| James Finlayson |
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| Born | James Henderson Finlayson
(1887-08-27)27 August 1887
Larbert, Stirlingshire, Scotland, United Kingdom |
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| Died | 9 October 1953(1953-10-09) (aged 66)
Los Angeles, United States |
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| Occupation | Actor |
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| Years active | 1910–1951 |
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| Spouse(s) | Emily Cora Gilbert (1919–?) |
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James Henderson "Jimmy" Finlayson (27 August 1887 – 9 October 1953) was a Scottish actor who worked in both silent and sound comedies. Bald, with a
fake moustache, Finlayson had many trademark comic mannerisms and is famous for his squinting, outraged, "double take and fade away" head reaction, and characteristic expression "d'ooooooh", and as the most famous comic foil of
Laurel and Hardy.
Career
Born in
Larbert,
Stirlingshire, Scotland to parents Alexander and Isabella (Henderson) Finlayson,
[1] he attended
George Watson's College before dropping out of the
University of Edinburgh to pursue an acting career.
[citation needed] After the death of both his parents, he emigrated to the U.S. in 1911 at the age of 24 with his brother Robert.
[2][3] He married Emily Cora Gilbert in 1919
[4] and became a U.S. citizen in 1920.
[3]
Theatre
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.
[5]
He played the role of a detective disguised as a
teuchter (person originating from the Scottish West Highlands or Western Isles) in the play
The Great Game at Daly's Theater, New York in May 1912:
[6][7] "James Finlayson had an excellent opportunity, which he did not miss, for developing two characters in his one role – the simple, naive Scotchman and the artful, determined detective. The remarkable thing is that he managed to do them both at the same time."
[8][9]
He later won the role of Rab Biggar in the popular
Broadway production of
Bunty Pulls the Strings by
Graham Moffat,
[8] and dropped out of a country-wide theatrical tour in 1916 to pursue a career in
Hollywood.
Film
Arriving in Los Angeles in 1916, he found work at
L-KO and
Thomas Ince's studio.
[8] He starred in numerous
Mack Sennett-produced comedies, most notably as one of the original
Keystone Kops.
[citation needed] As a freelance actor late in his career, he made some of his final films in the UK. He played bit parts in films like
Foreign Correspondent,
To Be or Not to Be, and
Royal Wedding. He retired owing to illness many years before his death in 1953.
Hal Roach Studios
However, Finlayson is most remembered for his work at the
Hal Roach Studios. In the mid-1920s, Roach attempted to make a top-billed star out of Finlayson,
[10] but the effort was unfocused and he never caught on. 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, comedienne
Edna Marion, and others;
[11] some studio publicity even referred to Finlayson, Hardy and Laurel as a "famous comedy trio."
[12] 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;
[13] 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.
[14] Yet so memorable an antagonist was he to "The Boys" that even with his diminished billing, he was still "considered by many to be an indispensable part of the Laurel & Hardy team."
[15]
Altogether, Finlayson played roles in 33
Laurel and Hardy films, usually as a villain or an antagonist, notably in the celebrated films
Big Business (1929) and
Way Out West (1937). He also 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. He was also in several
Our Gang shorts, notably
Mush and Milk, in which he and
Spanky McFarland match wits in a comically adversarial phone conversation.
Death
English actress Stephanie Insall and Finlayson regularly took breakfast together and had for the past 20 years. However, on the morning of 9 October 1953, Finlayson did not turn up at the usual time. Knowing that he had been ill from flu recently, Miss Insall went to his home on North Beachwood Drive, Los Angeles,
California, where she discovered his body. Finlayson had died of a
heart attack. He was 66 years old.
[16]
His funeral rites were held at the same
Masonic Chapel as Oliver Hardy's.
[17] Mack Sennett,
Billy Bevan,
Hank Mann, and
Snub Pollard attended the service.
[17]
Legacy
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!" This would later inspire
Dan Castellaneta, the voice actor of
Homer Simpson. 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". He rendered it as a drawn out "dohhhhhhh". This was inspired by Finlayson.
Matt Groening felt that it would better suit the timing of animation if it were spoken faster. Castellaneta then shortened it to a quickly uttered "
D'oh!"
[18]
Notes
- His trademark moustache was a prop used mainly in Roach films.[14] In many of his non-Roach movies, it was absent – for example, in the 1937 Roach feature, Pick a Star, Finlayson appears, unbilled and without his moustache, in a sequence as a film director working with Laurel & Hardy.
- Finlayson was known by a variety of nicknames. According to Laurel and Hardy scholar Randy Skretvedt, he "called himself Jimmy, was known around the lot as Jim and is usually referred to today as 'Fin'"[19] – perhaps because he played a character called Fin in Our Relations and one named Mickey Finn in Way Out West, or most likely, just as a truncated version of his surname.
- He once knocked himself out by putting too much effort into a double-take routine.[citation needed]
- A Chump at Oxford (1940), which was released in two separate versions, features an extended opening sequence featuring Finlayson in the European version of the film.
- In the book Our Gang by Leonard Maltin, about the Our Gang series, Maltin shows a picture with series director Robert McGowan and Jimmy Finlayson. Child actor Mary Kornman clings to McGowan; Jackie Condon, Joe Cobb, Allen "Farina" Hoskins, and Johnny Downs stand around Finlayson and fashion "Finsquints."
Selected filmography
References
- Jump up ^ Scotland Statutory Registers: Births in the Parish of Larbert in the County of Stirling, 1887 – page 51, Item #151
- Jump up ^ Ship manifest for the California, sailing from Glasgow, arrived New York on 5 June 1911; page: 766; line: 3
- ^ Jump up to: a b National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, D.C.; Naturalization Records of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, Central Division (Los Angeles), 1887–1940; Microfilm Serial: M1524; Microfilm Roll: 8
- Jump up ^ California, County Marriages, 1850–1952; page: 209; film number: 1033287; digital folder number: 004540626; image number: 00664
- Jump up ^ The Scotsman; 3 May 1910; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Scotsman (1817–1950); pg. 5
- Jump up ^ Review in New York Tribune, 12 May 1912
- Jump up ^ Review in New York Herald, 17 May 1912
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Louvish, Simon (2001); Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy; London: Faber and Faber; ISBN 0-571-20352-3; p. 157
- Jump up ^ Review in New York Dramatic Mirror, 22 May 1912. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- Jump up ^ Mitchell, Glenn, (1995). The Laurel and Hardy Encyclopedia. London: Batsford Press. ISBN 0-7134-7711-3. p. 101
- Jump up ^ Skretvedt, Randy, (1996). Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies. Beverly Hills: Past Times Publishing. ISBN 0-940410-29-X. p 93
- Jump up ^ Skretvedt, p. 98
- Jump up ^ Skretvedt, pp. 95–97
- ^ Jump up to: a b Mitchell, p. 102
- Jump up ^ Mitchell, p. 101
- Jump up ^ Obituary in Los Angeles Times, 10 October 1953. Retrieved 2012-01-23.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Louvish, p. 456
- Jump up ^ "What’s the story with ... Homer’s D’oh!". The Herald. 21 July 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
- Jump up ^ Skretvedt, p. 77
External links
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