Peter Finch was a British character actor whose career spanned from the 1930s through to the 1970s. He started acting on the stage in Australia and on the radio. He then met Laurence Olivier who encouraged him to move to London and he work on the London stage before getting roles in films. The first film role was Train Of Events. He worked on Walt Disney's production The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men and his performance gained critical acclaim. This was followed by the musical The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan. The Heart Of The Matter was an adaptation of a Graham Greene novel. Elephant walk is a glossy film set in Ceylon opposite Elzabeth Taylor.
Father Brown was a commercial success and he played Father Brown's adversary opposite Alec Guinness. He played another villan in The Dark Avenger opposite Errol Flynn. After having been under contract to Laurence Olivier, in 1955 he signed up with The Rank Organisation and appeared in A Town Like Alice which was filmed back in Australia. The Shiralee and was also filmed and set in Australia and one of his favourite films. Windom's Way was onther film set in the colonial era whilst Kidnapped was a return to historical drama and a return to Disney. In The Nun's Story he played opposite Audrey Hepburn. The Pumpkin Eater was a contemporary marital drama written by Harold Pinter.
The Flight Of The Phoepix was a return to world war 2 drama and the a return to historical drama in an adaptation of Far From The Madding Crowd. Sunday Bloody Sunday was ground breaking in its portrayal of homosexuality and gained him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. In Network to played the news anchor having a breakdown on live television and was a performance that won him the Best Actor Oscar, but he died before it was awared and was the first actor to be given an Oscar postmously.
