Peter Finch

This article is about the actor. For the poet, see Peter Finch (poet).

Peter Finch
Finch in 1955
Born
Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch

(1916-09-28)28 September 1916
South Kensington, London, England
Died14 January 1977(1977-01-14) (aged 60)
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Resting placeHollywood Forever Cemetery
OccupationActor
Years active1934–1977
Spouses
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​
(m. 1943; div. 1959)​
​
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(m. 1959; div. 1965)​
Eletha Barrett
​
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(m. 1973)​
Children4; including Charles Finch
AwardsSee below
Military career
Allegiance Australia
Service / branch Australian Army
Years of service1941–1945
Rank Sergeant
Unit2/1st Field Regiment (Australia)
Battles / wars

Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (28 September 1916 – 14 January 1977) was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio.[1][2]

Born in London, he emigrated to Australia at the age of ten and was raised in Sydney, where he worked in vaudeville and radio before becoming a star of Australian films.[3] Joining the Old Vic Company after World War II, he achieved widespread critical success in Britain for both stage and screen performances. One of British cinema's most celebrated leading men of the time,[4] Finch won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role five times, and won a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of crazed television anchorman Howard Beale in the 1976 film Network.

According to the British Film Institute, "it is arguable that no other actor ever chalked up such a rewarding CV in British films, and he accumulated the awards to bolster this view".[5] He died only two months before the 49th Academy Awards, making him the first person to win a posthumous Oscar in an acting category. As of 2023, the only other person to have done so was fellow Australian Heath Ledger.

  1. ^ Obituary Variety, 19 January 1977, p. 94.
  2. ^ Britain, I.M. (1996). "Frederick George Peter Finch (1916–1977)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 14. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 27 July 2008.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference filmref was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "BFI Screenonline: Finch, Peter (1916–1977) Biography". www.screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).