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Academy Fellowship
OLD FELLOW
version of Troilus And Cressida. Ken Tynan, theatre critic of The Observer, was on hand to note of Finney, “a smouldering young Spencer Tracy, an actor who will soon disturb the dreams of Messrs Burton and Scofield.”
Instead of succumbing to the lure of the Rank Charm School, which had rounded up any number of Brylcreemed bucks for its well- scrubbed stable, or joining Binkie Beaumont’s ‘boys’ at the all-powerful theatrical agency HM Tennent, Finney opted, instead, for three years of hard graft at the Birmingham Rep.
That would eventually lead to the West End, Stratford for the Centenary Season, and then, in quick film order, a crucial bit part in The Entertainer followed by the lead in Saturday Night And Sunday Morning.
That same year he also created Billy Liar on stage and was first choice for Lawrence Of Arabia in David Lean’s much-vaunted project. After a lavish screen test at MGM’s studios in Borehamwood, Finney finally turned down the filmmakers because part of the deal would have been the traditional ‘slave’ contract. Lean’s only reported comment on the business was Finney telling him sim- ply that he “wasn’t interested in becoming a star.”
Finney did, of course, become a big star and also very wealthy, thanks to his 10 per cent of Tom Jones which made him a dollar mil- lionaire at 27. He also married twice, divorced twice, made love to beautiful women, drank fine
wine and ate well on most if not all continents.
Less well remembered – though happily recalled at the BAFTA ceremony – has been some of the backroom boy entrepreneurial achieve- ments via his Memorial
Photos opposite page: Albert Finney with his Fellowship Award; inset, in Saturday Night And Sunday Morning
Films Company. It gave feature film starts to Mike Leigh (Bleak Moments) and Stephen Frears (Gumshoe), bailed out Lindsay Anderson (If...) in a crisis and
was also responsible for Finney’s one directorial credit to date, Charlie Bubbles.
Finney, who was barely 20 when he was first hailed the ‘new Olivier’, has, to date, never featured in an Honours’ List though we do know that like Olivier, George Bernard Shaw and Prince Charles, he is one of a select handful who’ve turned down Desert Island Discs.
Admired and extremely well- liked, Finney seems at ease with him- self, once saying, “I’m perfectly rejectable. The idea I have power is a bit of an illusion. I can’t, for example, make people go and see my films. Sometimes they’ve not seen them in large numbers.
Responding to his Fellowship, Finney suggested that even if people don’t necessarily say, “For he’s a jolly good fellow” then perhaps they might just confirm, “He’s not a bad old fellow.”
He also, even more aptly, referred back to a famous line he once delivered as factory worker Arthur Seaton in Saturday Night And Sunday Morning. It could almost be his own philosophy. “What I want isagoodtime.Alltherestis just propaganda.” ■
Photos this page from top left: Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot in Murder On The Orient Express; Gumshoe; with Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich; with Tom Courtenay in The Dresser; Miller’s Crossing; casting for Lawrence Of Arabia
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