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Peter Finch

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This article is about the actor. For the poet, see Peter Finch (poet). For the character in Grey's Anatomy, see Peter Finch (Grey's Anatomy).
Peter Finch
from I Thank a Fool (1962)
Born
Frederick George Peter Ingle-Finch
OccupationActor
Years active1938–1977
Spouse(s)Tamara Tchinarova (1943-1959)
Yolande Finch (1959-1965)
Eletha Finch (1973-1977)

Peter Finch (28 September 1916 – 14 January 1977) was an English-born Australian actor.[1] He is best remembered for his role as 'crazed' television anchorman Howard Beale in the film, Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the BAFTA, and a Best Actor award from the Golden Globes. He is one of only two people to win a posthumous Academy Award in an acting category, the second being Heath Ledger for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight.

Family background and personal life

Finch was born Frederick George Peter Ingle-Finch[2] in London to Australian parents George Ingle Finch & Alicia, who divorced when he was two years old.[1][3][4] He was raised by relatives in France, India, and Australia, where they moved when he was 10 years old, growing up in Sydney.

Career

After school, Finch took several badly paid jobs until he tried acting in 1935. He worked in both radio and theatre before landing his first film in 1938, Dad and Dave Come to Town.

With Diane Cilento during filming of Passage Home (1955)

Finch's forte, however, remained the stage. He was noticed by Laurence Olivier in the late 1940s. Olivier encouraged Finch to return to London for a role in Daphne Laureola at the Old Vic. During this time, his closeness to the Olivier family led to an affair with Olivier's beautiful but increasingly unstable wife, Vivien Leigh, which began in 1948, and continued on and off for several years, ultimately falling apart due to her deteriorating mental condition.[5]

Despite his stage experience, Finch, like his mentor Olivier, suffered from stage fright.[5] As a break from stage parts, in the late 1940s, he turned to performing in films. His first role in a British-made film was in Eureka Stockade (1949), set in Australia. In 1950, he made his Hollywood film debut in The Miniver Story, the sequel to the wartime morale boosting movie Mrs. Miniver; unlike its predecessor, it was poorly received critically.[citation needed] In 1955, he appeared with Diane Cilento in the film Passage Home. His first major role was in 1956's A Town Like Alice.

He was originally chosen to play Julius Caesar in Cleopatra (1963), but prior commitments forced him to withdraw; the role instead went to Rex Harrison.

In 1972, Finch played the homosexual Jewish doctor in Sunday, Bloody Sunday, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

At the time of his death, he was doing a promotional tour for the 1976 film Network in which he played the television anchorman Howard Beale[1] who develops messianic pretensions. He was posthumously nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for that role, winning the award, which was accepted by his widow, Eletha Finch. Although James Dean, Spencer Tracy, and Massimo Troisi were also posthumously nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, Peter Finch was the first actor to have won the award posthumously, as well as the first Australian actor to win a Best Actor award. He was the only posthumous winner until Heath Ledger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2009.[6][7] Finch also won five Best Actor awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) for Network.

Personal life

Finch's vault at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Finch married three times, first to Tamara Tchinarova, secondly to Yolande Eileen Turnbull ("Turner"), who was known as Yolande Finch during their marriage; both marriages ended in divorce.[1] After his divorce from Yolande Finch, he married Mavis "Eletha" Barrett, who was known as Eletha Finch.[1] He had four children from his three marriages.[1]

  • Children are Samantha, Charles & Diana with Yolande Turner and Anita with Tamara Tchinarova.

After suffering a heart attack, Finch died on January 14, 1977, at the age of 60; he is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.[1]

Biographies

In 1980, American author Elaine Dundy published a biography of Finch Finch, Bloody Finch: A Biography of Peter Finch. That year, his second wife, Yolande Finch, also published a posthumous account of their life together Finchy: My Life with Peter Finch. Another biography had previously been published by his friend and colleague Trader Faulkner, in 1979. According to Brian McFarlane, in the The Encyclopedia of British Film, hosted by British Film Institute's Screenonline, Finch "did not emerge unscathed from a life of well-publicised hell-raising, and several biographies chronicle the affairs and the booze, but a serious appraisal of a great actor remains to be written."[8]

Filmography

Year Film Role Other notes
1938 Dad and Dave Come to Town Bill Ryan
1939 Mr. Chedworth Steps Out Arthur Jacobs
1941 The Power and the Glory Frank Miller
1944 The Rats of Tobruk Peter Linton
Red Sky at Morning Michael
1946 A Son Is Born Paul Graham
1949 Train of Events Philip (segment The Actor)
Eureka Stockade Humffray
1950 The Miniver Story Polish officer
The Wooden Horse Australian in Hospital
1952 The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men Sheriff of Nottingham
1953 The Heart of the Matter Father Rank
The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan Richard D'Oyly Carte
1954 Father Brown Flambeau
Elephant Walk John Wiley
Make Me an Offer Charlie
1955 Josephine and Men David Hewer
Passage Home Captain Lucky Ryland
Simon and Laura Simon Foster
The Dark Avenger Comte De Ville
1956 The Battle of the River Plate Capt. Langsdorff, Admiral Graff Spee
A Town Like Alice Joe Harman BAFTA Award
1957 Windom's Way Alec Windom Nominated - BAFTA Award
Robbery Under Arms Captain Starlight
The Shiralee Jim Macauley
1959 The Nun's Story Dr. Fortunati Nominated - BAFTA Award
Operation Amsterdam Jan Smit
1960 The Trials of Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde BAFTA Award
Kidnapped Alan Breck Stewart
1961 No Love for Johnnie Johnnie Byrne BAFTA Award
The Sins of Rachel Cade Colonel Henry Derode
1962 I Thank a Fool Stephen Dane
1963 In the Cool of the Day Murray Logan
1964 First Men in the Moon Bailiff's man uncredited
Girl with Green Eyes Eugene Gaillard
The Pumpkin Eater Jake Armitage
1965 The Flight of the Phoenix Capt. Harris
1966 10:30 P.M. Summer Paul
Judith Aaron Stein
1967 Come Spy with Me Cameo appearance uncredited
Far from the Madding Crowd William Boldwood
1968 The Legend of Lylah Clare Lewis Zarken
1969 The Greatest Mother of Them All Sean Howard
The Red Tent General Umberto Nobile
1971 Sunday, Bloody Sunday Dr. Daniel Hirsh BAFTA Award
Golden Globe
Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor
1972 Something to Hide Harry Field
1973 England Made Me Erich Krogh
Bequest to the Nation Adm. Lord Horatio Nelson
Lost Horizon Richard Conway
1974 The Abdication Cardinal Azzolino
1976 Network Howard Beale Academy Award for Best Actor
BAFTA Award
Golden Globe
1977 Raid on Entebbe Yitzhak Rabin TV movie - Nominated - Emmy Award
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Academy Award for Best Actor
1976
for Network 		Succeeded by

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Finch, Frederick George Peter Ingle (1916 - 1977)". Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition. adb.online.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 2008-07-27. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ Some sources say that Finch's real name was William Mitchell, but there are no records that substantiate this, and it appears to be an urban myth.
  3. ^ Peter Finch at AllMovie.
  4. ^ "Peter Finch". Allmovie. The New York Times, Movies, movies.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2008-07-27. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ a b Richard Brooks (2005-08-07). "Olivier Worn Out by Love and Lust of Vivien Leigh". The Sunday Times. timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-07-27. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ ABC Eyewitness News; February 23, 2009; Midnight broadcast
  7. ^ "‘Slumdog Millionaire’ fulfills its Oscar destiny" MSNBC/Associated Press; February 23, 2009
  8. ^ Finch, Peter (1916–1977) at the BFI's Screenonline. (N.B.: Miscalculates age at time of death as 61, not 60.).

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peter Finch.


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