Albert Finney, the veteran British actor whose larger-than-life performances left an indelible mark on film and in the theatre, has died at the age of 82 following a brief illness, Variety reports.
A five-time Academy Award nominee for Best Actor, Finney boasted a screen career that spanned more than six decades. His break-out performance in 1963’s Tom Jones garnered his first Oscar nomination, which was followed by nods for Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, The Dresser, Under the Volcano, and Erin Brockovich.
He appeared on Broadway twice in the 1960s, making his debut in John Osborne’s 1964 drama Luther, and later originating the role of Bri in Peter Nichols’ A Day in the Death of Joe Egg in 1968. He was Tony-nominated for both.
A new generation of audiences encountered Finney as the tender-hearted billionaire Oliver Warbucks in the 1982 screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Annie.
He earned acclaim from critics and audiences for playing a gay, closeted bus-driver in the Dublin-set A Man of No Importance in 1994 and again in 2003 for his performance as a fading patriarch in Tim Burton’s Big Fish.
Finney's final screen appearance was the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall.
