Veteran screen star Frank Finlay died from heart failure after a short illness at his home in Weybridge, Surrey, on Saturday.
The actor has been remembered as a “damn fine actor” by his family after his death aged 89. Finlay’s career spanned more than six decades and saw him gracing the stage and screen and starring opposite some of Britain’s biggest names.
He appeared alongside Oliver Reed and Richard Chamberlain in The Three Musketeers in 1973. Finlay was nominated for an Oscar, Bafta, and Golden Globe for his portrayal of Iago in the 1965 film of Shakespeare’s Othello, starring opposite Sir Laurence Olivier.
A founder-member of the National Theatre, he also starred in the 1976 television series Bouquet of Barbed Wire, regarded as one of the most controversial dramas of the era, and played Casanova in a TV series in 1971.
He was made a CBE in 1984. Widely respected in his profession, his family said he was “renowned for his kindness and generosity”, adding that his death was an “inestimable loss to the acting world”.
