Ī plaque by the Scottish Film Council honouring James was displayed in Bo'ness Library as part of the HippFest 2019 silent film festival. James (as "Jimmy Finlayson") is incorporated into the Catchphases 1 section of the Comedy Carpet mosaic beside Blackpool Tower along with a "D'OH!" embossed star. Castellaneta then shortened it to a quickly uttered " D'oh!" Artwork
Matt Groening felt that it would better suit the timing of animation if it were spoken faster. He rendered it as a drawn out "dohhhhhhh". During the voice recording session for a Tracey Ullman Show short, Castellaneta was required to utter what was written in the script as an "annoyed grunt". One of Finlayson's trademarks was a drawn out "dohhhhhhh!" Finlayson had used the term as a minced oath to stand in for the word " Damn!" A half-century later, it inspired Dan Castellaneta, the voice actor of Homer Simpson. Knowing that he had been ill from flu recently, Insall went to his home where she discovered his body.
However, on the morning of 9 October 1953, Finlayson did not turn up at the usual time. Įnglish actress Stephanie Insall and Finlayson regularly took breakfast together. He married Emily Cora Gilbert, an American citizen from Iowa, in 1919 and became a US citizen in 1942. Beside that, he starred alongside Stan Laurel in 19 films and opposite Oliver Hardy in five films before Laurel and Hardy were teamed together he appeared in dozens of Roach Studio films, with Charley Chase, Glenn Tryon, Snub Pollard, and Ben Turpin, and in several Our Gang shorts, including Mush and Milk, in which he and Spanky McFarland match wits in a comically adversarial phone conversation. Nonetheless, he was still "considered by many to be an indispensable part of the Laurel & Hardy team." Īltogether, Finlayson played roles in 33 Laurel and Hardy films, usually as a villain or an antagonist, in such films Big Business (1929) and Way Out West (1937).
RANKING LAUREL AND HARDY MOVIES SERIES
But Roach staff producer and future multi-Oscared director Leo McCarey recognized the great potential of a Laurel-and-Hardy pairing and began developing their characters and expanding their roles toward that end by the autumn of 1928, Laurel and Hardy was a formal studio series with its own production prefixes while the All-Star Comedy series – and Finlayson's equal co-billing – were things of the past. The next step came in 1927 when the All-Star Comedy series gave Finlayson equal billing with up-and-coming co-stars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, comedian Edna Marion, and others Some studio publicity even referred to Finlayson, Hardy and Laurel as a "famous comedy trio". In the mid-1920s, when he worked for the Hal Roach Studios, Roach attempted to make a top-billed star out of Finlayson, but the effort was unfocused and he never caught on. He played uncredited bit parts in films such as Foreign Correspondent (1940), To Be or Not to Be (1942), and Royal Wedding (1951). The promotional newspaper article for the 1920 premiere of Sennett's Down on the Farm refers to Finlayson as "legitimate and screen player of international celebrity" and of his performance says: "The villian in the case – a sort of cross between a Turkish Don Juan and a 'loan shark' – is played with rare power and comic results of seriousness by James Finlayson". He appeared in numerous Sennett-produced comedies, including with the Keystone Kops. In October 1919, he signed a contract with the Mack Sennett Comedies Corporation. He later won the role of Rab Biggar in the Broadway production of Bunty Pulls the Strings by Graham Moffat, and dropped out of a national tour in 1916 to pursue a career in Hollywood.įilm still from Down on the Farm (1920) Film Īrriving in Los Angeles in 1916, he initially found film work at L-KO and Thomas H. The remarkable thing is that he managed to do them both at the same time." In May 1912 in New York City, he played the role of a detective disguised as a teuchter (person originating from the Scottish West Highlands or Western Isles) in the stage production The Great Game at Daly's Theatre: "James Finlayson had an excellent opportunity, which he did not miss, for developing two characters in his one role – the simple, naive Scotsman and the artful, determined detective. The next year (1911) with both parents deceased, he emigrated (at age 24) to the United States, along with his brother, Robert.
As part of John Clyde's company, he played the part of Jamie Ratcliffe in Jeanie Deans at the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh in 1910.
Born in Larbert, Stirlingshire, Scotland to Alexander and Isabella (née Henderson) Finlayson, James worked as a tinsmith before pursuing an acting career.
0 kommentar(er)
