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PAGE20 BERLIN • LOSANGELES • MILAN • FOYER • CANNES • TOKYO • LONDON DIARY
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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 cru- cial bit part in The Entertainer followed by the lead in Saturday Night And Sunday Morning.
That same year he also cre-
ated 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 simply 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 millionaire at 27. He also married twice, divorced
twice, made love to beautiful women, drank
fine wine and ate well on sev- eral continents.
Less well remembered – though happily
recalled at the BAFTA ceremony
– has been some of the backroom boy entrepreneur-
ial achievements via his Memorial 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 himself, 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 deliv- ered as factory worker Arthur Seaton in Saturday Night And Sunday Morning. It could almost be his own philosophy. “What I want is a good time. All the rest is propaganda.” ■
NOTABADOLDFELLOW
Photo: Albert Finney in Saturday Night And Sunday Morning
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