1976 Academy Awards® Winners and History PETER FINCH in "Network" , Robert De Niro in "Taxi Driver" , Giancarlo Giannini in "Seven Beauties", William Holden in "Network" , Sylvester Stallone in "Rocky" Actress: FAYE DUNAWAY in "Network" , Marie-Christine Barrault in "Cousin Cousine", Talia Shire in "Rocky" , Sissy Spacek in "Carrie", Liv Ullmann in "Face to Face" Supporting Actor: JASON ROBARDS in "All the President's Men", Ned Beatty in "Network" , Burgess Meredith in "Rocky" , Laurence Olivier in "Marathon Man" , Burt Young in "Rocky" Supporting Actress: BEATRICE STRAIGHT in "Network" , Jane Alexander in "All the President's Men", Jodie Foster in "Taxi Driver" , Lee Grant in "Voyage of the Damned", Piper Laurie in "Carrie" Director: JOHN G. AVILDSEN for "Rocky" , Ingmar Bergman for "Face to Face", Sidney Lumet for "Network" , Alan J.

Pakula for "All the President's Men", Lina Wertmuller for "Seven Beauties" The Bi-Centennial year brought five solid and original films into competition with each other for Best Picture. The ultimate winner was the underdog, low-budget, simplistic, feel-good boxing film, John Avildsen's and UA's Rocky (with ten nominations and three wins - including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Film Editing). It was the first in the endless series of sequels about a down-and-out young club fighter - 'the Italian Stallion' from South Philadelphia slums, who seeks self-respect, fame, and the American dream. With its Cinderella story, it was the first sports film to win the Best Picture award. [This upbeat boxing/prize-fighting genre film followed the conventions of previous films including The Champ (1931/32), Golden Boy (1939), Champion (1949), and Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956).] It was shot from an original script by its unknown, unemployed, struggling break-out star Sylvester Stallone.

[With Stallone's nominations for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay, he joined only two others in Academy history with the same pair of honors in the same year: Charlie Chaplin (for The Great Dictator (1940)), and Orson Welles (for Citizen Kane (1941) ).] Other Best Picture nominees included: Sidney Lumet's black comedy and biting, prophetic satire about mass media in America, Network (with ten nominations and four wins - Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Paddy Chayefsky's Best Screenplay) - a satirical indictment of the world of commercial television. This film dominated the acting nominations. [This was director Sidney Lumet's third nomination without a win, and Chayefsky's third Oscar - Chayefsky's other two Oscars were Screenplay awards for Marty (1955) and The Hospital (1971).] Alan J.

Pakula's and producer Robert Redford's All the President's Men (with eight nominations and four wins - Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, and Best Sound), that told about the Watergate scandal as a gripping, conspiracy docu-drama and political thriller, while following Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) as the investigators of the scandal Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver , (with four nominations and no wins!, and no recognition for its director) about an alienated, cab driver (and war veteran) named Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) who unleashed his own internal violence upon the city; the film was noted for the lead actor's monologue before a mirror while rehearsing a planned assassination: "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me?

Then who the hell else are you talking...you talkin' to me?" Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory (with six nominations and two wins - Best Cinematography for Haskell Wexler and Best Original Score Adaptation), a biopic film about the life of folk singer-composer and labor organizer Woodie Guthrie as he rode the rails during the Depression years Two directors of Best Picture nominees, Martin Scorsese and Hal Ashby, were not nominated for Best Director. They were replaced with two foreign-language film directors: Ingmar Bergman for Face to Face (with two nominations and no wins) - originally a film made for a four-part Swedish television series female Italian director/writer Lina Wertmuller for the excellent dark comedy, the film classic Seven Beauties (with four nominations - one was Best Foreign Language Film) about a small-time Italian (Naples) crook who has seven unattractive sisters to support. [Wertmuller was the first woman ever nominated for a Best Director Oscar. No woman has ever won the Best Director Oscar.

Wertmuller's film was also defeated in the foreign-language category by Black and White in Color.] Performers with nominations for their roles in Network won three of the year's acting Oscars - Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, and Beatrice Straight. [It became only the second time in Academy history that a film had won three acting trophies. This same accomplishment hadn't occurred since three performers won three acting awards in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) - Vivien Leigh with a Best Actress award, and Karl Malden and Kim Hunter with the two Best Supporting awards.] British actor Peter Finch (with his second nomination and sole win) was awarded the Best Actor Oscar for his role as crazed, suicidal, UBS network anchor-man and fired 'mad prophet of the airwaves' Howard Beale in Network - memorable for his immortal line: "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore." Finch's award was presented post-humously (he died on January 14, 1977, shortly before the awards ceremony).

He was the fourth actor to be honored with a posthumous nomination (to date) and the first and only posthumous winner for Best Actor (at that time) - later supplemented with Heath Ledger's posthumous nominaton and win for Best Supporting Actor for The Dark Knight (2008) . [Others with posthumous nominations - but without awards - were Jeanne Eagels for The Letter (1928-29), James Dean for East of Eden (1955) and Giant (1956), Spencer Tracy for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), Ralph Richardson for Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan (1984), Massimo Troisi for Il Postino (1995).] The other four nominees in the Best Actor category included: William Holden (with his third and final career nomination), Finch's co-star in the role of sardonic network news chief Max Schumacher in Network.

[He had won only once, for Stalag 17 (1953) and was also nominated for his role in Sunset Boulevard (1950) .] It is possible that Finch's heart attack and death prompted a sympathy vote - otherwise, Holden might have won another Best Actor Oscar Robert De Niro (with his second nomination) in a mesmerizing and forceful performance as Travis Bickle, a disturbed Vietnam-era vet whose cab driving in New York City and a romantic rejection by a blonde political campaign worker (Cybill Shepherd) help unleash his violence in a bloody crusade in Taxi Driver Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in Rocky - a 30-year old club fighter who went the distance with world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed in Philadelphia Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini (with his sole nomination) as Pasqualino Settebellezze - a small-time fascist Italy gangster and his struggle for survival in a WW II Nazi POW camp in the Best Director-nominated war/comedy film Seven Beauties.

[Only a very few Italian actors have been nominated - but have not won - for roles in Italian films - Giannini, Marcello Mastroianni (nominated in 1962, 1977, and 1987), and Massimo Troisi (in 1995).] Faye Dunaway (with her third nomination and first win) won the Best Actress award for her role as Diane Christensen - the icy, power-hungry, ratings-obsessed, ruthless and heartless USB programming executive and career-woman (who falls for boss William Holden) in Network . [Dunaway had twice been nominated as Best Actress for Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Chinatown (1974) .] Competitors in the Best Actress category included two foreign-language performances (a first!): Liv Ullmann (with her second nomination) as Dr.

Jenny Isaksson - a psychiatrist who slowly experiences a nervous breakdown in Bergman's Face to Face Marie-Christine Barrault (with her sole nomination) as Marthe (one of a pair of cousins who fall in love) in the French comedy Cousin, Cousine (remade as Cousins (1989)) Talia Shire (with her second nomination) as plain-Jane salesclerk Adrian - Rocky's shy, repressed girlfriend in Rocky Sissy Spacek (with her first nomination) as Carrie White - a repressed, telekinetic high school student who wreaks vengeance on her schoolmates in Brian De Palma's first major hit based on Stephen King's novel titled Carrie (with two nominations and no wins) The award in the Best Supporting Actor category was presented to Jason Robards Jr. (with his first of two consecutive Oscar wins) for his performance as encouraging Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee who supports the pursuit of the Watergate story in All the President's Men.

Two Rocky co-stars were Best Supporting Actor nominees: Burt Young (with his sole nomination) as Paulie - Rocky's friend and the brother of Rocky's girlfriend Adrian Burgess Meredith (with his second and final unsuccessful nomination, a consecutive one) as Mickey, the boxer's crotchety manager The other two Best Supporting Actor nominees were: Ned Beatty (with his sole nomination) as Arthur Jensen - the angry chairman of the board of the United Broadcasting System (UBS) in Network Laurence Olivier (with his ninth of ten career nominations) as the crazed, sadistic Nazi dentist Szell in Marathon Man (the film's sole nomination). [Note: Olivier's nomination tied him with Spencer Tracy for the most acting nominations in Oscar history up to that time.] Many of the same films previously described also produced Best Supporting Actress nominees - most of whom were nominated for minor cameo roles. The Best Supporting Actress winner was dark-horse stage and TV star Beatrice Straight (with her sole career nomination) in the short role as Louise Schumacher - William Holden's deserted, neglected and spurned wife struggling to maintain her dignity in Network .

[Straight's screen role, which was composed of two scenes and lasted six minutes (and eight seconds) of screen time, contained fewer on-screen script lines - 18 - than any other acting nominee in awards history.] The Best Supporting Actress nominees included four other competing actresses: Piper Laurie (with her second of three unsuccessful nominations) as the title character's religiously-fanatical mother Margaret White in Carrie. [Laurie's last previous acting nomination, that she also lost, was for a film role 15 years earlier - a record - as Paul Newman's crippled girlfriend Sarah in The Hustler (1961) .] Lee Grant (with her fourth and last nomination) as German-Jewish refugee Lili Rosen seeking refuge in Cuba in director Stuart Rosenberg's Voyage of the Damned (with three nominations and no wins) Jane Alexander (with her second nomination) as the informant Book-keeper in All the President's Men Jodie Foster (with her first nomination) as 12 year-old runaway and prostitute Iris Steensman in Taxi Driver The Omen (with only two nominations - both for Jerry Goldsmith for Best Song and Best Score) became the first horror film to receive a Best Score Oscar.

In this same year, Goldsmith was competing against Bernard Herrmann, who had two post-humous Best Score nominations for Obsession and Taxi Driver . [Herrmann had five Best Score career nominations, and only won once, for The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), in the same year that he was nominated for Citizen Kane (1941) .] Barbra Streisand's Oscar win for Best Song ("Evergreen") for A Star is Born made her the first Oscar-winning actress to receive an award for music. She had won her sole Oscar for Best Actress for Funny Girl (1968). Oscar Snubs and Omissions: Director Martin Ritt's The Front (with a single unsuccessful nomination for Walter Bernstein's Best Screenplay) starred Woody Allen as 'front' Howard Price for his blacklisted TV writer and friend, and Zero Mostel as TV star Hecky Brown. Martin Scorsese, the director of the ultimately Oscar-less Taxi Driver was un-nominated as Best Director, a major snub. And Harvey Keitel was overlooked for his role as the long-haired, detestable pimp of 12-year old hooker Iris (Jodie Foster).

Both Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman were not nominated in the acting category for their believable work in All the President's Men. John Wayne was neglected in the Oscar nominations for his role as aging, cancer-stricken legendary gunfighter John Bernard Brooks, as was Lauren Bacall as stern and compassionate widow and boardinghouse owner Bond Rogers in Don Siegel's The Shootist. Audrey Hepburn was bypassed in the nominations for her performance as Maid Marian in Richard Lester's Robin and Marian, opposite Sean Connery as a mature Robin Hood. And Shelley Winters was passed over for a nomination in her role as the quintessential Jewish mother Mrs. Lapinsky in Paul Mazursky's un-nominated comedy Next Stop, Greenwich Village. Although The Outlaw Josey Wales had one nomination (for Jerry Fielding's score), it lacked nominations for Clint Eastwood's screenplay, direction, and starring role as the title character, for Best Picture, and for Chief Dan George's role as displaced, old Native American Lone Waite. Peter Finch - Awards - IMDb Peter Finch Showing all 11 wins and 6 nominations Academy Awards, USA Network (1976) Nomination and award were posthumous.

Finch became the first posthumous winner in an acting ... More Nomination and award were posthumous. Finch became the first posthumous winner in an acting category. His widow Eletha Finch and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky accepted the award on his behalf. Peter Finch - Biography - IMDb Peter Finch Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (3) | Trivia (17) | Personal Quotes (8) Overview (5) 5' 9" (1.75 m) Mini Bio (1) Despite being one of the finest actors of his generation, Peter Finch will be remembered as much for his reputation as a hard-drinking, hell-raising womanizer as for his performances on the screen. He was born in London in 1916 and went to live in Sydney, Australia, at the age of ten. There, he worked in a series of dead-end jobs before taking up acting, his film debut being in the mediocre comedy The Farmer Goes to Town (1938). He made his stage debut as a comedian's stooge in 1939.

Laurence Olivier spotted him and persuaded him to return to Britain to perform classic roles on the stage. Finch then had an affair with Olivier's wife, Vivien Leigh . Despite being married three times, Finch also had highly-publicized affairs with actresses Kay Kendall and Mai Zetterling . Finch soon switched to film after suffering appalling stage fright. As a screen actor, he won five BAFTA awards and his talent was beyond doubt. His two finest roles, the only two for which he received Oscar nominations, were as the homosexual Jewish doctor in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) and as the "mad prophet of the air-waves" in Network (1976). He died a couple of months before being awarded the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in Network (1976) and was the first actor to have won the award posthumously. - IMDb Mini Biography By: David Claydon <dc6212@bristol.ac.uk> Spouse (3) Trivia (17) Peter Finch's widow, Jamaican-born Eletha Finch , accepted his Oscar, posthumously, before the Academy.

Entombed at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California -- Cathedral Mausoleum, Corridor A, Crypt 1224 (Across From Rudolph Valentino ). Suffered from fear of flying. 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, Australia. Is portrayed by Jerome Ehlers in Darlings of the Gods (1989). 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, his "psychic" grandmother and, eerily, a joke about dying from a heart attack. Carson closed his program the next evening with some words about Finch's passing. He was not director John Schlesinger first choice for his masterpiece, Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971). Oscar-nominee Alan Bates had been signed by the director to play the part of "Dr.

Daniel Hirsh", a youngish homosexual doctor, but eventually became unavailable due to another commitment that ran behind schedule. Ian Bannen replaced him but, according to the late screenwriter, Penelope Gilliatt , in her introduction to the published screenplay, Bannen never felt comfortable with the part. Gilliatt speculated that he was flustered by the fact that he would have to kiss male actor, Murray Head , who played his gay lover while also engaging in a sexual affair with a woman. Schlesinger fired Bannen, replacing him with Finch, with whom he'd worked with on Far from the Madding Crowd (1967). Finch received the first of his two Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the role. Many observers believe Gene Hackman won over Finch because of the gay kiss. Finch did win the BAFTA and National Society of Film Critics Awards prizes for Best Actor for the role.

Three decades before the controversy over Brokeback Mountain (2005) failing to win the Best Picture Academy Award over Crash (2004), 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). Many at the time thought 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." It was the Best Actor Award, however, 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 with a bisexual man and a straight woman.

Finch inherited the role from Alan Bates , who wanted to do it, but couldn't due to his being held up filming The Go-Between (1971); and after replacement, actor Ian Bannen was fired at the beginning of shooting for balking over a simulated sex sequence. This film brought Finch the best reviews of his film career up to that point. It has been revealed that "officially," Bannen was sacked due to his stated concern that portraying a homosexual engaged in the first screen kiss between two men might damage or destroy his career. Finch unhesitatingly threw himself into the role, kissed co-star Murray Head , and received an Oscar nomination for his performance. Many observers believe that Finch lost the Oscar to eventual winner Gene Hackman because of the gay kiss. For playing the role brilliantly, Finch won the BAFTA and National Society of Film Critics Awards prizes for Best Actor, though Hackman won the prestigious New York Film Critics Circle Award and beat Finch out for the Golden Globe.

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, with her manic-depression frequently manifesting itself in nymphomania, some speculate that Olivier subconsciously may have been grateful for Finch for occupying Leigh's hours, keeping her out of trouble, and Olivier from embarrassment. Born Frederick George Peter Ingle-Finch in London, he spent much of his childhood in France, India and, finally, in his parents' native Australia. He grew up in Sydney, where he began his career as an actor. Suffered his fatal heart attack in the lobby of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on January 14, 1977.

His performance as "Howard Beale" in Network (1976) is ranked #52 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. 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 his natural father until he was 45. Peter Finch (Actor) - Pics, Videos, Dating, & News Peter Finch Male Born Sep 28, 1916 Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch was a British-born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as "crazed" television anchorman Howard Beale in the film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and a Best Actor award from the Golden Globes.

He was the first of two people to win a posthumous Academy Award in an acting category; the other was fellow Australian Heath Ledger.… Read More related links Timeless Reels: Classic Films On Dvd | Collection Development, September 1, 2011 Library Journal Google News - Sep 01, 2011 '<mark>Peter Finch</mark> is mad as hell, and he&#39;s not going to take it anymore! One Flew Over the Cuckoo&#39;s Nest. color. 133 min. Dir: Milos Forman. Warner Home Video, 818-954-1744; 1975. DVD ISBN 9780790765143. $26.99 ($16.29)' How About A Lesson In Civics?

Clackamas Review Google News - Aug 31, 2011 'Irritated members of the American electorate are increasingly stating the equivalent of, &quot;We&#39;re mad as hell and we aren&#39;t going to take it anymore,&quot; taking a page from <mark>Peter Finch</mark>&#39;s fed-up character in the 1976 film, &quot;Network' A Matter Of Voice Wall Street Journal Google News - Aug 30, 2011 'Of course, as the voice director of the Royal Shakespeare Company for the past 42 yearsâher charges have included Sean Connery, Judi Dench, <mark>Peter Finch</mark>, Anthony Hopkins and Jeremy IronsâMs. Berry, 85, has an unassailable track record' Sunday Concert To Benefit Oakland Nonprofit That Works With Children San Jose Mercury News Google News - Aug 25, 2011 '<mark>Peter Finch</mark> of KFOG&#39;s morning show will host the event, which also includes Megan Slankard and Gyasi Parker-Ross playing music.

Organizers are keeping the location of the concert private until people buy their tickets. The event will benefit the Mosaic' Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Peter Finch. CHILDHOOD 1916 Birth Born on September 28, 1916. 1922 5 Years Old Alicia Finch married "Jock" Campbell in 1922. … Read More George gained custody of Peter and he was taken from his mother and brought up by his paternal "grandmother" Laura Finch (formerly Black) in Vaucresson, France. In 1925 Laura took Peter with her to Adyar, a theosophical community near Madras, India, for a number of months, and the young boy lived for a time in a Buddhist monastery. Undoubtedly as a result of his childhood contact with Buddhism Finch always claimed to be a Buddhist. He is reported to have said: "I think a man dying on a cross is a ghastly symbol for a religion.

And I think a man sitting under a bo tree and becoming enlightened is a beautiful one." Read Less 1926 9 Years Old In 1926 he was sent to Australia to live with his great-uncle Edward Herbert Finch at Greenwich Point in Sydney. TEENAGE 1929 12 Years Old He attended the local school until 1929, then North Sydney Intermediate High School for three years. … Read More A school friend was RAF pilot and author Paul Brickhill. Read Less 1933 16 Years Old After graduating, Finch went to work as a copy boy for the Sydney Sun and began writing. However he was more interested in acting, and in late 1933 appeared in a play, Caprice, at the Repertory Theatre. … Read More He started appearing in stage shows for Doris Fitton, worked as a sideshow spruiker at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, in vaudeville with Joe Cody and as a foil to American comedian Bert le Blanc.<br /><br /> At age 19 Finch toured Australia with George Sorlie's travelling troupe.

He did radio acting work with Hugh Denison's BSA Players (for Broadcasting Service Association, later to become Macquarie Players). Read Less TWENTIES 1939 22 Years Old He came to the attention of Australian Broadcasting Commission radio drama producer Lawrence H. Cecil, who was to act as his coach and mentor throughout 1939 and 1940. … Read More He was "Chris" in the Children's Session and the first Muddle-Headed Wombat. He later starred with Neva Carr Glyn in an enormously popular series by Max Afford as husband-and-wife detectives Jeffery and Elizabeth Blackburn as well as other ABC radio plays.<br /><br /> Finch's first screen performance was in the short film, The Magic Shoes (1935), an adaptation of the Cinderella fairy tale. He made his feature film debut with a supporting role in Dad and Dave Come to Town (1938) for director Ken G. Hall, who later cast Finch in a larger role in support to Cecil Kellaway in Mr. Chedworth Steps Out (1939).

Read Less 1941 24 Years Old Finch enlisted in the Australian Army on 2 June 1941. … Read More He served in the Middle East and was an anti-aircraft gunner during the Bombing of Darwin. During his war service he was allowed to continue to act in radio, theatre and film, notably The Rats of Tobruk (1944). Read Less 1943 26 Years Old Finch was married three times. In 1943, he married Romanian-born French ballerina Tamara Tchinarova; they worked together on a number of films. … Read More They had a daughter, Anita, born in 1950. Read Less He produced and performed Army Concert Party work, and in 1945 toured bases and hospitals with two Terence Rattigan plays he directed, French Without Tears and While the Sun Shines. Finch was discharged from the army on 31 October 1945 at the rank of sergeant.

After the war, Finch continued to work extensively in radio and established himself as Australia's leading actor in that medium, winning Macquarie Awards for best actor in 1946 and 1947. … Read More He also worked as a compere, producer and writer. Read Less In 1946, Finch co-founded the Mercury Theatre Company, which put on a number of productions in Sydney over the next few years (initially in the diminutive St James' Hall), as well as running a theatre school. … Read More A 1948 performance of The Imaginary Invalid on the factory floor of O'Brien's Glass Factory in Sydney brought him to the attention of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, then touring Australia with the Old Vic Company. Read Less THIRTIES Show Less Olivier encouraged Finch to move to London, and he left Australia in 1948. … Read More When Finch arrived in Britain, Olivier became his mentor and put him under long-term contract. His first big break was being cast in James Bridie's play Daphne Laureola at the Old Vic supporting Edith Evans. In 1952 he performed at St.

James's Theatre, King Street, London, in Sir Laurence Olivier's and Gilbert Miller's The Happy Time a comedy by Samuel Taylor. He played the part of Papa He also received acclaim for his first role in a British film, Train of Events (1949), playing a murderous actor. Critic C. A. Lejeune praised his work in the London Observer commenting that he "adds good cheekbones to a quick intelligence and is likely to become a cult, I fear." The Scotsman said "he should be regarded as one of the most hopeful recruits to the British screen."<br /><br /> His performance as a Pole in Daphne Laureola led to his casting as a Polish soldier in The Miniver Story, the sequel to the wartime morale boosting film Mrs. Miniver; unlike its predecessor, it was poorly received critically. The same year he also appeared in the more successful The Wooden Horse playing an Australian prisoner of war. Read Less During this time, Finch's closeness to the Olivier family led to an affair with Olivier's beautiful but increasingly unstable wife, Vivien Leigh, which began in 1948, and continued on and off for several years, ultimately falling apart due to her deteriorating mental condition.

1951 34 Years Old Finch played Iago onstage in 1951 opposite Orson Welles as the lead in Othello. … Read More Despite his stage experience, Finch, like his mentor Olivier, suffered from stage fright, and as the 1950s progressed he worked increasingly in film. His roles increased in size and prestige, including being cast as the villain Flambeau in Father Brown (1954) and as the lead in the Hollywood film Elephant Walk (1954). However, he continued to appear on the stage, playing Trigorin in Chekhov's The Seagull opposite Peggy Ashcroft and Vanessa Redgrave in the West End in 1964/65. Read Less 1954 37 Years Old Towards the end of 1954 Finch's contract with Laurence Olivier was about to expire and he instead signed a seven-year contract with the Rank Organisation worth Â£87,500 to make one film a year for them. "We are going to build Peter into a major British star", said Earl St. John, Rank's head of production, at the time.

… Read More Finch's first roles for Rank under the new arrangement were undistinguished: Make Me an Offer (1954), Simon and Laura (also 1954), Josephine and Men (1955), and Passage Home (also 1955). However, he was then cast in two major hits, A Town Like Alice (1956) and The Battle of the River Plate (1956), which saw exhibitors vote him the seventh most popular British star at the box office; the following year his ranking went up to third, being the fifth most popular regardless of nationality. He returned to Australia to make two films, Robbery Under Arms (1957) and The Shiralee (1957).<br /><br /> The success of The Nun's Story (1959) saw Finch become an international star, although he never worked in Hollywood for an extended period of time, preferring to base himself in London. He was originally chosen to play Julius Caesar in Cleopatra (1963) and filmed scenes in London, but when the film was postponed he withdrew; the role was recast with Rex Harrison.

He won BAFTA Awards for his performances in The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) (in the title role), No Love for Johnnie (1961) and Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971). His performance in the latter also earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Read Less FORTIES 1959 42 Years Old They divorced in 1959, after she discovered his affair with actress Vivien Leigh in California. … Read More He then married South African-born actress Yolande Turner (nÃ©e Yolande Eileen Turnbull); they had two children together, Samantha and Charles Peter. During their marriage, Finch had an affair with the singer Shirley Bassey. Bassey had a daughter, also called Samantha, born in 1963; Bassey's husband at the time, the openly gay film producer Kenneth Hume, believed that Finch was her biological father. Read Less 1965 48 Years Old Finch and Turner divorced in 1965.

FIFTIES 1972 55 Years Old In 1972 Finch married Mavis "Eletha" Barrett, who was known as Eletha Finch. … Read More They had a daughter together, Diana.<br /><br /> In 1954, the Australian journalist and author George Johnston wrote a well-researched series of biographical articles on Finch, his life, and his work, which appeared in the Sydney Sun-Herald on four consecutive Sundays, which were certainly the first detailed account of Finch's life to be published. Finch later provided the inspiration for the character Archie Calverton in Johnston's novel, Clean Straw for Nothing.<br /><br /> In 1980, American author Elaine Dundy published a biography of Finch titled Finch, Bloody Finch: A Biography of Peter Finch. That year, his second wife, Yolande Finch, also published a posthumous account of their life together, Finchy: My Life with Peter Finch.

Another biography had previously been published by his friend and colleague Trader Faulkner, in 1979.<br /><br /> According to an entry in Brian McFarlane's The Encyclopedia of British Film, republished on the British Film Institute's Screenonline website, Finch "did not emerge unscathed from a life of well-publicised hell-raising, and several biographies chronicle the affairs and the booze, but a serious appraisal of a great actor remains to be written." Read Less LATE ADULTHOOD 1977 60 Years Old Finch appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson one day prior to suffering a heart attack in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel. He died on 14 January 1977, at the age of 60; he is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Original Authors of this text are noted on . Film History Milestones - 1976 Event and Significance 1976 The low-budget phenomenally successful, uplifting, "sleeper" film Rocky (1976) made its debut.

It was filmed in a record twenty-eight days with a paltry budget of about $1 million, and ultimately grossed well over $100 million. Its screenwriter and major star, Sylvester Stallone, was an unbankable unknown at the time - an underdog actor/writer in the film industry (with 32 previously-rejected scripts) similar to the lower-class Philadelphia boxing 'bum' in the film. Stallone supposedly wrote the script for the sports comeback film over a three-day period. The million-to-one underdog film was awarded three Academy Awards from its ten nominations: Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Picture, and it beat out formidable competition for the top prize, defeating All the President's Men (1976), Bound For Glory (1976), Network (1976) , and Taxi Driver (1976) - all excellent films about other aspects of the American experience. 1976 Sylvester Stallone became the third person in Oscar history to be nominated in a single year as both an actor and as a screenwriter - for his work in Rocky (1976) .

The other two were Charles Chaplin for The Great Dictator (1940), and Orson Welles for Citizen Kane (1941) . 1976 The Steadicam (a stabilizing device for hand-held cameras), developed by Garrett Brown, was used for the first time in director Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory (1976). Director of Photography Haskell Wexler won the Oscar for Best Cinematography. However, John Schlesinger's Marathon Man (1976) was the first commercially-released film using the Steadicam. It was also used in Rocky (1976) , and eventually fully exploited in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980) . 1976 Italian film director Lina Wertmuller became the first woman to be nominated for Best Director, for Seven Beauties (1976, It.). She lost to Ingmar Bergman, Alan J. Pakula, Sidney Lumet, and Rocky's John G. Avildsen who won the Oscar. 1976 The independent Chicano drama, Please Don't Bury Me Alive!

(1976) by writer/director/star Efrain Gutierrez, was set in San Antonio and noted for its bicultural narrative. It is considered by historians to be the first Chicano feature film. 1976 With her Grammy win, actress Helen Hayes became the first female performer to competitively win all four of these awards: Academy (Oscar) (1932), Tony (1947), Emmy (1953), and Grammy (1976). In the following year 1977, Rita Moreno became the second female to accomplish the feat. 1976 Sony was charged with copyright infringement by Universal Studios and the Walt Disney Company, seeking to halt the manufacture of Sony's Betamax magnetic videotape recording system. It took many years to be solved after many reversals and appeals, in the case of Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc, and a decision was finally handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1984. 1976 The Young Teacher (1972, South Korea) was the first film commercially released on the VHS-tape format.

1976 Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak formed the Apple Computer company in April of 1976. 1976 JVC (in Japan) introduced the VHS (originally for vertical helical scan, and later Video Home System) 1/2 inch video format. The first VHS cassettes and players, which cost about $885 each, were released by JVC in October. The system was designed to compete with Sony's Betamax magnetic tape system, with a longer recording time. In 1977, RCA began marketing the first VCRs in the United States based on JVC's system, capable of recording up to four hours. By now, Japanese manufacturers had taken over the VCR market. The videocassette recorder became a mass market consumer item in the late ‘70s, primarily in two formats: VHS and Sony's Betamax. The VHS system soon became the home video recording standard for almost two decades (until the rise of DVD technology), although it was in many ways technically inferior to the high-quality Betamax. By 1987, VHS had acquired about 95% of the consumer market.

The new technology was considered a threat to the film industry but in subsequent years was re-evaluated as a boon when studios discovered videos to be a major source of income. By 1986, the home video industry's annual gross rentals exceeded rentals paid for films by the theatres. 1976 The first film to be commercially-available and released on VHS videotape, in 1976, was the South Korean family drama Cheongchun Gyosa (1972). 1976 Gone with the Wind (1939) first aired on network TV and drew a huge audience over two nights - about 34 million people - the largest ever film audience to watch a feature film on television. 1976 Director Barbara Kopple's Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976), another Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, documented a Kentucky coal miners' strike in the early 1970s against the Eastover Mining Company. 1976 John Wayne's final film, the western The Shootist (1976) was released, chronicling the death of the west. Ironically, Wayne's character role was as gunfighter J.B.

Books who was dying of cancer. Only a few years later in 1979, 72 year-old Wayne himself died of stomach cancer. 1976 Nagisa Oshima's shocking and controversial film, In the Realm of the Senses (1976) (aka Ai No Corrida, Jp.), told of extreme, all-consuming sexual obsession, madness and immersion (bordering on pornography in its uncut version). It was seized and banned by US Customs and postponed in its censored release, for its scenes of unsimulated fellatio and penetration, and for genital dismemberment and auto-erotic asphyxiation. This erotic Japanese masterpiece about painful passion told the story of a torrid, increasingly intense and dangerous, true-to-life, almost non-stop sexual affair between gangster businessman/inn owner Kichizo (Tatsuya Fuji) and one of his maid-servants, former prostitute Sada Abe (Eiko Matsuda) in mid-1930s Japan.

1976 Director Bernardo Bertolucci's epic political tale, 1900 (1976) (aka Novecento), was released - at 255 minutes (although some versions were cut). The monumental film was produced by three American movie studios and represented three countries (Italy, France, and W. Germany). It was basically a history of Italy in the first half of the 20th century, seen through the eyes of its two characters (Robert DeNiro and Gerard Depardieu). 1976 British actor Peter Finch was awarded the Best Actor Oscar for his role as crazed, suicidal, UBS network anchor-man and fired 'mad prophet of the airwaves' Howard Beale in Network (1976) - memorable for his immortal line: "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore." Finch's award was presented post-humously (he died on January 14, 1977, just shortly before the awards ceremony).

He was the fourth actor to be honored with a posthumous nomination and the first posthumous winner for Best Actor - later supplemented with Heath Ledger's posthumous nominaton and win for Best Supporting Actor for The Dark Knight (2008) . 1976 Beatrice Straight won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, the shortest role to win an acting Oscar, for her less than eight minutes of screen time in Network (1976) , with only 8 speaking parts (of approx. 260 words). (Runner up: Judi Dench for about ten minutes of screen time as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love (1998), with 14 speaking parts (of approx. 446 words).) 1976 Young star Sal Mineo was murdered during a knife-attack, dying at the age of 37. His body was found in an alley near his West Hollywood apartment. His most memorable film was Rebel Without a Cause (1955) opposite James Dean, and also his Oscar-nominated role as Dov Landau in Exodus (1960).

1976 The first in a series of shootings by the so-called "Son of Sam" serial killer occurred on July 29, 1976, terrorizing New York City over the course of the next year. The killer, David Berkowitz was eventually arrested in August 1977, and was convicted to serve six life sentences. Over twenty years later, Spike Lee directed the film Summer of Sam (1999) based on the events surrounding the murders. 1976 Austrian-American filmmaker Fritz Lang died at the age of 85. His most famous films were the expressionistic silent film Metropolis (1927, Germ.) , M (1931, Germ.), Fury (1936), and a number of film noirs including The Woman in the Window (1944), Scarlet Street (1945), and The Big Heat (1953) . 1976 The comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were reunited for the first time in over 20 years, during the September 1976 Jerry Lewis MD telethon in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was an unannounced reunion, when Frank Sinatra brought Dean Martin on stage.

Winning posthumous acting Oscar not easy - TODAY.com Today.com Winning posthumous acting Oscar not easy 2009-01-23T00:13:24.000Z comment () The last time an actor won an Academy Award after his death it took no less than a manic, tour-de-force performance that included exhorting Americans to throw open their windows and scream, “I’m as mad as hell and I am not going to take this anymore.” That was the line Peter Finch made famous in 1976’s “Network,” when he played television newscaster Howard Beale who, courting a nervous breakdown and contemplating suicide over his disastrous ratings, turns into a wild-eyed, raving prophet of doom before his TV audience’s very eyes. “I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a Depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth. Banks are going bust. Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter.

Punks are running wild in the street and there’s nobody anywhere seems to know what to do,” Finch screams maniacally in a darkly comic scene still popular on the Internet 33 years later. The role won him the only Oscar awarded posthumously to an actor in the 81-year history of the Academy Awards. Just to be nominated posthumously for an acting Oscar is rare, with Heath Ledger only the sixth performer so honored Thursday. Dozens of people have been nominated in less prominent categories, including screenwriting, costuming and music. Two who won posthumously were Sidney Howard for screenplay for 1939’s “Gone With the Wind” and Walt Disney for short subject (cartoon) for “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day” in 1968.

“The fact that only one actor has ever won an Oscar from the grave tells us that in general at the Oscars, the feeling is when you’re dead, you’re dead,” Tom O’Neil, a columnist for TheEnvelope.com, told The Associated Press last year after Oscar buzz began to build for Ledger’s riveting performance as Batman’s malevolent nemesis The Joker in “The Dark Knight.” Film legend James Dean was nominated for best actor twice after his death, for “East of Eden” in 1955 and “Giant” the following year. But Ernest Borgnine won for “Marty” in 1955 and Yul Brynner took the Oscar in 1956 for “The King and I.” More recently, Massimo Troisi was nominated for lead actor for 1995’s “The Postman” but lost to Nicolas Cage who starred in “Leaving Las Vegas.” Ralph Richardson was nominated for supporting actor for 1984’s “Greystroke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes” but Haing S.

Ngor won for “The Killing Fields.” A sentimental favorite for a posthumous award in 1967 appeared to be Spencer Tracy, who had died shortly after capping a brilliant career with his performance in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” Tracy, who was the calm voice of reason among black and white parents concerned over their children’s planned interracial marriage, lost to Rod Steiger, who starred in the interracial drama “In the Heat of the Night.” Like Dean, who died at age 23 in a car crash, Ledger, 28, was an up-and-coming star cut down in his prime. Tracy on the other hand had won Oscars twice before and had been nominated nine times in all. Finch was 64 when he died of a heart attack two months before the awards ceremony. His widow accepted his Oscar. Ledger has been nominated once before, for best actor for 2005’s “Brokeback Mountain.” He lost to Philip Seymour Hoffman who won for “Capote.” Peter Finch | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie twitter Biography Ruddy-faced British star Peter Finch was raised by relatives in France, India, and Australia after his parents divorced when he was two.

He had several odd jobs during the Depression before working as a comedian's stooge in vaudeville. He began working in the legitimate theater in 1935 then in 1936 debuted onscreen in the Australian film Dad and Dave Come to Town. While sporadically appearing in Australian films over the next decade-plus, Finch continued working on stage and formed his own company; eventually he also became Australia's top radio actor. His work impressed Laurence Olivier, who brought him to London in 1949 where he performed impressively on the stage and landed supporting roles in numerous films. In the mid-'50s he began getting better film roles, becoming one of Britain's leading male stars. Between 1956-71 he won the British Film Academy "Best Actor" award four times. For his portrayal of a gay doctor in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) he received a "Best Actor" Oscar nomination. His last film was Network (1976); during a promotional campaign for the film, he died of a massive coronary. That year he was posthumously awarded the Oscar for "Best Actor"--making him the first actor in Academy Award history to do so.

Movie Highlights As a child, lived in England, France, India and Australia. As a teenager, first job was as a copy boy for the Sydney Sun newspaper. At 19, toured Australia with the George Sorlie Travelling Troupe. Made movie debut in the short film The Magic Shoes, in 1935. Enlisted in the army in 1941, and entertained the troops with impromptu acts called "Finch's Follies". In 1946, co-founded The Mercury Theatre Company with several other Australian stage actors. At the urging of Lawrence Oliver, moved to England in 1948 to further his stage and film career. Took on his first role in a Hollywood film in 1950's The Miniver Story. Was the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award in an acting category for his role in the 1976 film Network.

Question: For which 1976 film was actor Peter Finch awarded a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor in Leading Role?
Answer: Network