- published: 11 Oct 2011
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Jon Finch (born 2 March 1941, Caterham, Surrey) is an English actor who has performed in many Shakespearean plays.
Finch's highest profile roles have been the lead in Roman Polanski's version of Shakespeare's Macbeth (1971), and as a down on his luck ex-RAF pilot falsely imprisoned for murder in Alfred Hitchcock's penultimate film Frenzy (1972). In the early phase of his career he also appeared in The Vampire Lovers (1970), Lady Caroline Lamb (1972), The Final Programme (1973),
At the end of the decade his roles in films included Death on the Nile (1978), and Breaking Glass (1980). Finch was cast as Kane in Ridley Scott's Alien (1979), but had to drop out because of his diabetes; John Hurt was cast in his place. Finch was the original choice for a role taken by Martin Shaw in the British television series The Professionals (Shaw previously had played Banquo to Finch's Macbeth in Polanski's film). He pulled out at last minute, claiming that he "couldn't possibly play a policeman".
During 1978-79, Finch played the role of Henry Bolingbroke in the BBC Television Shakespeare productions of Richard II, Henry IV, Part I and Henry IV, Part II, which also featured Derek Jacobi, John Gielgud, David Gwillim and Anthony Quayle in principal roles. In 1981, he played Luke the Evangelist in the television film Peter and Paul, which featured Robert Foxworth and Anthony Hopkins in the title roles. Occasional film roles include an appearance in Darklands (1997) and a small role as the Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem in the Ridley Scott film Kingdom of Heaven (2005).