Frank Finlay

The Butcher Who Challenged Olivier

Francis Finlay was born in Farnworth in 1926. He had no connections to the London arts scene, but he ended up sharing the stage with Laurence Olivier. His career began in a far from glamorous way, working as an apprentice butcher in his hometown of Lancashire.

It was a matter of pure physical presence.

At the age of 26, he won a scholarship to study at RADA. His deep voice and square jaw helped him move quickly into professional theater. In 1965, British critics took notice of him for his performance as Iago in Othello. That role earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

The film sparked controversy decades later over Olivier's makeup. But Finlay's work remained a lesson in restraint and pure envy-inducing skill in front of the camera. His technique was to avoid blinking too much so as to unsettle the viewer.

Success in Swords and Sheets

Spanish audiences mainly remember him as Porthos in The Three Musketeers from 1973. Richard Lester cast him to bring muscle and raw comedy to the group. He reprised the role in 1974 and 1989 because the director fully trusted his ability in action scenes.

In 1971, he starred in the series Casanova, written by Dennis Potter. The production was scandalous by the standards of the time. Nearly ten million viewers followed his erotic adventures on British television every week.

But Finlay didn't want to be just a mature leading man for the small screen.

He balanced classical theater with less prestigious genre films to pay the bills. He appeared in Lifeforce in 1985 under the direction of Tobe Hooper. It was a strange science fiction film that didn't win over the box office but gave him visibility in the American market.

Return to Prestige Films

In 2002, Roman Polanski cast him as the father of Wladyslaw Szpilman in The Pianist. His performance was brief but carried a quiet dignity before the horror of the Warsaw Ghetto. He didn't need grand speeches to convey the fear of a generation.

That film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

Finlay kept working steadily well into his eighties. In 2008 he appeared in the series Four Seasons and earlier in Life Begins during 2006. He never announced an official retirement from the stage, because he considered acting a vital necessity.

He spent his final years at his home in Surrey, away from the spotlight.

Frank Finlay died on January 30, 2016 from heart failure. He was 89 years old and left a filmography with more than 100 titles on record in film and television archives.