Peter Finch in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
American postcard by Fotofolio, NY, NY, no. P 348. Photo: Phil Stern. Peter Finch in The Flight of the Phoenix (Robert Aldrich, 1965).
Peter Finch (1916-1977) was a British film and theatre actor who became a film star appreciated by critics and audiences alike from the 1950s onwards. He received a posthumous Oscar in 1977 for his portrayal of the mad newscaster Howard Beale in Sidney Lumet's satire Network (1976).
Peter Finch was born Frederick Peter Ingle-Finch in 1916 in London, Great Britain. Finch was the illegitimate child of Alicia Gladys Fisher and a British military officer. His mother was married at the time to chemist and mountaineer George Ingle Finch, who officially assumed paternity. After his parents' early divorce, Peter Finch grew up mostly with relatives in France, India and Australia, his parents' home countries. After leaving school, he took numerous low-paid odd jobs in Sydney. He eventually decided to become an actor. He later commented, "If I was broke anyway, I might as well become an actor." He first found employment in sketches within vaudeville shows. By the mid-1930s, Finch began to play more serious roles in the theatre and to work in radio. In 1938 he made his feature film screen debut in Dad and Dave Come to Town by Ken Hall. Other roles in Australian cinema followed, though without initially attracting international attention. He did, however, become one of the most popular actors in radio dramas in Australia, thanks to his pleasant voice. From 1941 to 1945 he served with the Australian Imperial Force in World War II, partly in troop entertainment, and was latterly in the rank of sergeant. During one of his stage appearances shortly after the end of the war, Finch was brought to London by Laurence Olivier to the Old Vic Theatre, where Olivier was artistic director at the time. He later had an affair with Olivier's wife, the actress Vivien Leigh. In London, Finch was soon able to make a name for himself in stage roles, for example in 1949 with a performance in Daphne Laureola alongside Edith Evans, which received a standing ovation.
However, as Peter Finch had severe stage fright, from the 1950s onward he concentrated primarily on his film career, which had been sluggish until then. His first British production was Eureka Stockade in 1949, although here he was still in a supporting role. A year later he made a minor appearance in the Hollywood drama The Miniver Story by H.C. Potter, the sequel to the war drama Mrs. Miniver. In 1952, his portrayal of the Sheriff of Nottingham opposite Richard Todd in Ken Annakin's The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men received some attention. This was followed by a series of leading roles that propelled him to stardom in British cinema in the mid-1950s. Finch's roles included Elizabeth Taylor's husband in Elephant Walk (William Dieterle, 1954), Flambeau in Father Brown (Robert Hamer, 1954), German Captain Hans Langsdorff in The Battle of the River Plate (Powell & Pressburger, 1957) and an atheist medical doctor alongside Audrey Hepburn's nun in The Nun's Story (Fred Zinnemann, 1959). Especially the latter film, a huge financial and critical success, boosted Finch's international reputation. His portrayal of an Australian soldier in the film A Town Like Alice by Jack Lee earned him his first British Film Academy Award (BAFTA) in 1956, and he later received the award three more times.
In the course of the 1960s, Peter Finch succeeded in positioning himself increasingly as a sought-after character actor in international cinema. At the 1961 Berlinale, he was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actor for his portrayal of a politician in crisis, both personally and professionally, in No Love for Johnnie by Ralph Thomas. He also received much praise for his portrayal of Oscar Wilde in the film biography The Man with the Green Carnation/ The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) by Ken Hughes. Internationally, he played British officer Harris in Robert Aldrich's survival drama The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) and Italian general Umberto Nobile in Krasnaya palatka/ The Red Tent (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1969). He also appeared in military roles in other films. In 1960, Finch tried his hand behind the camera for once when he made the semi-documentary style short film The Day about the life of a boy on the island of Ibiza. The Day was well received at film festivals, but it was to remain his only directorial effort.
In Britain at this time, Peter Finch was one of a group of already established actors who had no inhibitions about working with the innovative directors of the British New Wave. He often played intelligent and reserved characters here, for example, a writer in a love affair with a younger woman in Desmond Davis' Girl with Green Eyes (1964) and the lonely farmer William Boldwood opposite Julie Christie in John Schlesinger's romantic drama Far from the Madding Crowd (based on Thomas Hardy's novel On the Green Edge of the World). In 1971 Finch worked with Schlesinger again for the film drama Sunday, Bloody Sunday, for which he received his first Oscar nomination, in the category of Best Actor in a Leading Role. Shortly after filming began, he spontaneously replaced Ian Bannen, who had actually been engaged and was uncomfortable with the risky role - as a gay Jewish doctor who shares his younger lover (Murray Head) with a woman (Glenda Jackson), Finch became probably the first film star to be seen in a gay film kiss. His subsequent film projects were less successful, however, as were his two films with Liv Ullmann: the spectacularly flopped musical Lost Horizon (Charles Jarrott, 1973) and the historical film The Abdication (Anthony Harvey, 1974). In the 1973 historical war film Bequest to the Nation by James Cellan Jones, he portrayed British General Horatio Nelson.
Shortly before his death, Peter Finch hit the screens with a television film Raid on Entebbe (Irvin Kershner, 1976), in which he played Yitzchak Rabin, and was on a promotional tour for his latest feature film, the media satire Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976). On 14 January 1977, Finch died of a heart attack suffered in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angles at the age of 60. A few months later, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Howard Beale, a television host gone mad, in Network; the award was accepted by his widow Eletha Finch. Finch and Heath Ledger are the only actors to date to receive the Oscar posthumously. The scenes in which Finch's character preaches his wisdom to the television audience are among the most famous of the classic Network; the film quote "I'm mad as hell and I can't take it anymore" spoken by him became equally famous.
Peter Finch was married three times and had four children: from 1943 until his divorce in 1959 to ballet dancer Tamara Tchinarova Finch (1919-2017), one child; from 1959 to 1965 to actress Yolande Turner (1935-2003), two children; and from 1973 until his death to Eletha Barrett Finch, one child. Businessman and film producer Charles Finch (b. 1962) is his son. Biographies and obituaries described Finch the man as a womaniser and relatively heavy drinker, but also as kind and educated. Peter Finch is buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Sources: Wikipedia (German, Dutch and English), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Peter Finch in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
American postcard by Fotofolio, NY, NY, no. P 348. Photo: Phil Stern. Peter Finch in The Flight of the Phoenix (Robert Aldrich, 1965).
Peter Finch (1916-1977) was a British film and theatre actor who became a film star appreciated by critics and audiences alike from the 1950s onwards. He received a posthumous Oscar in 1977 for his portrayal of the mad newscaster Howard Beale in Sidney Lumet's satire Network (1976).
Peter Finch was born Frederick Peter Ingle-Finch in 1916 in London, Great Britain. Finch was the illegitimate child of Alicia Gladys Fisher and a British military officer. His mother was married at the time to chemist and mountaineer George Ingle Finch, who officially assumed paternity. After his parents' early divorce, Peter Finch grew up mostly with relatives in France, India and Australia, his parents' home countries. After leaving school, he took numerous low-paid odd jobs in Sydney. He eventually decided to become an actor. He later commented, "If I was broke anyway, I might as well become an actor." He first found employment in sketches within vaudeville shows. By the mid-1930s, Finch began to play more serious roles in the theatre and to work in radio. In 1938 he made his feature film screen debut in Dad and Dave Come to Town by Ken Hall. Other roles in Australian cinema followed, though without initially attracting international attention. He did, however, become one of the most popular actors in radio dramas in Australia, thanks to his pleasant voice. From 1941 to 1945 he served with the Australian Imperial Force in World War II, partly in troop entertainment, and was latterly in the rank of sergeant. During one of his stage appearances shortly after the end of the war, Finch was brought to London by Laurence Olivier to the Old Vic Theatre, where Olivier was artistic director at the time. He later had an affair with Olivier's wife, the actress Vivien Leigh. In London, Finch was soon able to make a name for himself in stage roles, for example in 1949 with a performance in Daphne Laureola alongside Edith Evans, which received a standing ovation.
However, as Peter Finch had severe stage fright, from the 1950s onward he concentrated primarily on his film career, which had been sluggish until then. His first British production was Eureka Stockade in 1949, although here he was still in a supporting role. A year later he made a minor appearance in the Hollywood drama The Miniver Story by H.C. Potter, the sequel to the war drama Mrs. Miniver. In 1952, his portrayal of the Sheriff of Nottingham opposite Richard Todd in Ken Annakin's The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men received some attention. This was followed by a series of leading roles that propelled him to stardom in British cinema in the mid-1950s. Finch's roles included Elizabeth Taylor's husband in Elephant Walk (William Dieterle, 1954), Flambeau in Father Brown (Robert Hamer, 1954), German Captain Hans Langsdorff in The Battle of the River Plate (Powell & Pressburger, 1957) and an atheist medical doctor alongside Audrey Hepburn's nun in The Nun's Story (Fred Zinnemann, 1959). Especially the latter film, a huge financial and critical success, boosted Finch's international reputation. His portrayal of an Australian soldier in the film A Town Like Alice by Jack Lee earned him his first British Film Academy Award (BAFTA) in 1956, and he later received the award three more times.
In the course of the 1960s, Peter Finch succeeded in positioning himself increasingly as a sought-after character actor in international cinema. At the 1961 Berlinale, he was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actor for his portrayal of a politician in crisis, both personally and professionally, in No Love for Johnnie by Ralph Thomas. He also received much praise for his portrayal of Oscar Wilde in the film biography The Man with the Green Carnation/ The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) by Ken Hughes. Internationally, he played British officer Harris in Robert Aldrich's survival drama The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) and Italian general Umberto Nobile in Krasnaya palatka/ The Red Tent (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1969). He also appeared in military roles in other films. In 1960, Finch tried his hand behind the camera for once when he made the semi-documentary style short film The Day about the life of a boy on the island of Ibiza. The Day was well received at film festivals, but it was to remain his only directorial effort.
In Britain at this time, Peter Finch was one of a group of already established actors who had no inhibitions about working with the innovative directors of the British New Wave. He often played intelligent and reserved characters here, for example, a writer in a love affair with a younger woman in Desmond Davis' Girl with Green Eyes (1964) and the lonely farmer William Boldwood opposite Julie Christie in John Schlesinger's romantic drama Far from the Madding Crowd (based on Thomas Hardy's novel On the Green Edge of the World). In 1971 Finch worked with Schlesinger again for the film drama Sunday, Bloody Sunday, for which he received his first Oscar nomination, in the category of Best Actor in a Leading Role. Shortly after filming began, he spontaneously replaced Ian Bannen, who had actually been engaged and was uncomfortable with the risky role - as a gay Jewish doctor who shares his younger lover (Murray Head) with a woman (Glenda Jackson), Finch became probably the first film star to be seen in a gay film kiss. His subsequent film projects were less successful, however, as were his two films with Liv Ullmann: the spectacularly flopped musical Lost Horizon (Charles Jarrott, 1973) and the historical film The Abdication (Anthony Harvey, 1974). In the 1973 historical war film Bequest to the Nation by James Cellan Jones, he portrayed British General Horatio Nelson.
Shortly before his death, Peter Finch hit the screens with a television film Raid on Entebbe (Irvin Kershner, 1976), in which he played Yitzchak Rabin, and was on a promotional tour for his latest feature film, the media satire Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976). On 14 January 1977, Finch died of a heart attack suffered in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angles at the age of 60. A few months later, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Howard Beale, a television host gone mad, in Network; the award was accepted by his widow Eletha Finch. Finch and Heath Ledger are the only actors to date to receive the Oscar posthumously. The scenes in which Finch's character preaches his wisdom to the television audience are among the most famous of the classic Network; the film quote "I'm mad as hell and I can't take it anymore" spoken by him became equally famous.
Peter Finch was married three times and had four children: from 1943 until his divorce in 1959 to ballet dancer Tamara Tchinarova Finch (1919-2017), one child; from 1959 to 1965 to actress Yolande Turner (1935-2003), two children; and from 1973 until his death to Eletha Barrett Finch, one child. Businessman and film producer Charles Finch (b. 1962) is his son. Biographies and obituaries described Finch the man as a womaniser and relatively heavy drinker, but also as kind and educated. Peter Finch is buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Sources: Wikipedia (German, Dutch and English), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.