R.I.P. Albert Finney

British actor Albert Finney died last week at age 82. He was a star of stage and screen for six decades.

His passing started me thinking about three of his excellent early movies.

Finney shot to stardom in 1960 playing the surly Arthur Seaton in the gritty, “kitchen-sink” film, “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.” The movie was adapted from Alan Sillitoe’s “angry-young-man” novel and directed by Karel Reisz.

International superstardom came to Finney in 1963 when he played the title role in “Tom Jones.” The saucy, happy-go-lucky movie directed by Tony Richardson was adapted from Henry Fielding’s 18th-century novel.

In 1967, he co-starred with Audrey Hepburn in the sophisticated  “Two for the Road." The film was written by Frederic Raphael and directed by Stanley Donen. I will have more to say about it in a future post.