James_Bond_007_218 — 19 years ago(November 08, 2006 09:52 PM)

Peter Finch is one of my favourite actors and though he died at a relatively young age, he blessed the screen with some truly outstanding perfomances. With Network he went out at the height of his career and I don't think that many other actors had penultimate performances such like his.
Network was one of his best, but personally, I think that he was best in Sunday Bloody Sunday in which he gave a deep and insightful performance as a Jewish doctor in a same sex relationship. Another film in which Finch does extremely well was Flight of the Phoenix. In the film, Finch plays a British army officer who was as British as you can get and it remains another favourite of mine.
The Red Tent, which was similar in retrospect, had Finch playing Russian General Nobile, the leader of a doomed exhibition to the south pole. It was yet another insightful performance and though the film wasn't very well received, it is one of Finch's most complex characterizations.
Finally, one film that I cannot fail to mention is The Trials of Oscar Wilde, which I think is another of his finest performances. Never have I seen an actor truly immerse themselves into the part that they play and I believe that Finch was one of the finest actors who ever lived.