Academy Award-nominated UK actor Frank Finlay dies at 89

Finlay starred in “The Three Musketeers” of the ’70s opposite Oliver Reed, Raquel Welch, Richard Chamberlain and Michael York.

He played Iago to Olivier’s Othello onstage and in a 1965 film, for which he was Oscar-nominated as best supporting actor.

Awarded a CBE in 1984, Finlay told The Independent in a 1998 interview that he didn’t think he was “high-profile enough” to have earned a knighthood. In his last years It was a privilege for me to hold his hand as we walked to the mulberry tree after dinner and offered prayers to St Thomas More.

Writing on Twitter, Sir Roger Moore called Finlay a “great co-star” in the 1978 war film The Wild Geese.

Singer David Essex tweeted: “So sorry that dear Frank Finlay passed away yesterday”.

“Oh Lord, and Frank Finlay too”. He was a wonderful actor and a gentleman.

On hearing of his death, comedian and Coronation Street actor Les Dennis tweeted: “Saw Frank Finlay on stage in Saturday Sunday Monday. As Bligh in Mutiny he was inspiring RIP”.

More recently, Finlay was seen in ITV’s Prime Suspect, playing the father of Helen Mirren’s character Jane Tennison, and the Caroline Quentin-led TV series Life Begins.

Actor Colin Baker wrote: “Very sad to hear we have lost the lovely, gentle, talented Frank Finlay”.

Born in 1926 in Lancashire, Finlay landed his first professional role in Scotland in 1951, before winning a scholarship to London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He also appeared in episodes of Black Adder, played Voltaire in the BBC production of Candide, and guested on an episode of the British fantasy series Merlin. He was superb in Filumena, at the Lyric with Joan Plowright, directed by Zefirelli.