Albert Finney, legendary star of Tom Jones and Miller's Crossing, dies aged 82

Albert Finney, who forged his reputation as one of the leading actors of Britain’s early 60s new wave cinema, has died aged 82 after a short illness, his family have announced. In 2011, he disclosed he had kidney cancer.

A publicist told the Guardian that Finney died on Thursday of a chest infection at the Royal Marsden hospital, which specialises in cancer treatment, just outside London. His wife, Pene, and son, Simon, were by his side.

Having shot to fame as the star of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Finney received five Oscar nominations, but never won, and refused a knighthood.

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Speaking to the Guardian, Daniel Craig – who starred in Skyfall, Finney’s final film, in which he played a gamekeeper from James Bond’s childhood – said: “I’m deeply saddened by the news of Albert Finney’s passing. The world has lost a giant. Wherever Albert is now, I hope there are horses and good company.”

The director of that film, Sam Mendes, added: “It is desperately sad news that Albert Finney has gone. He really was one of the greats - a brilliant, beautiful, big-hearted, life loving delight of a man. He will be terribly missed.”

Paul Greengrass, who directed Finney in The Bourne Ultimatum, said: “Albert was an actor of rare power and humanity with an astonishing body of work over the decades. Off screen he brought his infectious sense of humour to work every morning. He loved every aspect of the business and we in turn loved and revered him. I shall miss him enormously.”

Michael York, who appeared on screen with Finney in The Murder on the Orient Express, as well as on stage with him in the National Theatre’s production of Armstong’s Last Goodnight said: “Albert had this enormous vitality - he was comfortable with the classics and in contemporary stuff, it was quite remarkable. And his Poirot was fantastic…. Albert was such a wonderful guy to have in one’s life. I was so lucky to work with him so many times.”

Elsewhere, stars have been sharing memories and paying tribute to the actor on Twitter.

Born in Salford in 1936, Finney grew up the son of a bookmaker as part of what he called the “lower middle class”. Encouraged by his headmaster at Salford Grammar school, Finney got a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he found himself in the same class as Peter O’Toole and Alan Bates. Having established himself as a theatre actor, Finney capitalised on the late-50s surge of interest in “northern” material, and found himself cast, first, in a small role in the film adaptation of John Osborne’s The Entertainer (set in Morecambe) and then as the lead in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, as rambunctious factory worker Arthur Seaton.

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Directed by Karel Reisz and released in 1960, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning proved to be extremely popular as well as a key film in the “angry” cinema of the period. As described in The Guide to British Cinema, Finney exuded “a mixture of defiance and selfishness overlaid with a raw sexuality”, and allied with his unarguable screen charisma, he became a major star almost overnight.

Finney then became the face of British cinema’s international explosion after being cast in the title role of Tom Jones, directed by The Entertainer’s Tony Richardson. Tom Jones, with its bawdy humour and rollicking atmosphere, was a hit in the US and won four Oscars (including best picture); Finney received the first of his four best actor nominations, but lost to Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field.

Roles followed in Karel Reisz’s Night Must Fall and the Stanley Donen-directed Two for the Road, opposite Audrey Hepburn; Finney then turned director, with the 1968 release Charlie Bubbles. Written by Shelagh Delaney, the tale of a successful writer returning to his Manchester hometown was clearly highly personal for Finney, though it would prove to be his only directorial credit. He also used his increased clout – and money – to supporting other British new wave figures, backing Lindsay Anderson’s radical If… and its follow-up O Lucky Man!, as well as Mike Leigh’s 1971 debut feature Bleak Moments.

In the ensuing decade, Finney’s status as an established star saw him appear in a wide variety of material, including a mainstream musical (Scrooge), a low-budget crime comedy (Gumshoe, Stephen Frears’ directorial debut) and the star-packed Agatha Christie adaptation Murder on the Orient Express, in which he played Hercule Poirot.

In the 1980s, Alan Parker cast him opposite Diane Keaton in Shoot the Moon, the 1982 study of a disintegrating marriage, while he played the ageing “Sir” in the Peter Yates-directed The Dresser, for which he received an Oscar nomination. The adaptation of Malcolm Lowry’s Under the Volcano, in which Finney played alcoholic ex-diplomat Geoffrey Firmin, brought him his final best actor Oscar nomination – though he would be nominated for best supporting actor in 2001 for the Steven Soderbergh-directed Erin Brockovich.

He also appeared in a string of high-profile TV dramas, including Dennis Potter’s final works Karaoke and Cold Lazarus, the Angela Lambert adaptation A Rather English Marriage, and as Winston Churchill in The Gathering Storm in 2002, for which he won Bafta, Golden Globe and Emmy awards. Finney made regular stage appearances throughout his career, including A Day in the Death of Joe Egg in 1968, Krapp’s Last Tape in 1973, and the 1984 revival of Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance at the Old Vic.

After the Coen brothers cast him in Miller’s Crossing, playing Irish-American mobster Leo O’Bannon, Finney began to acquire a cachet among the new generation of American film-makers who revered his work in the 1960s: Soderbergh cast him in Traffic and Erin Brockovich and Tim Burton in Corpse Bride and Big Fish. His final substantial role would prove to be as the gamekeeper Kincade in the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall.

Finney twice turned down official honours – a CBE in 1980, and a knighthood in 2000 – and revealed in 2011 he had overcome cancer after successful treatment. He was married three times, to actors Jane Wenham and Anouk Aimée from 1957-61 and 1970-78 respectively, and travel agent Pene Delmage in 2006. He is survived by Delmage and his son Simon, from his first marriage.