Biography
William Franklin Finley (September 20, 1940 – April 14, 2012) was an American actor. Finley was born in New York City, and early on in his acting career, he struck up a friendship with director Brian De Palma and appeared in several of his films; including Murder á la Mod, Dionysus, and Sisters. In Murder á la Mod, Finley performs the title song.
Finley's most well-remembered performance was in De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise (1974), in which he portrayed the main character, long-suffering songwriter Winslow Leach, who eventually becomes the titular Phantom. For the film's soundtrack, Finley performed the song "Faust". It is one of two renditions of the song featured on the soundtrack album, the other performed by its writer Paul Williams, Finley's co-star.
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William Finley died from an inflamed colon in 2012, his last acting appearance being in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia, which was released in 2006.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.