Albert Finney

Albert Finney (born 9 May 1936) is an English actor. Beginning in the theatre, Finney was especially successful in plays by William Shakespeare before he switched to films. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, his debut being The Entertainer, directed by Tony Richardson, who had directed him in theatre plays various times before. He became a leading Free Cinema figure, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television. He is known for his roles in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), Tom Jones (1963), Miller's Crossing (1990), Big Fish (2003), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), Annie (1982), and, in 2012, The Bourne Legacy and the 23rd James Bond film, Skyfall.

A recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe, Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Awards, Finney 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); and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Erin Brockovich (2000).

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Finney was born in Salford, Lancashire, the son of Alice (née Hobson) and Albert Finney, Sr., a bookmaker. He was educated at Tootal Drive Primary School, Salford Grammar School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Finney is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His career began in the theatre; he made his first appearance on the London stage in 1958 in Jane Arden's The Party, directed by Charles Laughton, who starred in the production along with his wife, Elsa Lanchester. Then in 1959 he appeared at Stratford in Coriolanus, replacing a sick Laurence Olivier (as Coriolanus).

His first film appearance was a role in Tony Richardson's The Entertainer (1960), with Laurence Olivier, but he made his breakthrough with his portrayal of a disillusioned factory worker in Karel Reisz's film version 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. Prior to this, Finney had been chosen to play T. E. Lawrence in David Lean's production of Lawrence of Arabia after a successful, and elaborate, screen-test that took 4 days to shoot. However Finney baulked at signing a multi-year contract for Producer Sam Spiegel and chose not to accept the role. The tremendous success of Tom Jones saw British exhibitors vote Finney the ninth most popular star at the box office in 1963.

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He has a son by his first wife, Jane Wenham: Simon, who works in the film industry as a camera operator.

From 1970 to 1978, he was married to French actress Anouk Aimée.

[ Wikipedia ]