Peter Finch

He managed to keep his dignity even in that godawful 1973 Lost Horizon musical.

I've always wanted to see his early Australian films of the 30's, but I can't find them anywhere.

I don't really know a lot about him tbh. But would like to

He was a drinker.

I thought that he was sexy as the doctor who made Audrey Hepburn blush in The Nun’s Story.

Yes, "The Nun's Story" was a good role and performance from him. At its best his acting seemed very smooth and unaffected. This is another of his 50s performances I like:

R6

[quote] produced by Joseph Janni

One of the Milanese Jews of Wardour Street who hired Finch consistently. Sometimes against Finch's better interests.

If you have seen the movie "The V.I.P.s", it has been said that the plot of the tycoon's wife leaving him for the gigolo but being delayed at the airport due to fog was based on a real event.

Supposedly Vivien Leigh was running off with Peter Finch, but fog at the airport prevented their scheduled flight from taking off and Olivier was able to woo her back.

VL starred with Finch in the movie "Elephant Walk" but was later replaced by Elizabeth Taylor. Supposedly, the long shots with VL remain in the movie.

So, because of the accident you describe, R8, young gawky Finch was thrust from being an unknown person from a backwater called Australia into a state of being semi-world-famous.

But I feel he always carried that stigma of being slightly odd, slightly unattractive and slightly unusable for mainstream movies.

So good in “Sunday, Bloody Sunday”—it was Hackman’s year to win the Oscar (and he was excellent in “The French Connection”), but I might have voted got Finch—his role was much more complex than in @Network” a few years later.

He had the stigma of being not quite attractive and the other stigma of being intelligent.

So he played 'men of integrity' and was forced to support female stars who were lousy at acting (Novak, Hayward, Hepburn, Christie, Fonda, Dickinson).

I liked him as Oscar Wilde in The Trials of Oscar Wilde. He could have camped it up but he underplayed it

Loved him in “Far From the Madding Crowd,” which is much underrated.

His alcoholism didn't seem to interfere much at all with his career, but it did with his personal life. His second wife, Yolande Turner, said his drinking contributed to their divorce in 1970 and that he only saw his two young children once after that; she would send the kids cards and gifts herself that were supposedly from Peter.

I don't know if this drunken tale actually happened, but it's funny:

'Finch was working in Ireland in the 1960s and Peter O'Toole joined him for a drink at a pub, but the owner refused to serve them because it was after closing time. They decided that the logical course was to buy the pub, so they wrote out a check for it on the spot. The next morning after realizing what they'd done, Peter & Peter went back to the scene of the crime. Luckily the pub owner hadn't cashed the check yet and disaster was averted. O'Toole and Finch remained on friendly terms with the man. After his death, the pub owner's wife invited Peter & Peter to his funeral. They knelt at the graveside as the coffin was slowly lowered in, sobbing loudly. When Finch turned away, unable to stand it anymore, O'Toole saw his friend's face change from a look of sorrow to one of total astonishment. They were at the wrong funeral. Their friend was being buried 100 yards away."

Finch made one film with O'Toole.

But he wasn't an alcoholic on the scale as O'Toole, Burton, Reed and Harris and Blessed.

Richard Harris founded a social group called "Alcoholics Unanimous".

Brilliant in "Sunday Bloody Sunday" but won a compensation Oscar for "Network" which is a supporting role.

He was great in Network, too, though

[quote] Network

Gottfried, Chayevsky and Lumet couldn't find an American movie star with sufficient INTEGRITY to convince us in that scary demanding role.

Robert Duvall might have been OK but Finch had more.

the Kiss

When we see that kiss, we're supposed to imagine Alan Bates kissing.

The director and producer wanted Alan in the role. The whole movie would have made a lot more sense if Alan Bates was available to do it.

The relationship would have seemed more natural whereas the relationships seemed piteous and desperate with Peter in the role.

R15 R14 The story mentioned in R14 is very true. Peter O'Toole recounted the story himself in the video below.

Hilarious!

^ Things like that are 'hilarious' for drunkards but tacky, annoying and inconvenient for the sober who have to clean up after them.

O'Toole abused his wife but I don't if Finch abused his sundry wives and mistresses.

So we are going to turn the thread into another angry feminist BS and MeToo movement rant!!

Also good as the flaky husband in “the pumpkin eater” with Anne Bancroft. I find him rather attractive for an older guy and liked his wavy looking hair. Also I seem to have liked “girl with the green eyes” although I can’t remember It much right now, am going to give it another watch because of this thread.

#6 - I really like “A Town Like Alice,” too!

As I said in OP, I love most of his films.

Another favorite of mine, No Love For Johnnie (1961)

There a haunting little gem called Something to Hide (1971). You can't forget the movie if you once watched it .

Does anyone know the story behind his glass eye? How did he lose the original?

The Girl With Green Eyes is another lesser known film of his that's good

R28 just looked it up. Shelley winters was so prolific. She pops up everywhere it seems.

[quote] the story behind his glass eye.

I blame Vivien for that.

R30 R25 More love here for "Girl with green eyes" film. I love it as well.

An Australian film called ‘The Shiralee’ in 1957 is a great one as well.

It was Peter Finch's favorite. The young girl in the movie reminded Peter of himself in real life. He had a fucked up sad childhood.

[quote] Does anyone know the story behind his glass eye?

Does anyone know the story of what happened in this set of this disaster?

Fonda and Lansbury refuse to talk about it. They had to cut out about 20 minutes of Jane's performance and they couldn't go back to Greece to redo those scenes.

I just watched Sunday Bloody Sunday again a few weeks ago - gawd, he was GORGEOUS! And I think he was in his early 50s when he filmed it; his skin is gorgeous. I suspect he didn’t smoke or drink. Love his performance in this. Also re-watched Network, of course, which is brilliant. That’s when he came to my attention, I was probably 9 y.o. I remember, it seemed he died like a month before the Oscars and it was a certainty that he would win. Terrific actor.

R34 dl always amazes me when it comes to some little known film that I’d never heard Of. Will have to track this one down.

Oh, I guess he was a drinker. It didn’t destroy his looks.

I wonder if Vivian Leigh’s nymphomaniac ways contributed to his somewhat prematurely aged appearance. While he was rather sexy, he did always seem older. Maybe she wore him out.

We know so little about him

R14 [quote] His alcoholism

R36 [quote] I suspect he didn’t smoke or drink.

More of the insipid and unjustified "underrated" bullshit from some dumb cunt who can't use English, reason or the DL properly.

Hey, dumbshit. He got an Oscar. He was considered brilliant in at least three previous roles a few years before that.

What do you want?

[quote] Hey, dumbshit.

Are you taking to about the OP?

It's natural that English actors would be less known in America than all those Americans who appear on. American screens.

He was reportedly an outstanding lover.

He had an affinity for dark meat, his widow was black and Shirley Bassey had him for a while.

Stole DeNiro’s Oscar for his best performance.

Why didn't they want his wife to accept his Oscar?

No sex appeal.

R46 There was a book about the production of Network and the aftermath including the Academy awards.

The film makers (producer or writer ??) said that The Academy didn't want Peter Finch's widow to accept his award because she was black, They didn't even want her to attend the ceremony. Peter's friends had to make a plan to sneak her in. She accompanied someone who was invited to be able to be there and then accept her husband's award.

R48 did she know that? She seemed to handle it with dignity if she did

Fonda and Christie don't suck at acting, R11, though I'll grant you that neither IN THE COOL OF THE DAY not FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD show either actress at their best. COOL was a lousy script to begin with, and Fonda was not yet the Jane Fonda who emerged in the late 60's as a real actress.

I think Finch is excellent in SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY - and frankly had Bates played the bi lover instead of the blank Murray Head, THAT would have been really interesting, even though Bates is certainly older (though he's younger than Finch).

Another vote for Finch in THE PUMPKIN EATER - he gets the arrogance and sense of male entitlement down perfectly.

I've never seen his Oscar Wilde film - the only places I can find it are EPIX or Paramount+, neither of which I subscribe to. Have seen the one with Robert Morley, which is good, but not outstanding.

wow r48. I was going to suggest that may have been the reason but then I thought in the seventies in the liberal film world that wouldn't have been a big deal. Kind of shocking. Thanks for the info.

[quote] Fonda and Christie don't suck at acting, [R11], though I'll grant you that neither IN THE COOL OF THE DAY not FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD show either actress at their best.

Fonda was completely miscast playing an intellectual adulteress who was physically-ill and partially mentally-ill. They suppressed her natural self and had her wearing a Morticia Addams wig and pretending to be from an Ingmar Bergman movie.

[quote] COOL was a lousy script to begin with.

How can you say that, R50? Twenty minutes was cut out of the film. The actor George Coulouris had all his scenes cut out of the film. Fonda stated it was "the worst film she'd ever made and she wished it had never been filmed; so bad, in fact, she wasn't even certain if it had been released". Peter Finch expressed "deep regret at having agreed to be in it". There's extended footage of Angela Lansbury walking up and down corridors to pad out the missing footage. Angela Lansbury refuses to talk about the dramas they had on set.

When asked about the kiss with Murray Head on "Sunday, Bloody Sunday", Peter Finch said he did it for England. I thought that was hilarious.

I thought he was HOT in "The Nun's Story."

[quote] Peter Finch said he did it for England.

I think he actually said what English mothers told their anxious daughters prior to their honeymoon and fearing the conjugal bed, "Close your eyes and think of England".

He was on the stage in Sydney for 15 years, then Laurence Olivier brought him to London, where he played with Olivier's company (and wife) after the war. Later, he was Iago to Orson Welles' Othello, Mercutio in "Romeo and Juliet" with Claire Bloom, had a West End hit with "Two for the Seesaw", and, in his last stage appearance in 1964, won acclaim as Trigorin in "The Seagull", which also starred Peggy Ashcroft and Vanessa Redgrave. He never appeared on Broadway.

[quote] I've always wanted to see his early Australian films of the 30's, but I can't find them anywhere.

He looked better as he aged. He looks raw and gawky in the 1930s.

He had a forgettable role in this simple comedy about country bumpkins visiting the city. They meet a pansy window dresser (played by Cecil Kellaway's brother)

R50 Here's The Trials of Oscar Wilde film (1960) starring Peter Finch on Youtube.

It's an excellent movie.

An old juicy DL thread about Peter Finch and Vivien Leigh.

^ It's Vivien who made that thread 'juicy'.

Poor Peter was in the invidious position of not wanting to annoy his employer and benefactor who brought him from Antipodean obscurity to fame.

Peter Finch quotes on Vivien Leigh and Larry Olivier :

“I'm well aware that I owed more to Larry than anyone in the world”

“Is it my fault that Viv picked on me to cling to? I was just trying to act in Larry’s best interests. Would he rather have her fall into the clutches of some assistant cameraman?”

"I loved Vivien. But once she set her sights on you, you were a gonner, mate... her affection was lethal."

'Sex was a sickness with her. It was not only a powerful stimulant for her, but as addictive as any drug. I was a young man then, and it was like Christmas every day - but poor Larry. Poor Larry. She must have been killing him.'

R58 I wish some clever Youtuber could do a analytical video comparing Finch's attractive film version of the Wilde trial and intercut it with edited the same lines from the cheap and nasty Robert Merely version and then edited with that later 1997 version.

He avoided comedy after doing three in a row in 1955.

One painfully clunky Glynis Johns comedy called 'Josephine and Men' and another semi-offensive comedy about Jewish antique-dealers called 'Make Me an Offer'.

But 'Simon and Laura' was charming with the equally-charming Kay Kendall.

Finch and Kendall had an affair before she moved on to Rex Harrison.

[quote] … an affair…

'Cocktails and laughter, But what comes after?

NOBODY knows!'

[quote] There was such sadness about him.

I would call it 'gravitas'.

He radiated strength of character even though he was of small stature and a had a thin, hairless chest.

He succeeded in bringing in nobility to the role of the doomed ship's-captain. He wasn't filming on location in Argentina but still brought strength while standing in a studio set.

Murray

R46 I assume his wife was happy to receive the American Academy Award but Peter Finch said way back at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival—

[quote] The festivals are just a joke – a film-selling 'racket' which offers the chance for vulgar display and reckless extravagance. They serve no cultural purpose, and the awards don't mean a thing.

Isn't he referring to the Cannes Film Festival awards r68 and those.

From stuff I've read he really wanted that Oscar and was in LA doing interviews to get it. (Which bothered William Holden who thought Finch should have been in supporting actor and he should have been winning lead.) That would have been all 4 oscars for one movie.

^ Holden was a drunk.

Actors are PAID to do publicity as part of their contract. These interviews are an absolute pain to do and watch.

R69 Very True. Peter was obsessed with getting that Oscar.

From Finch Bloody Finch book :

"Very soon after the completion of Network , at the beginning of August to be precise, the possibility of all four of its stars winning Academy Awards began to present itself strongly in their thoughts as well as in the thoughts of everyone connected with the film.

Peter had always taken awards in his stride , But What had happened around that time to reverse Peter’s casual, off-hand stand about the awards? What had changed him overnight from reluctant to keen, from keen to determined, and from determined to obsessed with the desire — as Eletha was — to win for that year?

Eletha and Peter had learned through the grapevine that MGM was planning to enter Peter not in the Best Actor category, but in the Best Supporting Actor category. Peter’s blood was up. Howard Beale a supporting part? In a word, no. MGM must be made to put him in his rightful category and Peter must show them that he was prepared to fight for Best Actor. More — that he was determined to win.

Says Mike Maslansky, “Peter wanted to win that Oscar. It was an obsession with him. And we went to all lengths, let me tell you, during the period I was engaged. Between August and January, Peter must have done three hundred interviews with foreign and domestic media — radio, television, the works. Nobody, but nobody was missed. And there was no one Peter refused to talk to.

Though no one has yet been able to figure out whether Academy Awards are based on merit, money or the popularity of a particular actor at the time — there are just too many variables — the short answer a film studio would give you is: popularity based on publicity.

Peter was mostly in high spirits during these trips. There was, however, one upsetting incident that occurred in October in New York in the Finches’ suite at the Pierre that caught Mike completely off-guard and perturbed him for a very long time. He says, “Peter and I were sitting there and I can’t honestly say what brought it on — whether something had made him angry, or he was exhausted, or he wasn’t feeling well, but suddenly out of nowhere it seemed to me, he turned white with rage and then launched into this speech about the evils of the business world and how the business people in the movies corrupt the artists. Then it was all over and never referred to again.”

R71

[quote] Mike Maslansky

PR agent

You have to give Peter Finch much credit, he took on that part in "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" that his peers wouldn't touch with a barge pole.

I don't know why I find this picture funny. Peter Finch with Mick Jagger

Finch went on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in January 1977 to plug Network and promote his own Oscar chances. After the appearance he went back to his hotel and died the following morning.

Did Miss Dunaway campaign hard for her Oscar. In her acceptance speech she's so humble..."I didn't think this would come so soon."

But in her book she says she thought she stood a chance both of the previous times she was nominated. (At least with Chinatown, I'm not 100 percent positive but I think she was hoping for one for Bonnie and Clyde too.)

Faye's Oscar came just in time - she was never nominated again.

Ben Chaplin reminds me of the late Peter Finch.

Not exceptionally good-looking and not quite a movie star.

R14 Typical anecdote retailed by Irish drunkards.