Born in 1912, London, England. Finch's parents divorced when he was
aged two, after time in France and India he was raised by relatives
in Australia from the age of ten. In Australia he worked in vaudeville,
radio, and film during the Depression. His film debut came in 1936
in the Australian film Dad and Dave Come to Town. He later returned
to London in 1949 at the behest of Laurence
Olivier, where he appeared impressively on the stage and landed
a wide variety of film roles, including the romantic comedy Simon
and Laura (1955) and The Nun's Story (1959). During the 1960s he was
less active but appeared in the acclaimed The Trials of Oscar Wilde
(1960), No Love for Johnnie (1961), The
Pumpkin Eater (1964) and Far
From the Madding Crowd (1967). The 1970s saw Finch in outstanding
form as the homosexual Jewish doctor in Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971),
and earning rave reviews for his final film Network (1976), for which
he received the first-ever posthumous Best Actor Oscar. Finch died
of a heart attack in January 1977 while promoting his final film.
He was married on three occasions and his widow, Aletha Finch, accepted
his posthumous Oscar.
