Frank received Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations for his performance as William Shakespeare’s Iago in Stuart Burge’s 1965 film of Laurence Olivier’s staging of Othello. He also won the Best Actor Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. He later essayed the definitive screen portrayal of Alexandre Dumas’ musketeer Porthos in three movies for director Richard Lester: The Three Musketeers (1974), The Four Musketeers (1975) and The Return of the Musketeers (1989). Frank’s many other films include The Longest Day; Tony Richardson’s The Lonliness of the Long Distance Runner; Martin Ritt’s The Molly Maguires; Bob Clark’s Murder by Decree; Alan Bridges’ The Return of the Soldier (for which he recieved a BAFTA Award nomination); Franco Zeffrelli’s Sparrow; and Eric Styles’ Dreaming of Joseph Lees; and most recently Roman Polanski’s multi-award winning The Pianist and Norma Jewison’s The Statement. His similarly extensive television projects have earned him two BAFTA Awards, for his performances in The Death of Adolf Hitler (starring as Hitler, with Rex Firkin directing); The Adventures of Don Quixote (as Sancho Panza, opposite Rex Harrison, for director Alvin Rakoff); the ground breaking Bouquet of Barbed Wire and Another Bouquet; 84 Charing Cross Road; and recently the critically acclaimed series The Sins. Born in Farnworth, Lancashire, Finlay had already begun performing on stage when he earned the Sir James Knott Scholarship at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Since then he has led theatre companies in London and on Broadway. He was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1984 New Year’s Honours List, and was presented with his CBE by the Queen in February1984.

Filmography

• 2015Fifty Shades of Erotica — (archive footage)
• Merlin — Anhora
• Rosamunde Pilcher's Four Seasons — Alexander 'Alex' Combe
• 2007The Waiting Room — Roger
• Johnny and the Bomb — Tom Maxwell
• Life Begins — Eric Thornhill
• 2004Lighthouse Hill — Alfred
• 2003Eroica — Josef Haydn
• The Lost Prince — Asquith
• 2003The Statement — Commissaire Vionnet
• 2002The Pianist — Father
• 2001Station Jim — Riorden Snr
• 2001The Martins — Mr Heath
• 2000For My Baby — Rudi Wittfogel
• Longitude — Admiral Wagner
• The Sins — Uncle Irwin Green
• 1999Dreaming of Joseph Lees — Father
• The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns — General Bulstrode
• How Do You Want Me?
• 1998Stiff Upper Lips — Hudson Junior
• 1997Limited Edition — John Rathbone
• 1997Romance and Rejection (So This Is Romance?) — Mike's Dad
• The Grand — Edward Lawrence
• 1995A Mind to Murder — Professor Etherege
• 1995The Miracle of Medjugorje — Monsignor
• Charlemagne, le prince à cheval — Alcuin
• 1994Sparrow — Father Nunzio
• The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes — Professor Coram / Sergius
• 1994The Voyeur — Nino Rolfe
• An Exchange of Fire — Pavel Rhele
• 1992Cthulhu Mansion — Chandu
• Heartbeat — Howard Franklin
• 1992Stalin — Sergei
• 1992The Other Side — Arthur Conan Doyle
• 1991Mountain of Diamonds — Garrick
• Mountain of Diamonds — Garrick
• Prime Suspect — Arnold Tennison
• The Burning Shore — Garrick
• 1990King of the Wind — Edward Coke
• 1989The Return of the Musketeers — Porthos
• 1987Casanova — Razetta
• Erebus: The Aftermath — Justice Peter Mahon
• Lovejoy — Harold Plumb
• 1985In the Secret State — Frank Strange
• 1985Lifeforce — Dr. Hans Fallada
• 1985Nineteen Nineteen — Sigmund Freud (voice)
• Screen Two — Frank Strange
• 1984A Christmas Carol — Jacob Marley
• 1984Arch of Triumph — Col. Boris Morosov
• 1984Royal Variety Performance 1984
• 1984Sakharov — Kravtsov
• Sherlock Holmes — Professor Coram / Sergius
• Blackadder — The Witchsmeller Pursuivant
• 1983The Key — Nino Rolfe
• 1983The Ploughman's Lunch — Matthew Fox
• 1983The Return of the Soldier — William Grey
• The Spanish Civil War — Self - Narrator, Vocals
• 1982Enigma — Canarsky
• 1982Mona — Captain Manson
• 1981Dear Brutus — Dearth
• 1981Tales from the Thousand and One Nights — Shahriar
• 1979Murder by Decree — Inspector Lestrade
• 1979Ring of Darkness — Paul
• Tales of the Unexpected — Arthur Pearson
• 1978Betzi — Napoleon
• 1978Saturday, Sunday, Monday — Peppino
• 1978The Thief of Baghdad — Abu Bakar
• 1978The Wild Geese — Fr. Geoghagen
• Another Bouquet
• 1977Count Dracula — Abraham van Helsing
• Count Dracula — Professor Van Helsing
• Bouquet of Barbed Wire — Peter Manson
• Laurence Olivier Presents — Peppino
• 197584 Charing Cross Road — Frank Doel
• 1975Van der Valk and the Scapegoat — Commissaris Simon "Piet" van der Valk
• 1974The Four Musketeers — Porthos
• 1974Van der Valk: Gun Before Butter — Commissaris Simon "Piet" van der Valk
• 1973Shaft in Africa — Vincent Amafi
• 1973The Adventures Of Don Quixote — Sancho Panza
• 1973The Death of Adolf Hitler — Adolf Hitler
• 1973The Three Musketeers — Porthos / O'Reilly
• 1973Van der Valk and the Rich — Commissaris Simon "Piet" van der Valk
• 1972Danny Jones
• 1972Neither the Sea Nor the Sand — George Dabernon
• 1972Sitting Target — Marty Gold
• 1972The Merchant of Venice — Shylock
• 1971Assault — Det. Chief Supt. Velyan
• Casanova — Giovanni Jacopo Casanova
• 1971Gumshoe — William Ginley
• 1970Cromwell — John Carter
• Play for Today — Dearth
• 1970The Body — Narrator
• 1970The Lie — Andrew Firth
• 1970The Molly Maguires — Davies
• 1969Blood of the Lamb — Albert
• ITV Saturday Night Theatre — Wilfred Tilley, Adolf Hitler
• 1969Julius Caesar — Brutus
• 1969The Piano Tuner — Wilfred Tilley
• 1969This Happy Breed — Frank Gibbons
• 1968Inspector Clouseau — Supt. Weaver
• 1968The Shoes of the Fisherman — Igor Bounin
• 1968Twisted Nerve — Henry Durnley
• 1967I'll Never Forget What's'isname — Chaplain
• Les Misérables — Jean Valjean
• 1967Much Ado About Nothing — Dogberry
• 1967Robbery — Robinson
• 1967The Jokers — Harrassed Man
• 1967The Spare Tyres — Council foreman
• NET Playhouse — Marcus Brutus
• 1966The Deadly Bees — H.W. Manfred
• 1966The Sandwich Man — Second Fish Porter
• 1965A Study in Terror — Inspector Lestrade
• BBC Play of the Month — Marcus Brutus, Shylock, Sancho Panza, Voltaire
• 1965Othello — Iago
• 1965The Wild Affair — Drunk
• Thirty-Minute Theatre — The Man
• 1964Hot Enough for June — British Embassy Porter
• 1964The Comedy Man — Prout
• The Wednesday Play — Albert
• Theatre 625 — Dr Dee
• 1963Doctor in Distress — Corsetiere
• 1963The Informers — Leon Sale
• 1962Life for Ruth — Teddy's Father
• 1962Private Potter — Capt. Patterson
• Studio 4 — Fernand Destayac
• 1962The Hard Knock — Franco Angelo
• 1962The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner — Booking Office Clerk (uncredited)
• 1962The Longest Day — Pvt. Coke (uncredited)
• Z-Cars
• Drama 61-67 — Albert Hope
• The Younger Generation — Ross Mayer, George Tremaine
• You Can't Win — George Lander
• Target Luna — Conway Henderson
• Armchair Theatre — Franco Angelo, Bosun, Patrick Kelly, David Field
• Sunday Night Theatre — Louis

Appearances as themselves (3)

• 2018Nothing Like a Dame — Self (archive footage)
• 1985The Making Of Lifeforce — Self
• Wogan — Self