Albert Finney

Albert Finney (9 May 1936 – 7 February 2019) was an English actor who experienced a distinctive career in theatre, film, and television. He gained his first fame for movie acting during the early 1960s, debuting with The Entertainer (1960). Over the years, he became renowned for his roles in films like Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), Tom Jones (1963), Annie (1982), and Erin Brockovich (2000). Finney was nominated for an Academy Award five times, as Best Actor four times, and as Best Supporting Actor once. He was also a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe, Emmy, Screen Actors Guild, Silver Bear and Volpi Cup awards. Finney was recognized for his performances in classics like Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Dresser (1983), and had won numerous awards for his striking performance as Winston Churchill in the 2002 BBC–HBO television biographical movie The Gathering Storm.

Finney maintained a successful career spanning from 1956 to 2012. The youngest of three children, he was born in Salford, Lancashire and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he developed his distinctive acting talents. Finney had been offered a contract by the Rank Organisation, but refused it to perform for the Birmingham Rep. He made his big-screen breakthrough portraying a disillusioned factory worker in Karel Reisz's film version of Alan Sillitoe's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960). Throughout his career, Finney was known for his maverick approach to his craft, often preferring character roles and refusing a knighthood.