Marvelously quirky, distinctive and versatile character actor William Franklin Finley was born on September 20, 1940 in New York City. Finley attended Columbia University, where he first met future filmmaker Brian De Palma. The lanky 6'4" Finley first began acting on the New York stage. He made his film debut in De Palma's odd short movie Woton's Wake. Finley went on to play a deliciously rich and colorful array of strikingly idiosyncratic parts for De Palma: a slow-witted stage hand in Murder a la Mod (1968), the disapproving friend of a guy who was about to be married in The Wedding Party (1969), the wicked titular villain in Dionysus in '69 (1970); splendid as Margot Kidder's freaky psychiatrist husband in Soeurs de sang (1973); excellent and engaging in a rare substantial lead as the meek and nerdy struggling songwriter Winslow Leach in the delightfully outrageous Phantom of the Paradise (1974), and a seedy psychic in Furie (1978).
Finley tackled a couple of equally memorable off-center roles in a pair of superior Tobe Hooper fright features: he was Marilyn Burns' deranged husband in Le crocodile de la mort (1976) and a pathetic drunken carnival magician in Massacres dans le train fantôme (1981). Finley was once again fine as a geeky scientist in the exciting Chuck Norris horror/action hybrid Horreur dans la ville (1982). In addition to acting, Finley composed the theme song for Murder a la Mod and co-wrote the script for the offbeat teen coming-of-age comedy The First Time (1983). Finley had a small, yet chilling part as a creepy private investigator in the disappointing Le dahlia noir (2006). William Finley died at age 71 on April 14, 2012; he has survived by his wife Susan and son Dashiell.
