Albert Finney

As an aspiring actor in the mid-1950s, he made the rounds with Michael Polley, the father of Sarah Polley. Michael Polley says that Finney compared actors to bricklayers, in terms of craft.

The son of a Lancashire bookmaker, Albert Finney came to motion pictures via the theatre. In 1956, he won a scholarship to RADA where his fellow alumni included Peter O'Toole and Alan Bates. He joined the Birmingham Repertory where he excelled in plays by William Shakespeare. A member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Finney understudied Laurence Olivier at Stratford-upon-Avon, eventually acquiring a reputation as 'the new Olivier'. He first came to critical attention by creating the title role in Keith Waterhouse's "Billy Liar" on the London stage.

He became a father for the first time at age 22 when his now first ex-wife Jane Wenham gave birth to their son Simon Finney on September 16, 1958.

His film debut soon followed with The Entertainer (1960) by Tony Richardson with whom had earlier worked in the theatre.

With the changing emphasis in 60s British cinema towards gritty realism and working-class milieus, Finney's typical screen personae became good-looking, often brooding proletarian types and rebellious anti-heroes as personified by his Arthur Seaton in Karel Reisz's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960).

He won two BAFTA Awards in 1961 and 2004.

He was originally chosen for the title role in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) after a screen test shot over four days at a cost of £100,000. He later baulked at the film's monumental shooting schedule, and did not want to commit to such a long term contract and opted to play the title role in Tom Jones (1963), which gave him his first Oscar nomination.

His exuberant defining role, however, was in the bawdy period romp Tom Jones (1963) in which Finney revealed a substantial talent for comedy.

Finney was five-times nominated for Academy Awards in 1964, 1975, 1984, 1985 and 2001.

By 1965, Finney had branched out into production, setting up Memorial Enterprises in conjunction with Michael Medwin.

He was considered for the role of Captain Beatty in Fahrenheit 451 (1966) that went to Cyril Cusack.

In the same vein, he scored another hit opposite Audrey Hepburn in the charming marital comedy Two for the Road (1967).

In 1968, he directed himself in Charlie Bubbles (1968) and three years later produced the Chandleresque homage Gumshoe (1971), in which he also starred as Eddie Ginley, a bingo-caller with delusions of becoming a private eye.

His roles have ranged from Ebenezer Scrooge in the musical version of Scrooge (1970) to Daddy Warbucks in Annie (1982) and (in flamboyant over-the-top make-up) Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (1974).

From 1972 to 1975, Finney served as artistic director of the Royal Court Theatre. His intermittent forays to the screen confirmed him as a versatile international actor of note, though not what one might describe as a mainstream star.

He was the third choice for Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (1974). Before him were Alec Guinness and Paul Scofield. Ironically, Agatha Christie felt Finney's performance came closest to her idea of Poirot.

In 1976, he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor of the year in a Revival for "Hamlet" and "Tamburlaine the Great" at the National Theatre.

He appeared as Minister of Police Joseph Fouché in Ridley Scott's superb period drama The Duellists (1977) and as a grandiloquent Shakespearean actor in The Dresser (1983) for which he received an Oscar nomination.

He was initially asked to reprise his role as Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile (1978). However, he had found the make-up he had to wear for the first movie Murder on the Orient Express (1974) very uncomfortable in the hot interior of the train, and on realizing that he would have to undergo the same experience, this time in temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit, he declined the role.

True to his working-class roots, he spurned a CBE in 1980 and a knighthood in 2000, later explaining his decision by stating that the 'Sir thing' "slightly perpetuates one of our diseases in England, which is snobbery".

He was considered for the lead role in Gandhi (1982).

For the small screen Finney essayed Pope John Paul II (1984) and was a totally believable Winston Churchill in the acclaimed The Gathering Storm (2002).

He was awarded the 1986 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance in "Orphans".

He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1987 (1986 season) for Best Actor in a New Play for "Orphans".

He was the original choice for Albert Spica in The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), to the point where the character was named after him. The role went to Michael Gambon.

He appears, uncredited, in drag as The Matron in the ladies' bathroom scene in Miller's Crossing (1990).

He was awarded the 1991 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actor in a Principal Role in a Play for "Another Time" at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois.

He was considered to play Borusa in Doctor Who (1996) before the character was dropped from the script.

He was originally offered the role of Bart in Unleashed (2005), but he dropped out in order to star in Big Fish (2003). The role went to Bob Hoskins.

Albert Finney was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2011.

His final movie credit was in the James Bond thriller Skyfall (2012).

As of 2014, he has appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Tom Jones (1963), The Dresser (1983), Traffic (2000) and Erin Brockovich (2000). Of those, Tom Jones (1963) won in the category. He gave Oscar nominated performances in all of these except Traffic.

Pictured on one of a set of eight British commemorative postage stamps celebrating the 200th anniversary of The Old Vic Theatre, issued 30 August 2018. The stamp shows Finney in a 1975 performance of "Hamlet". Other performers appearing on stamps in this set are Laurence Olivier, Glenda Jackson, Maggie Smith, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Sharon Benson, Judi Dench, John Stride, and Richard Burton.