28 Facts About Frank Finlay

Frank Finlay earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Iago in Othello.

Frank Finlay's first leading television role came in 1971 in Casanova.

Frank Finlay appeared in the drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire.

Frank Finlay was educated at St Gregory the Great School, but left at 14 to train as a butcher at Toppings, gaining a City and Guilds Diploma in the trade.

Frank Finlay made his first stage appearances at the local Farnworth Little Theatre, in plays that included Peter Blackmore's Miranda in 1951.

Frank Finlay played in repertory, initially in Scotland, before winning a scholarship to RADA in London.

Frank Finlay became particularly associated with the National Theatre, especially during the years when Laurence Olivier was director.

The critic John Simon wrote that the close-ups in the film allowed Frank Finlay to give a more subtle and effective performance than he had done on stage.

Frank Finlay appeared in The Party, Plunder, Saint Joan, Hobson's Choice, Amadeus, Much Ado About Nothing, The Dutch Courtesan, The Crucible, Mother Courage, and Juno and the Paycock.

Frank Finlay made appearances on Broadway, in Epitaph for George Dillon, and in the National Theatre and Broadway productions of Filumena opposite Joan Plowright in 1980.

Between November 1988 and April 1989, Frank Finlay toured Australia, performing in Jeffrey Archer's Beyond Reasonable Doubt at theatres in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

Frank Finlay played the title role of Dennis Potter's BBC 2 series Casanova.

Frank Finlay was one of the stars of Martin Ritt's highly acclaimed 1970 feature The Molly Maguires.

Frank Finlay portrayed Richard Roundtree's nemesis, Amafi, in the film Shaft in Africa, before playing Porthos for director Richard Lester in The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers and The Return of the Musketeers.

Frank Finlay appeared in several additional films, including The Wild Geese and The Key by Tinto Brass.

Frank Finlay starred as the father in the once-controversial Bouquet of Barbed Wire, and its sequel Another Bouquet, and he was reunited with his Bouquet of Barbed Wire co-star, Susan Penhaligon, when he played Professor Van Helsing in the BBC's Count Dracula, with Louis Jourdan.

Frank Finlay appeared in two Sherlock Holmes films as Lestrade, solving the Jack the Ripper murders.

Frank Finlay played a role as the primary antagonist in an adaptation of "The Golden Pince-Nez" of the Granada Television series of Sherlock Holmes starring Jeremy Brett, in which his son Daniel played a minor role as well.

Frank Finlay guest-starred as a farcical witch-smeller in an episode of The Black Adder, opposite Rowan Atkinson.

Frank Finlay played Sancho Panza opposite Rex Harrison's Don Quixote in the 1973 British made-for-television film The Adventures of Don Quixote, for which he won a BAFTA award.

Frank Finlay won another BAFTA award that year for his performance as Voltaire in the BBC TV production of Candide.

Frank Finlay played the role of Justice Peter Mahon in the award-winning New Zealand television serial Erebus: The Aftermath.

Frank Finlay starred alongside Pete Postlethwaite and Geraldine James in the BBC drama series The Sins in 2000, playing the funeral director "Uncle" Irwin Green.

Frank Finlay appeared in the TV series Life Begins and as Jane Tennison's father in the last two stories of Prime Suspect.

Frank Finlay appeared in November 2008 in the eleventh episode of the BBC drama series Merlin, as "Anhora, Keeper of the Unicorns".

Frank Finlay met his future wife Doreen Shepherd when both belonged to Farnworth Little Theatre.

Frank Finlay was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year's Honours of 1984 and an honorary doctor of the University of Bolton in 2009.

Frank Finlay died on 30 January 2016 at his home in Weybridge, Surrey, aged 89, from heart failure.