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Strolling Player: The Life and Career of Albert Finney
Albert Finney was a Salford-born, homework-hating bookie’s son who broke the social barriers of British film. He did his share of roistering, and yet outlived his contemporaries and dodged typecasting to become a five-time Oscar nominee and one of our most durable international stars. Bon vivant, perennial rebel, self-effacing character actor, charismatic charmer, mentor to a generation of working-class artists, a byword for professionalism, lover of horseflesh and female flesh – Albert Finney is all these things and more. Gabriel Hershman’s colourful and riveting account of Finney’s life and work, drawing on interviews with many of his directors and co-stars, examines how one of Britain’s greatest actors built a glittering career without sacrificing his integrity.
- GenresBiography
288 pages, Hardcover
Published January 13, 2017
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18 people want to read
About the author
Gabriel Hershman
11 books2 followersMy biographies of British stars Ian Hendry, Albert Finney and Nicol Williamson (available for pre-order) are all available to buy here.
Please do review them if you like them. That makes it possible to keep writing such books. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gabriel-Hers...
Please do review them if you like them. That makes it possible to keep writing such books. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gabriel-Hers...
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 8, 2019
"A glooming peace this morning with it brings,
the sun, for sorrow, will not show his head..." (William Shakespeare)
Mr. Albert Finney has died at the age of 82.
It is a sad day indeed, Mr. Shakespeare.
Mr. Finney was one of my favorite actors and I will miss him a great deal.
This biography is a must-have for any fan of Finney and offers an inside look into his career and his personal life.
In the acknowledgements of this book, the author wrote that his young son David asked him: "Is the Albert Hall named after Albert Finney?" And the father of the young David and author of this fine biography answered: "of course it is!".
Kudos to Mr. Gabriel Hershman.
Goodbye, Mr. Finney.
the sun, for sorrow, will not show his head..." (William Shakespeare)
Mr. Albert Finney has died at the age of 82.
It is a sad day indeed, Mr. Shakespeare.
Mr. Finney was one of my favorite actors and I will miss him a great deal.
This biography is a must-have for any fan of Finney and offers an inside look into his career and his personal life.
In the acknowledgements of this book, the author wrote that his young son David asked him: "Is the Albert Hall named after Albert Finney?" And the father of the young David and author of this fine biography answered: "of course it is!".
Kudos to Mr. Gabriel Hershman.
Goodbye, Mr. Finney.
March 28, 2019
Although he had a long list of hit films that he appeared in from the 1960's until well into the new century - Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), Tom Jones (1963), Two For The Road (1967), Murder On The Orient Express (1974), The Dresser (1983), Millers Crossing (1990), Erin Brockovich (2000), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), and Skyfall (2012) - his frequent returns to the English stage and his passion for living his life on his own terms (which included frequent hiatus's to just live his life and not chase stardom) made Albert Finney less known with the general public than many actors of his generation. The quality of his work, however, was just as great and, in some cases, greater than his contemporaries. His democratic nature and ability to talk to anyone made him far more down-to-earth than many. This was a man who lived well but considered himself no better than the next man. Hershman's unauthorized biography presents Finney in all his complexity as a bonvivant rather than a roaring boy, who was one of the finest actors of the age. - BH.
June 22, 2025
The star who steered his own ship.
Many Americans remember Albert Finney in the hit movie "Tom Jones", the role that made him a millionaire at 27. He thought the movie was silly, but the money gave him the freedom to pick his work and to take long breaks between jobs to travel. To the end of his long life, he moved between the stage (both in England and in the U.S.) and movies, with time off to indulge his interest in horse racing.
If Finney had been born earlier, he never would have achieved his exalted position in English theater. Before the social revolution of the early 1960's, English actors came from the south and from the upper classes. An actor who had the misfortune to be born in northern England or into a working class family either faked a plummy accent and upper class mannerisms or had no chance of succeeding as an actor.
In the early 1960's, playwrights moved away from drawing room plays and toward depictions of working class people, including northerners. Finney was a proud northerner (born near Manchester) from a working class family. He never changed his accent or his personality. He played drunks and factory workers, military officers and gay recluses, playboys and revolutionaries, all with the same macho swagger. He set a precedent by playing Shakespeare with his own northern accent.
To some extent this book is a puff piece. The author is an unabashed fan of Finney's work, but he also has extensive knowledge of the English entertainment industry in the second half of the 20th century. He writes about Finney's career with great authority. He explains Finney's success in terms of the world he was born into and the world he occupied as a popular and respected actor.
Finney was a man of contradictions. He came from a loving family and had a strong bond with his father, yet he abandoned his first wife and had little contact with his only son. When they connected as adults, Finney saw the young man as simply another friend.
He objected to being type-cast as a theater actor or a film actor, or to being limited to certain kinds of roles. When his career was at its peak, he would disappear for months, traveling or living in places that interested him. He was capable of hard work, but also enjoyed leisure. His love of race horses was as important to him as his acting. The difference was that one cost money and one brought in money.
Probably his most appealing characteristic was his habit (which never changed) of treating all people (stars or servants) with dignity and respect. He seemed proud of his humble beginnings and refused to be forced into the role of a plutocrat. Characteristically, he refused to accept the role of successor to Lawrence Olivier and he refused a knighthood from the Queen. Good for him!
He was liked by both men and women. He never achieved a life-long romance, but never seemed to feel the loss. If the relationship had run its course, he was content to move on. The author interviewed many of Finney's colleagues, friends, and lovers and it's astonishing how few of them had anything bad to say about him. Perhaps the fact that he accepted people as they were made others extend the same courtesy to him.
I found the first part of this book fascinating as it traced the cataclysmic changes in English theater and explained Finney's part in those changes. Later, it becomes more of a role-by-role examination of Finney's work. Not being either a theater or a movie buff, I skimmed that part. Still, I'm glad I read this book. I only saw Finney in one role, a made-for-television movie called "A Rather English Marriage." I thought he was good, but was more impressed with Tom Courtney's understated acting.
Finney was a giant in a generation that produced many fine actors. Some ruined their careers with alcohol and some became more celebrities than working actors. Finney, both as a young man and as an older one, knew what he wanted from life and refused to be blown off course. For that alone he deserves our respect.
Many Americans remember Albert Finney in the hit movie "Tom Jones", the role that made him a millionaire at 27. He thought the movie was silly, but the money gave him the freedom to pick his work and to take long breaks between jobs to travel. To the end of his long life, he moved between the stage (both in England and in the U.S.) and movies, with time off to indulge his interest in horse racing.
If Finney had been born earlier, he never would have achieved his exalted position in English theater. Before the social revolution of the early 1960's, English actors came from the south and from the upper classes. An actor who had the misfortune to be born in northern England or into a working class family either faked a plummy accent and upper class mannerisms or had no chance of succeeding as an actor.
In the early 1960's, playwrights moved away from drawing room plays and toward depictions of working class people, including northerners. Finney was a proud northerner (born near Manchester) from a working class family. He never changed his accent or his personality. He played drunks and factory workers, military officers and gay recluses, playboys and revolutionaries, all with the same macho swagger. He set a precedent by playing Shakespeare with his own northern accent.
To some extent this book is a puff piece. The author is an unabashed fan of Finney's work, but he also has extensive knowledge of the English entertainment industry in the second half of the 20th century. He writes about Finney's career with great authority. He explains Finney's success in terms of the world he was born into and the world he occupied as a popular and respected actor.
Finney was a man of contradictions. He came from a loving family and had a strong bond with his father, yet he abandoned his first wife and had little contact with his only son. When they connected as adults, Finney saw the young man as simply another friend.
He objected to being type-cast as a theater actor or a film actor, or to being limited to certain kinds of roles. When his career was at its peak, he would disappear for months, traveling or living in places that interested him. He was capable of hard work, but also enjoyed leisure. His love of race horses was as important to him as his acting. The difference was that one cost money and one brought in money.
Probably his most appealing characteristic was his habit (which never changed) of treating all people (stars or servants) with dignity and respect. He seemed proud of his humble beginnings and refused to be forced into the role of a plutocrat. Characteristically, he refused to accept the role of successor to Lawrence Olivier and he refused a knighthood from the Queen. Good for him!
He was liked by both men and women. He never achieved a life-long romance, but never seemed to feel the loss. If the relationship had run its course, he was content to move on. The author interviewed many of Finney's colleagues, friends, and lovers and it's astonishing how few of them had anything bad to say about him. Perhaps the fact that he accepted people as they were made others extend the same courtesy to him.
I found the first part of this book fascinating as it traced the cataclysmic changes in English theater and explained Finney's part in those changes. Later, it becomes more of a role-by-role examination of Finney's work. Not being either a theater or a movie buff, I skimmed that part. Still, I'm glad I read this book. I only saw Finney in one role, a made-for-television movie called "A Rather English Marriage." I thought he was good, but was more impressed with Tom Courtney's understated acting.
Finney was a giant in a generation that produced many fine actors. Some ruined their careers with alcohol and some became more celebrities than working actors. Finney, both as a young man and as an older one, knew what he wanted from life and refused to be blown off course. For that alone he deserves our respect.
June 5, 2021
I enjoyed the trip down memory lane and learned a few things along the way but it doesn't go into great detail. I wanted more. Perhaps it's Finney's reticence to do interviews or to talk a lot about his work. That said, this book is a fine read and I do recommend it.
March 31, 2021
A superb biography, written shortly before the actor's death in 2019. Well researched, it would be a very entertaining read for any film buff and a must for any fan of Finney himself. Its clear that the author is just such a fan, but he never allows the book to become hagiographic - while the actor's many achievements are rightly lauded, his not so successful parts are never simply brushed over. The impression you get is of a highly skilled, very professional and much loved performer who was absolutely determined to plough his own farrow and for whom wealth and fame were merely by products of what he loved doing, acting.
July 14, 2020
Anyone interested in acting or even theatre/cinema should read Strolling Player. This book is not your normal gossipy Hollywood tell all biography, this book is about the man and his craft. Finney is down to earth and you can see that fame has not spoiled the man, he has chosen his roles from quite early on in his career (right or wrong) and as he says "Plenty of people have been ruined by Hollywood. I want to be an actor, not a marketable property like a detergent". A cracking book and a very likeable actor.
September 29, 2017
Excellent biography of one of the finest actors of his generation. Entertaining, well-written and full of insight, it is also handsomely-produced by the History Press. Definitely a good read!
November 18, 2023
A well-researched biography of the star of stage and screen.
February 27, 2017
Albert Finney first came to prominence in films like Saturday Night And Sunday Morning, and Tom Jones. The son of a Salford bookie, Finney was part of a remarkable generation of actors including Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, Oliver Reed and Richard Harris. But while Finney had his wild side, biographer Gabriel Hershman reveals he never shared their appetite for self-destruction. He has worked both on stage and screen, and is considered an 'actors' actor.' No less than Laurence Olivier named Finney as the cream of the crop. Equally at home as a leading man and in character parts, Finney has never courted publicity and prefers to be known as a 'strolling player.' Known for treating colleagues as equals, he is also a favourite with women (including famous beauties like Audrey Hepburn and Anouk Aimee.) In recent years he's starred opposite Julia Roberts (in Erin Brockovich) and played a dying Winston Churchill. In this illuminating biography, Hershman depicts a refreshingly good-humoured star, and a life lived resolutely on his own terms.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews