fan, Finney narrated the documentary Munich, about the 1958 air crash that killed most of the Busby Babes.
The actor remained friends with several of his Salford Grammar School mates over the years, including the world-renowned artist Harold Riley.
He loved visiting Salford. “It’s just part of you,” he said. “It’s in the blood.”
Albert’s wedding day to Anouk Aimée, 1970. They were married for 8 years (Image: Gamme-Keystone via Getty)
In the 1967 film Charlie Bubbles, which Finney also directed, he played a writer returning to his northern roots after becoming successful in London. In one scene, his character is seen driving a gold Rolls-Royce through the crumbling streets of his native town.
The Finney family lived in a terraced house in the Charlestown area of Salford. His father, Albert senior, was a bookie known as “Honest Albert” and had a shop nearby. Finney’s northern bluntness and charm were never eroded. In his biography of Finney, Strolling Player, Gabriel Hershman wrote: “He has proved that it’s possible to control your own destiny, preserve your integrity, and resist typecasting and have a good time without veering into self destruction.”
After another Oscar nod for The Dresser opposite Tom Courtenay, he received his fourth and last best actor nomination for his role as an alcoholic ex-diplomat in Under The Volcano.
After the Coen brothers cast him in Miller’s Crossing in 1990, playing an Irish-American mobster, Finney acquired cachet among the new generation of US film-makers thanks to his early work.
Finney depicts Sir Winston Churchill in BBC drama Churchill: The gathering storm (Image: PA)
He would go on to earn his fifth and last Oscar nomination for best supporting actor in 2001 for the Steven Soderbergh’s Erin Brockovich. He also appeared in high-profile TV dramas, including Dennis Potter’s Cold Lazarus and as Winston Churchill in 2002’s The Gathering Storm, for which he won Bafta, Golden Globe and Emmy awards.
Finney had a magnetic presence off screen too. Lovers included singers Joan Baez, Carly Simon, and actresses Billie Whitelaw, Jacqueline Bisset, Shelley Winters and Diana Quick.
In 1957, he married Jane Wenham, with whom he had a son Simon, a cameraman. They divorced five years later and in 1970, he wed French actress Anouk Aimee.
He finally settled down with Penelope Delmarche, a travel agent, whom he married in 2006.
“I’m a born flirt and that will never stop, but I would take things no further,” he said. “I am loyal and content.”