James Finlayson (actor)

For other people named James Finlayson, see James Finlayson (disambiguation).

James Finlayson
Finlayson in 1923
Born
James Henderson Finlayson

(1887-08-27)27 August 1887
Larbert, Stirlingshire, Scotland
Died9 October 1953(1953-10-09) (aged 66)
Los Angeles, California, US
Occupations
  • Actor
  • comedian
Years active1910–1951
Spouse
Emily Cora Gilbert
​
(m. 1919)​

James Henderson Finlayson (27 August 1887 – 9 October 1953) was a Scottish actor who worked in both silent and sound comedies. Balding, with a fake moustache,[1] he had many trademark comic mannerisms—including his squinting, outraged double-take reactions, and his characteristic exclamation: "D'ooooooh!" He is the best remembered comic foil of Laurel and Hardy.

Finlayson was known by a variety of nicknames. According to Laurel and Hardy scholar Randy Skretvedt, he "called himself Jimmy, was known around the lot as Jim and is usually referred to today as 'Fin'"[2]—a truncated version of his surname, as author John McCabe also noted in his 1961 biography Mr. Laurel & Mr. Hardy.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference mit102 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Skretvedt, p. 77