Born Frederick George Peter Ingle-Finch in London, he lived as a child in France and India, and finally in his parent's native country Australia. He grew up in Sydney, where he began his career as an actor.
Entombed at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California -- Cathedral Mausoleum, Corridor A, Crypt 1224 (Across From Rudolph Valentino).
Father, with Yolande Turner, of son Charles Finch.
He was not originally signed to appear in director John Schlesinger masterpiece, Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971). Oscar-nominee Alan Bates had been hand-picked by the director to play the part of "Dr. Daniel Hirsh", a youngish homosexual doctor, but was deemed unavailable due to other commitments, and then substituted by Ian Bannen was cast in his place. According to the late screenwriter, Penelope Gilliatt, in her introduction to the published screenplay, Bannen never felt comfortable with the part; she speculated that he was flustered by the fact that he would have to kiss the male actor, Murray Head, who played his gay lover whom also had a sexual affair with another woman. His balking caused Schlesinger to fire him and replace him as a last-minute resource with Finch, with whom he had worked with on Far from the Madding Crowd (1967). Finch won the first of his two Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the role. Many observers believe that Finch lost the Oscar to Gene Hackman because of the gay kiss. F
He was the natural son of Major Jock Campbell, a Highlander in the Black Watch and Alicia Ingle-Finch, during her marriage to the notable mountaineer George Ingle-Finch. George was the son of an eminent lawyer from New South Wales.
His performance as "Howard Beale" in Network (1976) is ranked #52 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
Holds the distinction of being the first person to win a posthumous Oscar in an acting category and is the only person to win a posthumous award for Best Actor In A Leading Role.
Is portrayed by Jerome Ehlers in Darlings of the Gods (1989) (TV).
Only one day before his death of a heart attack, he appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962) on U.S. network television NBC, entertaining the host and the audience with tales of his youth and his "psychic" grandmother. Carson closed his program the next evening with some words about Finch's passing.
Peter Finch's widow, Jamaican-born Eletha Finch, accepted his Oscar, posthumously, before the Academy.
Suffered from fear of flying.
Suffered his fatal heart attack in the lobby of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on January 14, 1977.
Three decades before the controversy over Brokeback Mountain (2005) losing the Best Picture Academy Award to Crash (2004/I), there was a similar controversy involving Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), one of the first openly and unapologetically gay-themed motion pictures, and the macho police-thriller The French Connection (1971), after the awarding of the Oscars for 1971. Many at the time thought that The French Connection (1971) was not a worthy winner, and that its victory came at the expense of A Clockwork Orange (1971), a highly controversial movie that was recognized as a masterpiece while simultaneously condemned for its depiction of "ultra-violence." However, it was the Best Actor Award that was evocative of the Brokeback Mountain (2005) controversy. As one of the three stars of Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), Finch won the first of his two Best Actor Academy Award nominations for playing a gay doctor involved in a love triangle w
Was discovered by Laurence Olivier in 1948 when Olivier and his theatrical company, which included his wife Vivien Leigh, were conducting a tour of Australia, Olivier signed the young Aussie to a personal contract and Finch became part of Olivier's theatrical company, traveling back to London with his new employer. He then proceeded to cuckold his mentor and employer by bedding Olivier's wife. Olivier was personally humiliated but ever the trouper, he kept the talented Finch under contract; Finch, who had been born in London, flourished as an actor after the career break given him by Olivier. Finch and Leigh carried on a long affair, and since Leigh was bipolar and her manic-depression frequently manifested itself in nymphomania, some speculate that Olivier subconsciously might have been grateful for Finch as he occupied Leigh's hours and kept her out of worse trouble and Olivier from even worse embarrassment.
Was the product of an affair between Alicia Ingle-Finch and Wentworth Edward Dallas "Jock" Campbell, a Scottish Military officer. His mother was, at the time, married to George Ingle-Finch, an Australian born mountaineer. Finch didn't meet his mother until he was 33 and he didn't meet his natural father until he was 45.