Frank Finlay obit

Frank Finlay, 89, Is Dead; Was Iago to Olivier’s Othello

He was not on the list.

Frank Finlay, an Academy Award-nominated English actor known for his screen appearances as Iago in “Othello” and Porthos in “The Three Musketeers,” died on Jan. 30 at his home in Weybridge, England. He was 89.

His family announced his death, The Associated Press reported.

In character roles on stage, screen and television, Mr. Finlay was routinely praised by critics for his resonant voice, physical grace and brooding, soulful mien.

He was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for playing Iago to Laurence Olivier’s Othello in the 1965 film version of Shakespeare’s play, directed by Stuart Burge and also starring Derek Jacobi as Cassio. (The award that year went to Martin Balsam for “A Thousand Clowns.”)

Mr. Finlay was also known to an international audience as Porthos, the lusty extrovert among the Three Musketeers, in the 1974 film of that name. Directed by Richard Lester, it also starred Richard Chamberlain, Michael York and Raquel Welch.

He reprised the role in two sequels, “The Four Musketeers” (1975) and “The Return of the Musketeers” (1989).

Mr. Finlay portrayed the title character in “Casanova,” a 1971 BBC mini-series written by Dennis Potter. His other screen roles include the father of Adrien Brody’s character in “The Pianist” (2002), the Holocaust drama directed by Roman Polanski, and the father of Jane Tennison, the police detective played by Helen Mirren, in the last two installments of “Prime Suspect,” the popular British television drama.

Francis Finlay was born on Aug. 6, 1926, in Farnworth, in the north of England. He left school at 14 and became a butcher’s apprentice, but found he could not resist the lure of community theater. He later won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where, bowing to the demands of repertory theaters of the period, he took pains to cultivate plummy London diction.

“It was still the time when the Reps were doing ‘Who’s for tennis?’ plays,” Mr. Finlay told The Sydney Morning Herald in 1988. “So we spent days trying to lose our North Country accents.”

Mr. Finlay went on to perform with the Royal National Theater, of which Mr. Olivier was an artistic director, and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was named a Commander of the British Empire in 1984.

He appeared on Broadway in two short-lived plays, “Epitaph for George Dillon,” by John Osborne and Anthony Creighton, in 1958, and “Filumena,” by Eduardo De Filippo, in 1980.

Mr. Finlay’s wife, the former Doreen Shepherd, whom he married in 1954, died in 2005; a son, Stephen, died in 2004. His survivors include a daughter, Cathy; a son, Daniel; and several grandchildren.

Because Mr. Finlay was so often cast as a rogue or villain, some of the productions with which he was associated were considered mildly scandalous in their day. Among the prime culprits was “Casanova,” which required the prostitutes his character patronized to appear on camera barely clad — a sight not typically seen on British television in 1971.

In casting the prostitutes, a stumbling block arose.

“The BBC couldn’t get actresses who were prepared to take their blouses off,” Mr. Finlay said in an interview quoted in his obituary on Monday in the British newspaper The Telegraph.

Undaunted, the producers took to the streets and hired the real thing.

Filmography

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1962      Life for Ruth       Henry – Teddy's father  

The Longest Day               Private Coke       Uncredited

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner         Booking Office clerk        Uncredited

Private Potter    Captain Patterson           

1963      Doctor in Distress             Corsetiere          

The Informers   Leon Sale            

1964      Hot Enough for June       British Embassy porter   Uncredited

The Comedy Man             Prout    

1965      A Study in Terror              Inspector Lestrade           Reprised the role fourteen years later in Murder by Decree

The Wild Affair Drunk   

Othello Iago       San Sebastián International Film Festival Award for Best Actor

Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Nominated — BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles

Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture

1966      The Sandwich Man          Second fish porter          

The Deadly Bees               H.W. Manfred  

1967      The Jokers           Harassed man   

Robbery               Robinson            

I'll Never Forget What's'isname Chaplain              

The Spare Tyres                Council foreman               Short

1968      Inspector Clouseau          Superintendent Weaver               

The Shoes of the Fisherman         Igor Bounin        

Twisted Nerve   Henry Durnley  

1970      The Molly Maguires        Davies  

Cromwell             John Carter        

1971      Assault Det. Chief Supt. Velyan

Gumshoe            William Ginley  

1972      Sitting Target     Marty Gold        

Danny Jones       Mr. Jones           

Neither the Sea Nor the Sand      George Dabernon           

1973      Shaft in Africa    Amafi   

The Three Musketeers   Porthos / O'Reilly            

1974      The Four Musketeers     Porthos                Sequel to The Three Musketeers

1977      Count Dracula    Abraham Van Helsing     TV movie

1978      The Wild Geese                Father Geoghagen          

1979      Murder by Decree           Inspector Lestrade          

Ring of Darkness [it]        Paul       aka Satan's Wife

1982      The Return of the Soldier              William Grey      Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Enigma Canarsky             

1983      The Ploughman's Lunch                 Matthew Fox    

The Black Adder                The Witchsmeller Pursuivant       Episode: "Witchsmeller Pursuivant"

The Key                Nino Rolfe          

1984      A Christmas Carol             Jacob Marley's Ghost      TV movie

Sakharov              Kravtsov               TV movie

1985      1919      Sigmund Freud Voice

Lifeforce              Dr. Hans Fallada               

1988      Erebus: The Aftermath Justice Peter Mahon       TV Mini-Series

1989      The Return of the Musketeers    Porthos                Final film in the Musketeers trilogy

1990      King of the Wind               Edward Coke     

1992      Cthulhu Mansion              Chandu                

1993      Sparrow               Father Nunzio   

1995      Gospa   Monsignor         

1996      Tiré à part           John Rathbone

1997      For My Baby       Rudi Wittfogel  

So This Is Romance?        Mike's dad         

The Road to Glory            Yudah Lieb Gold               

Put K Slave                         

1998      Stiff Upper Lips Hudson Junior  

1998–1999          How Do You Want Me? Astley Yardley    10 episodes

1999      Dreaming of Joseph Lees              Father  

2000      Ghosthunter      Charlie Fielding Short

2000      The Sins                'Uncle' Irwin Green         BBC drama series

2001      The Martins        Mr. Heath           

2002      The Pianist          Samuel Szpilman             

Silent Cry             Dr. Robert Barrum          

2003      Eroica    Joseph Haydn    TV movie

The Statement Commissaire Vionnet    

The Lost Prince H.H. Asquith       TV movie

2004      Lighthouse Hill   Alfred

Life Begins           Eric         ITV Series

2007      The Waiting Room           Roger   

2008      Merlin   Anhora Episode: "The Labyrinth of Gedref"