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M. Britain"},"datePublished":"1996-01-01","description":"Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (1916-1977), actor, was born on 28 September 1916 at South Kensington, London.","headline":"Finch, Frederick George Peter (1916–1977)","keywords":"Frederick George Peter Finch, biography","image":"https://adb.anu.edu.au/uploads/obituaries/10179/peter-finch-1.jpg","isPartOf":{"@type":"Book","bookEdition":14,"bookFormat":"https://schema.org/Hardcover","datePublished":1996,"description":"The Australian Dictionary of Biography contains concise, informative and fascinating descriptions of the lives of significant and representative persons in Australian history.","image":"https://adb.anu.edu.au/images/covers/volume14.png","isbn":"052284717X","name":"Australian Dictionary of Biography","url":"https://adb.anu.edu.au","copyrightHolder":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Australian National University","url":"https://www.anu.edu.au"},"copyrightYear":1996,"editor":{"@type":"Person","givenName":"John","familyName":"Ritchie","name":"John Ritchie"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Melbourne University Press","url":"https://www.mup.com.au"}}} </script> <title>Biography - Frederick George Peter Finch - Australian Dictionary of Biography</title> <script async src="https://ssl.google-analytics.com/ga.js"></script> <script> var _gaq = _gaq || []; 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M. Britain</a></p> <div class="publish-notice publish-notice--major-project" style="background-color:#dee9f2;color:#153449;"> <p>This article was published:</p> <ul> <li> in the <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biographies/project/?name=australian-dictionary-biography-volume-14" style="color:#905d27;"> <span class="publish-notice__project-name">Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 14</span> </a> , 1996 </li> <li>online in 2006</li> </ul> </div> <div class="biographyContent textContent" id="17985">  <div class="print"> <div class="mainPic"><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/23216181" title="Peter Finch, by John Vickers, 1951"><img src="/uploads/obituaries/10179/thumbs/peter-finch-1_246x550.jpg" alt="Peter Finch, by John Vickers, 1951" width='246' height='309' /></a> </div> <p class="caption"><span class="captionName">Peter Finch</span>, by John Vickers, 1951</p><p class="credit"><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/23216181">National Library of Australia, 28558192</a></p></div> <p>Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (1916-1977), actor, was born on 28 September 1916 at South Kensington, London. His putative father was George Ingle Finch, a research chemist from Australia. George was attached to the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, served with the Royal Field Artillery in World War I and later became a famous mountaineer. Peter's mother was English-born Alicia Gladys Finch, née Fisher. Her husband divorced her in 1920 on the grounds of her adultery with Wentworth Edward Dallas Campbell, an Indian Army officer and Peter's real father. The full circumstances of his birth were not revealed to Finch until he was in his mid-forties.</p> <p>George and his sister Dorothy had assumed custody of Peter before the divorce. They subsequently dispatched him to their mother Laura who presided over a salon of artists and musicians at Vaucresson, near Paris. Abandoning Continental sophistications for sub-continental simplicities, in 1925 she embarked on a pilgrimage to Adyar, the Theosophical community near Madras, India, with Peter in train. His waif-like aura and wafer-thin body proved irresistible, at least in the spiritual sense, for Adyar's twin panjandrums Dr Annie Besant and <a title="Leadbeater, Charles Webster (1854 - 1934)" href="leadbeater-charles-webster-7132">'Bishop' Charles Leadbeater</a>. From Dr Besant, Peter had lessons in meditation; 'Bishop' Leadbeater was more noted for his lessons in masturbation. Early in 1926, not unwillingly, the young Finch (without his grandmother) joined a shipload of Theosophists bound for their Australian headquarters in Sydney.</p> <p>At their Garden School at Balmoral, Peter first learned to read and write English. He soon had to quit this progressive establishment when Laura's estranged husband Charles, a pillar of bourgeois rectitude, discovered his 'grandson's' existence in Sydney and removed him to the family home at Greenwich Point. Peter attended the local public school until 1929, and, over the next three years, North Sydney Intermediate Boys' High School. These institutions provided him with his earliest opportunities to show off his versatile dramatic talents. While working as a copy-boy for the <em>Sun</em>, he developed a taste for popular writing which might have developed into a career in journalism. He produced romantic verses, and yarns and sketches with a bush or army setting, several of which appeared in the <em>A.B.C. Weekly</em> in the early 1940s.</p> <p>Travelling from the age of 19 with the tent-shows of <a title="Sorlie, George Brown (1885 - 1948)" href="sorlie-george-brown-8585">George Sorlie</a>, Finch had played in both variety and legitimate theatre. His acting interests were nurtured by the small, semi-professional repertory companies in Sydney. From 1937 he was under contract to the Australian Broadcasting Commission and later sought by Macquarie Broadcasting Services Pty Ltd because of his adaptable accent and richly resonant voice which—according to one commentator—'dripped sex appeal'. He won Macquarie awards for the best radio actor in 1946 and 1947, worked as a producer and as a compere, and wrote scripts based on his own fiction.</p> <p>His luxuriantly wavy hair and his facial features—penetrating eyes, high cheekbones, tulip-shaped mouth, solid curving jawline—made him 'a natural' for the screen. He had taken prominent roles in several Australian feature films from the late 1930s, including <em>Dad and Dave Come to Town </em>(1938). Enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force on 2 June 1941, Finch served as a gunner in the 2nd/1st Anti-Aircraft Regiment in the Middle East (1941-42) and in Darwin (1942) where he entertained the troops with impromptu shows known as 'Finch's Follies'. He was then posted to concert parties throughout Australia and was granted leave to appear in some wartime documentaries for the Department of Information and in <a title="Chauvel, Charles Edward (1897 - 1959)" href="chauvel-charles-edward-5568">Charles Chauvel</a>'s feature film, <em>Rats of Tobruk</em> (1944). Promoted sergeant, he was director of the Army Theatre Unit at Pagewood, Sydney, when discharged medically unfit on 31 October 1945. At St Stephen's Anglican Church, Woollahra, on 21 April 1943 he had married the Russian ballerina Tamara Rechemcinc ('Tchinarova'), a principal dancer with the <a title="Borovansky, Edouard (1902 - 1959)" href="borovansky-edouard-9544">Borovansky</a> company; they were to have one daughter.</p> <p>After the war Finch kept up the tradition of touring theatre with the Mercury Mobile Players which performed in factories during the workers' lunch-hour. Its repertoire included serious drama and there was a theatre-school attached to it where Finch became a treasured teacher. He also prepared lectures on the history of Australian theatre for the Sydney University Dramatic Society. In a limited way, the Mercury enterprise provided an experimental model for an Australian national theatre. In August 1948 his performance in an English version of Molière's <em>Le Malade Imaginaire </em>so impressed the touring Sir Laurence (Lord) Olivier that he offered him a theatre contract, on the strength of which Finch left for London next year.</p> <p>Another early patron was the English director, Harry Watt, who persuaded Ealing Studios to give Finch his first part in British films (in <em>Train of Events, </em>1949). For a few years Finch successfully combined cinema with theatre, sharing the stage with the likes of Dame Edith Evans, (Sir) John Mills, Orson Welles and Claire Bloom. In addition, he worked for British Broadcasting Corporation radio and television programmes; but, after landing his first movie lead in the Hollywood production of <em>Elephant Walk </em>(1954), he concentrated almost exclusively on film.</p> <p>His talents as a film actor were as versatile as in radio and theatre, and gained him international recognition. In 1947 he had been assistant-director of a documentary on Arnhem Land Aborigines, <em>Primitive People </em>(1949), an experience which stood him in good stead when, in 1959, he wrote and directed a fictionalized documentary on a young boy's life on the Spanish island of Ibiza: entitled <em>The Day</em> (1960), it won him awards in 1961 at film festivals at Venice, Italy, and Cork, Ireland. Although he only returned briefly to Australia for the shooting of <em>The Shiralee </em>and <em>Robbery under Arms </em>(both released in 1957), Finch had already made himself into something of a symbol of Australian maleness through his appearance as <a title="Norway, Nevil Shute [Nevil Shute] (1899 - 1960)" href="norway-nevil-shute-11262">Nevil Shute</a>'s hero, Joe Harman, in <em>A Town like Alice </em>(1956). In this role he most embodied the world's idea of the 'typical' Australian man—lean, intrepid and laconic—and won the first of several British Film Academy awards for best actor. Yet both his face and his voice were sufficiently flexible to attract demand for a vast range of character types: he won British academy awards for his portrayal of the title character in <em>The Trials of Oscar Wilde</em> (1960) and of the homosexual Jewish doctor in <em>Sunday Bloody Sunday </em>(1971).</p> <p>Finch clearly radiated a catholic sensuality, though his character off the screen was quite assertively heterosexual. It was for his relationships, in his maturity, with a series of 'leading ladies' that he attained worldwide notoriety. An affair with Vivien Leigh, which began during the making of <em>Elephant Walk, </em>helped to precipitate the breakup of his marriage to Tamara. Following their divorce, he married a 25-year-old South African actress, Yolande Eileen Turnbull ('Turner'), on 4 July 1959 at the register office, Chelsea; they lived mainly in London and had a son and daughter. Press rumours in 1964 of a relationship with the singer Shirley Bassey proved the last straw for this marriage. Finch was to find greater stability in his relationship with Mavis 'Eletha' Barrett, with whom he lived from 1966 at her home in Jamaica; they had a daughter in 1969, were married in Rome on 9 November 1973 and remained together. Finch died of myocardial infarction on 14 January 1977 at Los Angeles, California, United States of America, and was buried in Hollywood Memorial Park. His wife and children survived him. Posthumously, he won British and American academy awards, as well as a Hollywood 'Golden Globe', for his role as the crazed television anchorman, Howard Beale, in <em>Network </em>(1976).</p> </div> <div class="infoList"> <h3>Select Bibliography</h3> <ul> <li>H. Porter, <em>Stars of Australian Stage and Screen </em>(Adel, 1965)</li><li>D. Shipman, <em>The Great Movie Stars </em>(Lond, 1972)</li><li>T. Faulkner, <em>Peter Finch </em>(Lond, 1979)</li><li>E. Dundy, <em>Finch</em>, <em>Bloody Finch</em> (Lond, 1980)</li><li>Y. Finch, <em>Finchy </em>(Lond, 1980)</li><li>M. Pate, <em>An Entertaining War </em>(Syd, 1986)</li><li>University of Sydney Union, <em> Union Recorder</em>, 3 Apr 1947</li><li><em>Woman's Own, </em>23 Sept 1961</li><li><em>Good Housekeeping, </em>100, no 5, Nov 1971, p 89</li><li><em>Times</em> (London), 10 Nov 1973, 15 Jan 1977</li><li><em>Sydney Morning Herald</em>, 16 Jan 1977</li><li>Finch papers (National Library of Australia).</li> </ul> </div> <div class="infoList"> <h3>Additional Resources and Scholarship</h3> <ul> <li><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/result?q=peter+finch" target="_blank">Trove search</a></li> <li><a href="https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=4885533" target="_blank">World War II service file</a>, B883, NX26035 (National Archives of Australia)</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46706220" target="_blank">tried to save a fellow actor who had fallen into the Yarra River</a>, Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW), 24 September 1935, p 3</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17550925" target="_blank">profile</a>, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 December 1938, p 23</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214488199" target="_blank">profile</a>, Murrumburrah Signal (NSW), 11 January 1940, p 3</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17708365" target="_blank">is injured during the fiming of 'The Power and the Glory'</a>, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 September 1940, p 10</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214490856" target="_blank">recalls his childhood</a>, Murrumburrah Signal (NSW), 10 October 1940, p 2</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article117766076" target="_blank">photo</a>, Grenfell Record (NSW), 16 December 1940, p 1</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17733006" target="_blank">is to marry Sheila Smart</a>, Sydney Morning Herald, 28 April 1941, p 4</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17759470" target="_blank">Alec Coppel persuades Finch to abandon his radio career and become a member of the Whitehall Productions Company</a>, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 May 1941, p 21, column 1</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article231616674" target="_blank">photo</a>, Sun (Sydney), 18 November 1943, p 5</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article240010904" target="_blank">profile</a>, Smith's Weekly (Sydney), 6 July 1946, p 17</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169378031" target="_blank">is leaving to work in England</a>, Truth (Sydney), 3 October 1948, p 4 </li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article168881638" target="_blank">is writing a radio crime series</a>, Truth (Sydney), 13 February 1949, p 46</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article235975621" target="_blank">had to leave Australia to further his career</a>, Smith's Weekly (Sydney), 2 April 1949, p 2</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18466196" target="_blank">profile</a>, Sunday Herald (Sydney), 10 April 1949, p 8</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article168965487" target="_blank">actor Greer Garson says Finch is the 'rage' of London</a>, Truth (Sydney), 13 November 1949, p 48</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article235984914" target="_blank">has written a play, The Sundowner</a>, Smith's Weekly (Sydney), 4 February 1950, p 30, column 2</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18487123" target="_blank">photo</a>, Sunday Herald (Sydney), 10 December 1950, p 16</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18261062" target="_blank">has been in England for four years</a>, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 January 1952, p 6, column 2</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18512860" target="_blank">profile</a>, Sunday Herald (Sydney), 17 May 1953, p 14</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article161613754" target="_blank">has received top billing in a film for the first time</a>, Newcastle Sun (NSW), 17 June 1954, p 23</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28663892" target="_blank">his life story, part 1, by George Johnston,</a>, Sun-Herald (Sydney), 8 August 1954, pp 21-23</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12644720" target="_blank">his life story, part 2, by George Johnston</a>, Sun-Herald (Sydney), 15 August 1954, p 23</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12644744" target="_blank">cont'd</a>, Sun-Herald (Sydney), 15 August 1954, p 23</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12644742" target="_blank">cont'd</a>, Sun-Herald (Sydney), 15 August 1954, p 23</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12644740" target="_blank">cont'd</a>, Sun-Herald (Sydney), 15 August 1954, p 23</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12644490" target="_blank">cont'd</a>, Sun-Herald (Sydney), 15 August 1954, p 24</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12644489" target="_blank">cont'd</a>, Sun-Herald (Sydney), 15 August 1954, p 24</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28662305" target="_blank">his life story, part 3, by George Johnston</a>, Sun-Herald (Sydney), 22 August 1954, p 23</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28662301" target="_blank">cont'd</a>, Sun-Herald (Sydney), 22 August 1954, pp 23-24</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28662042" target="_blank">the faces of Finch</a>, Sun-Herald (Sydney), 22 August 1954, p 24</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12643896" target="_blank">his life story, part 4, by George Johnston</a>, Sun-Herald (Sydney), 29 August 1954, p 47</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12643881" target="_blank">cont'd</a>, Sun-Herald (Sydney), 29 August 1954, p 47</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12643880" target="_blank">cont'd</a>, Sun-Herald (Sydney), 29 August 1954, pp 47-48</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12643882" target="_blank">cont'd</a>, Sun-Herald (Sydney), 29 August 1954, p 48</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article133915471" target="_blank">has made a success in England</a>, World's News (Sydney), 7 May 1955, p 27</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55475712" target="_blank">interview</a>, Australian Women's Weekly, 19 January 1977, p 7</li> <li><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110730946" target="_blank">wins the Oscar for best actor for his role as the newscaster in 'Network'</a>, Canberra Times, 30 March 1977, p 26</li> </ul> </div> <div class="infoList"> <h3>Related Entries in NCB Sites</h3> <ul> <li><strong><a href="https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/finch-frederick-george-peter-10179">Finch, Frederick George Peter</a></strong> <span class="linkicon"><a href="https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/finch-frederick-george-peter-10179"><img src="/images/site/oa/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to Obituaries Australia entry" title="go to Obituaries Australia entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dease-conly-john-paget-jack-9935">Dease, Conly John Paget</a> (friend)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dease-conly-john-paget-jack-9935"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/macdonald-alexander-john-10926">Macdonald, Alexander John</a> (friend)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/macdonald-alexander-john-10926"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/brickhill-paul-chester-14647">Brickhill, Paul Chester</a> (classmate)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/brickhill-paul-chester-14647"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span><span class="linkicon"><a href="https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/brickhill-paul-chester-14647"><img src="/images/site/oa/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to Obituaries Australia entry" title="go to Obituaries Australia entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sorlie-george-brown-8585">Sorlie, George Brown</a> (work colleague)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sorlie-george-brown-8585"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/chauvel-charles-edward-5568">Chauvel, Charles Edward</a> (work colleague)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/chauvel-charles-edward-5568"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/robinson-kathleen-mary-15911">Robinson, Kathleen Mary</a> (work colleague)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/robinson-kathleen-mary-15911"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/arnold-victor-julius-vic-12149">Arnold, Victor Julius</a> (work colleague)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/arnold-victor-julius-vic-12149"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/carrglyn-neva-josephine-9693">Carr-Glyn, Neva Josephine</a> (work colleague)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/carrglyn-neva-josephine-9693"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/steinbeck-muriel-myee-15546">Steinbeck, Muriel Myee</a> (work colleague)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/steinbeck-muriel-myee-15546"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barbour-lyndall-harvey-12172">Barbour, Lyndall Harvey</a> (work colleague)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barbour-lyndall-harvey-12172"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/leadbeater-charles-webster-7132">Leadbeater, Charles Webster</a> (acquaintance)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/leadbeater-charles-webster-7132"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lorimer-enid-bosworth-14169">Lorimer, Enid Bosworth</a> (acquaintance)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lorimer-enid-bosworth-14169"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/magnus-walter-11035">Magnus, Walter</a> (acquaintance)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/magnus-walter-11035"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/arnold-victor-julius-vic-12149">Arnold, Victor Julius</a> (acquaintance)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/arnold-victor-julius-vic-12149"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lorimer-enid-bosworth-14169">Lorimer, Enid Bosworth</a> (mentor)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lorimer-enid-bosworth-14169"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/porter-eric-ernest-15474">Porter, Eric Ernest</a> (employer)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/porter-eric-ernest-15474"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> <li><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bodenwieser-gertrud-9532">Bodenwieser, Gertrud</a> (teacher)<span class="linkicon"><a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bodenwieser-gertrud-9532"><img src="/images/site/adb/siteIcon.jpg" alt="go to ADB entry" title="go to ADB entry"/></a></span></li> </ul> </div> <div class="citation"> <h3>Citation details</h3> <p>I. M. Britain, 'Finch, Frederick George Peter (1916–1977)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/finch-frederick-george-peter-10179/text17985, published first in hardcopy 1996, accessed online 25 November 2024.</p> <p id="origPubDetails"><strong>This article was published in hardcopy in <em><strong>Australian Dictionary of Biography</strong></em>, Volume 14, (Melbourne University Press), 1996</strong></p> <p style="margin-top: 20px;">View the <a href="/frontpages/fp14.pdf" target="_blank">front pages</a> for Volume 14</p> </div> <div id="printFooter"> <p class="floatLeft">© Copyright Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2006-2024</p> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> $(function() { Shadowbox.init({ counterType: 'skip', continuous: true, overlayOpacity: 0.80 }); }); </script> <div id="pageSidebar"> <div class="mainPic"><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/23216181" title="Peter Finch, by John Vickers, 1951"><img src="/uploads/obituaries/10179/thumbs/peter-finch-1_246x550.jpg" alt="Peter Finch, by John Vickers, 1951" width='246' height='309' /></a> </div> <p class="caption"><span class="captionName">Peter Finch</span>, by John Vickers, 1951</p><p class="credit"><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/23216181">National Library of Australia, 28558192</a></p> <div class="lifeSummary"> <h3>Life Summary <span><a href ="/lifesummary/finch-frederick-george-peter-10179" target="_blank">[details]</a></span></h3> <h5>Birth</h5> <p> <a href="/biographies/birth/?bdate=28091916">28 September</a>, <a href="/biographies/birth/?bdate=1916">1916</a> <br /> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=birthLocation%3A%22London%2C%20Middlesex%2C%20England%22">London</a>, <a href="/biographies/search/?query=birthLocation%3A%22Middlesex%2C%20England%22">Middlesex</a>, <a href="/biographies/search/?query=birthLocation%3A%22England%22">England</a> </p> <h5>Death</h5> <p> <a href="/biographies/death/?ddate=14011977">14 January</a>, <a href="/biographies/death/?ddate=1977">1977</a> (aged 60) <br /> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=deathLocation%3A%22Los%20Angeles%2C%20California%2C%20United%20States%20of%20America%22">Los Angeles</a>, <a href="/biographies/search/?query=deathLocation%3A%22California%2C%20United%20States%20of%20America%22">California</a>, <a href="/biographies/search/?query=deathLocation%3A%22United%20States%20of%20America%22">United States of America</a> </p> <h5>Cause of Death</h5> <p> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=causeOfDeath%3A%22heart%20disease%22">heart disease</a> </p> <div class="life-summary__heading-container"> <h5 class="life-summary__heading--note">Cultural Heritage</h5> <button class="life-summary__note-button" title="View explanatory note" data-note-text-id="life-summary-cultural"> <img src="/images/down_arrow.png" class="life-summary__button-image"> </button> </div> <p class="life-summary__note-text" id="life-summary-cultural"> Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity. </p><ul> <li> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=ethnicity%3A%22English%22">English</a> </li> </ul> <div class="life-summary__heading-container"> <h5 class="life-summary__heading--note">Religious Influence</h5> <button class="life-summary__note-button" title="View explanatory note" data-note-text-id="life-summary-religious"> <img src="/images/down_arrow.png" class="life-summary__button-image"> </button> </div> <p class="life-summary__note-text" id="life-summary-religious"> Includes the religion in which subjects were raised, have chosen themselves, attendance at religious schools and/or religious funeral rites; Atheism and Agnosticism have been included. </p><ul> <li> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=religion%3A%22Theosophist%22">Theosophist</a> </li> </ul> <h5> Education </h5> <ul> <li> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=rele%3A%2216968%22&re=true&rpp=200">North Sydney Intermediate Boys' High School (Sydney)</a> </li> </ul> <h5> Occupation or Descriptor </h5> <ul> <li> <a href="/biographies/occupation/?occupation=actor%20%28film%29&rpp=200">actor (film)</a> </li> <li> <a href="/biographies/occupation/?occupation=actor%20%28radio%29&rpp=200">actor (radio)</a> </li> <li> <a href="/biographies/occupation/?occupation=actor%20%28stage%29&rpp=200">actor (stage)</a> </li> <li> <a href="/biographies/occupation/?occupation=soldier&rpp=200">soldier</a> </li> </ul> <h5> Military Service </h5> <ul> <li> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=rele%3A%224482%22&re=true&rpp=200">World War II</a> </li> </ul> <h5> Workplaces </h5> <ul> <li> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=rele%3A%223787%22&re=true&rpp=200">Sun (Sydney) newspaper</a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <footer> <div class="clearFix" id="footer"> <h3>Australian Dictionary of Biography</h3> <p>An initiative of the <a href="https://history.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/ncb">National Centre of Biography</a> at the <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/">Australian National University</a></p> <div class="clearFix"> <p class="floatLeft">© Copyright Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2006-2024</p> <p class="floatLeft cdp"><a href="/copyright/">Copyright</a> · <a href="/disclaimer/">Disclaimer</a> · <a href="/privacy/">Privacy Policy</a> · <a href="/contact-us/">Contact Us</a></p> </div> </div> </footer> </body> </html>