He was the angry young man of the New British cinema, becoming a major star in Tom Jones (1963) which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and earned Finney a nomination for Best Actor. He was outstanding opposite Audrey Hepburn in Two for the Road (1967) and won a Golden Globe in Scrooge (1970) before going back to the stage. He made a resounding comeback in the eighties with Shoot the Moon (1982), The Dresser (1983) and Under the Volcano (1984) of which the latter two saw him nominated as Best Actor. His towering performance as Sir, the pompous, conceited, daffy old actor in The Dresser, remains magnificent. He also portrayed Daddy Warbucks in the dreadful film version of Annie (1982). His last great role on screen was in Erin Brockovich (2000) which earned him a nod for Best Supporting Actor, and he gave an electrifying performance as a father and husband simmering with rage in When the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2006) for Director Sidney Lumet. His greatest performance was for HBO, as Winston Churchill in The Gathering Storm which earned him many accolades.
John H. Foote is a well-recognized Canadian film critic/historian who has been an active critic for 30 years. His deep love for the movies began at a very young age. He began his career as co-host of the popular TV show Reel to Real where he remained for nine years. While on TV he began dabbling in education, eventually ascending to Director of the Toronto Film School, where he also taught film history. After leaving the college to care for his wife, he returned to teaching at Humber College where he taught both Film History and Method Acting Theory. John has written two books: “Clint Eastwood – Evolution of a Filmmaker” and the upcoming “Spielberg – American Film Visionary”. He is currently working on two books, one about the films of the seventies and another on the films of Martin Scorsese. Through his career he has worked in TV, radio, print and the web. John has interviewed everyone in the industry (more than 300 interviews) except Jack Nicholson, he says sadly. Highlights include Martin Scorsese, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep Robert Duvall, Jane Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow.
