The darkly-handsome, gravel-voiced Finch was an unorthodox leading man. He gained notoriety for his powerful turn in Roman Polanski's Macbeth (1971), but is probably best-remembered as the anti-hero Richard Blaney in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy (1972). Around that time he also appeared in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), Robert Bolt's Lady Caroline Lamb (1972) and The Final Programme (1973); later he co-starred in Death on the Nile (1978) with Peter Ustinov. After that, however, Finch mostly worked in stage and TV, notably in the BBC Television Shakespeare's Richard II and Henry IV. His last high-profile role was Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven (2005).
Finch missed out on being a much bigger star. He was reportedly considered as James Bond for Live and Let Die. He also turned down an unspecified part in Richard Lester's Three Musketeers films, the TV series The Professionals and John Hurt's role in Alien. He's the rare actor whose career of missed roles is more interesting than those he accepted.
Finch indicated in a 2005 interview that he disliked the idea of super-stardom, a view shared with contemporaries like Paul Scofield, Tom Courtenay and Albert Finney. However, Finch was also diabetic, and his condition likely prevented him from taking more demanding roles. All the same, he starred in two bona fide classics and appeared in a third, which is more than most actors can say.
RIP to this unsung, talented actor.
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