"Murder on the Orient Express", 1974 Film Quiz

Answer: Sean Connery

Lumet had directed Connery in "The Hill", "The Anderson Tapes (which also starred Martin Balsam), and "The Offence", as well as "Orient Express". By 1965, Connery had starred in four James Bond films, and was worried that he'd be typecast in the role. His performance in Lumet's "The Hill", a dark prison drama, in which he played a character radically different from the debonair Bond, gave him a chance to display his range as an actor. Lumet subsequently cast Connery as an ex-con in "The Anderson Tapes" and as a tormented police detective driven to murder in "The Offense". Connery was extremely grateful to Lumet for these opportunities to break free of his James Bond image and stretch his acting muscles, and it was mainly for this reason that he accepted the role of the stolid Colonel Arbuthnot in "Orient Express". Of the role itself, Connery said at the time of filming that it was mainly Albert Finney's film, and that "...the rest of us are glorified extras."

Connery starred once again under Lumet's direction many years later in "Family Business" (1989) alongside Dustin Hoffman and Matthew Broderick.

Answer: Richard Rodney Bennett

A graduate of London's Royal Academy of Music, Bennett had earlier provided the scores for the films "Far From the Madding Crowd" (based on the Thomas Hardy novel) and "Nicholas and Alexandra" prior to his work on "Orient Express". A prolific jazz composer, Bennett has also penned symphonies, concertos, sonatas, and operas.

Bennett's score for "Orient Express" won him an Academy Award nomination for best score. It is one of the most celebrated film scores of all time, and has been made into an orchestral suite. The sinister and evocative opening theme, the eerie music underpinning the opening montage, and the glorious music accompanying the train's departure from the station are among the many elements that make this film so memorable.

Answer: Colonel Arbuthnot

Greta Ohlsson (Ingrid Bergman) is seen bound and gagged in a chair that has overturned. She is struggling to free herself. Edward Beddoes (Sir John Gielgud) is seen bravely confronting one of the kidnappers, before the other one coshes him from behind and knocks him unconscious. Hildegarde Schmidt (Rachel Roberts) is seen looking over the stairwell, clasping her hands to her face, and possibly screaming. As the kidnapper's car races out of the driveway, Cyrus Hardman (Colin Blakely) is seen emerging from the summer-house with Paulette Michel, with whom he had been having a tryst. Antonio (Gino) Foscarelli (Dennis Quilley), the Armstrong's chauffeur, nearly collides with the kidnappers' car while pulling into the driveway, and is run off of the road. He is seen emerging from the car and staring after the kidnappers' car in shock.

Later in the montage, we see newsreel footage of Colonel Armstrong and his wife Sonia emerging from their private jet and being besieged by reporters. Mary Debenham (Vanessa Redgrave) is seen from behind gently escorting Mrs. Armstrong, and trying to shield her from reporters.

It is difficult to make out the features of any of the characters, since they are all either back-lit, or have their backs to the camera, or are filmed from a distance. The easiest one to recognize is Beddoes, the manservant (Sir John Gielgud). It is difficult to make out his features, but the backlighting highlights his distinctive profile.

Colonel Arbuthnot, a close friend of Colonel Armstrong, does not appear, as he was not a member of the Armstrong household, and was probably living in England (or India) at the time. Others who do not appear include Princess Dragamiroff, who was probably somewhere in Europe at the time. Mrs. Hubbard (a.k.a. Linda Arden, Daisy's grandmother) is also not seen in the opening montage; nor is Countess Andrenyi (a.k.a. Helena Andrenyi, nee Grunewald; Daisy's aunt and Sonia's sister) nor Count Andrenyi, who had not yet married (or likely even met) Helena.

Answer: Baby food

Poirot seems to be instinctively suspicious of Ratchett; perhaps he recognizes his true identity, or possibly he has dealt with enough criminals to be able to "sniff one out". In any case, his question catches Ratchett off guard, and he answers bluntly: "I'm retired.". Poirot replies "Retired from what?" Ratchett is evasive, and again answers bluntly "Business". Poirot is persistent: "What sort of 'business'?" Ratchett, after thinking for a moment replies "Baby food", and immediately changes the subject to the threats on his life. His answer is a particularly chilling one, coming from someone who ordered the kidnapping and murder of a small child. He shows Poirot a gun that he claims to sleep on at night (a claim that proves to be true when Poirot searches his cabin after the murder). He offers Poirot increasingly larger sums of money, presumably to act as his bodyguard. Poirot refuses, explaining that "I have made enough money to satisfy both my needs and my caprices. I take now only such cases as interest me and, to be frank, my interest in yor case is, er...dwindling." At this point, the train goes through a tunnel, and all is dark for a moment. When the lights return, Ratchett is gone, a swinging door indicating his swift (and, no doubt, angry) retreat from the dining car.

Ratchett is played by American actor Richard Widmark, an old hand at playing tough guys and villains. His first such role was in the 1947 film noir "Kiss of Death", in which he played a psychopathic killer who pushes a wheelchair-bound Mildred Dunnock down a flight of stairs to her death. He went on to star in other classic "dark" films such as "Panic in the Streets" and "Night and the City". In 1955, he appeared alongside future "Orient Express" costar Lauren Bacall in the psychological drama "The Cobweb".In the later 1950s and '60s, Widmark played more sympathetic characters in Westerns and in the classic historical courtroom drama "Judgment at Nuremberg", alongside Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, and Marlene Dietrich. He admitted that he took the relatively small role of the gangster Ratchett/Cassetti in "Orient Express" largely because he wanted to meet the other actors in the film, many of whom he had never had the chance to work with before. Although he is mainly known for playing criminals and murderers, Widmark was by nature a shy family man, who hated guns and abhorred violence of any kind. His last film appearance was in the 1991 film "True Colors", starring James Spader and John Cusack; he died in 2008, at age 93.

Answer: In the book, M. Bouc disliked Italians.

In the novel M. Bouc suspects the Italian, Antonio Foscarelli (whose first name is changed to Gino in the film), of the murder of Ratchett because "...they use the knife. I do not like Italians." Thus, it is rather ironic that the character was made into an Italian for the film.

The character or Signor Bianchi was played by Martin Balsam. Balsam was a veteran American actor who had an extensive career in television and film. Among his best-known movie roles were in "A Thousand Clowns", "On the Waterfront", "12 Angry Men", "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "Catch 22", and "Cape Fear" (he appeared in both the original 1962 production and Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake with Robert De Niro, as did Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum). His television work includes appearances on "The Twilight Zone" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", though he is probably best-known as Archie Bunker's sidekick Murray Klein in the latter years of "All in the Family" and its short-lived spinoff "Archie Bunker's Place". For "Orient Express", he adopted a convincing Italian accent.

Regarding the wrong answers, Mr. Balsam was NOT French, so far as I could discover; "Bouc" and "Bianchi" do not have the same meaning, and Christie, so far as I know, did not intend to make Bouc an Italian.

Answer: Mrs. Hubbard

In the novel. Mrs. Hubbard is portrayed as an extremely loquacious, rather dowdy middle-aged woman, who is always talking about her daughter and her grandchildren. She quotes her daughter extensively, beginning most sentences with "My daughter says...". Poirot describes her as a typical "American fond mother" She affects a fit of hysterics and a fainting spell upon announcing her "discovery" of the murder weapon.

In the film, as played by Lauren Bacall, the character is still a middle-aged chatterbox, but otherwise she is significantly different. Bacall's Mrs. Hubbard is a flashy dresser, is much more aggressive that her counterpart in the novel, lies about her age (at one point expecting Pierre Michel to believe that she is only thirty!), and continually quotes her (presumably deceased) second husband, Mr. Hubbard (though never her first husband, Mr. Grunewald, the father of her two daughters). She does not mention a daughter, nor any grandchildren. In one of the film's most chilling moments, she dramatically appears with the murder weapon, standing in the window of the room where Poirot is interviewing Foscarelli, in a manner worthy of the character of Lady Macbeth (one of Linda Arden's greatest roles).

Of course, both Mrs. Hubbards are creations of the great tragic actress Linda Arden (who, according to both novel and film, always wanted to play comic roles).

Lauren Bacall memorably partnered her late husband, the great Humphrey Bogart, in "To Have and Have Not", "Dark Passage", "The Big Sleep", and "Key Largo". The first of these was made while Bogart was still married to his second wife, Mayo Methot, and contains the famous "You know how to whistle, don't you?" dialogue. On her own, Bacall showed her flair for comedy in "How To Marry a Millionaire" with Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe, and "Designing Woman" with Gregory Peck, as well as drama in "Young Man With a Horn", co-starring Kirk Douglas, and "Written on the Wind" with Rock Hudson and Dorothy Malone. She received her Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in Barbra Streisand's 1996 film "The Mirror Has Two Faces", but lost to Juliette Binoche in "The English Patient". Bacall has also enjoyed a career on Broadway, in the musicals "Applause" and "Woman of the Year". She has described her relatively brief role as Mrs. Hubbard in "Murder on the Orient Express" as one of her favorites.

Answer: Sir John Gielgud

Gielgud portrays the British manservant Edward Beddoes, for which his own cultured British accent was admirably suited. Fellow actor (and knight) Sir Alec Guinness had described Gielgud's voice as "A silver trumpet muted in silk."

Dennis Quilley and Colin Blakely were both veteran British actors whose careers spanned both stage and screen. Both worked with Sir Laurence Olivier (Blakely portrayed Kent in Olivier's televised performance of "King Lear", and both would later appear in the 1982 film version of Christie's "Evil Under the Sun"). For this film, both adopted American accents, in Quilley's case an Italian-American one (he also gets to speak a smattering of Italian during his brief scene with Poirot). The very British Beddoes memorably describes Foscarelli's American speech as "...A kind of English, sir. I believe he learned it in a place called Chicago."

Michael York portrays the Hungarian Count Andrenyi, husband of Sonia Armstrong's surviving younger sister Helena, portrayed by Jacqueline Bisset. At the time the film was made, both were in their thirties, and were established movie stars. Prior to "Orient Express" York had appeared in Franco Zeffirelli's 1967 film adaption of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" alongside the legendary duo Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (York's performance as Lucentio impressed Burton, who commented to Zeffirelli "My God, that boy's good!"). He later starred as Tybalt in Zeffirelli's film version of "Romeo and Juliet", and he appeared as D'Artagnan in the 1973 version of "The Three Musketeers" and alongside Liza Minnelli in the film version of "Cabaret". He has since appeared in "The Island of Doctor Moreau" alongside Burt Lancaster, as well as "The Far Country", "Logan's Run", and two sequels to "The Three Musketeers". More recently, he has appeared in two Austin Powers movies with Mike Myers: "The Spy Who Shagged Me" and "Goldmember". He has also appeared on the stage, most notably in the play "Bent", in which he replaced Richard Gere in the Broadway production of the Martin Sherman play dealing with the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany.

Jacqueline Bisset had gained attention in the films "Bullitt", "Airport", and "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean", playing alongside such stars as Steve McQueen, Dean Martin, Helen Hayes, and Paul Newman, prior to her appearance in "Orient Express". Her subsequent films have included "The Deep" "Rich and Famous", "Scenes From the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills", and "Under the Volcano". She has appeared on American television in such shows as "Ally McBeal", "Law and Order", and as a voice artist in the cartoon "Hey Arnold!" She portrayed former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the 2003 television film ""America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story". Bisset is the godmother of actress Angela Jolie, with whom she was supposed to have appeared in the 2005 film "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"; unfortunately their scenes together were deleted prior to the film's release.


Mention should also be made of George Coulouris as the Greek Dr. Constantine. Despite his Greek name and parentage (his father was a Greek merchant), Coulouris was born and raised in England. He attended the Central School of Speech and Drama, where his classmates included Sir Laurence Olivier and Dame Peggy Ashcroft. His film credits include "Citizen Kane", "Watch on the Rhine" (for which he received an Oscar nomination), "For Whom the Bell Tolls", and "Joan of Arc". In the latter two films, he starred alongside future "Orient Express" costar Ingrid Bergman. The Greek accent he adopted for his role as Dr. Constantine is not his own; no doubt he drew upon memories of his own father's accent.

Answer: true

Redgrave starred in the Michael Apted film "Agatha", released in 1979. The film deals with Christie's strange 12 day disappearance in 1926, following the revelation that her husband had been having an affair. The film costars Timothy Dalton as Christie's husband Archibald and Dustin Hoffman, as American Journalist Wally Stanton (a fictional character) who falls in love with the authoress during her disappearance.

Redgrave, daughter of actor Michael Redgrave and actress Rachel Kempson, has enjoyed a long and distinguished stage and film career. The latter includes roles in "Blow Up", "Isadora", "Oh! What a Lovely War", "Julia" (for which she won an Academy Award), "Howards End", "Mrs. Dalloway", and "Letters to Juliet". In 2009, Redgrave lost her older daughter, actress Natasha Richardson, who died as the result of head trauma after a skiing accident. The following year, she additionally lost her two younger siblings, actor Corin Redgrave and actress Lynn Redgrave, both to cancer. Still active in films, she has appeared as Volumnia in a film version of Shakespeare's "Coriolanus", starring Ralph Fiennes, and has portrayed Queen Elizabeth I in "Anonymous", a film about the Shakespeare authorship controversy.

Answer: Russian

Although the Princess Dragamiroff is Russian, she greets Pierre in French (the preferred language of Russian royalty) and he responds in French. He addresses Hildegarde Schmidt, her maid, in German, Count Andrenyi in Hungarian, and Greta Ohlsson in Swedish.

Cassel was a distinguished French actor who, in his youth, had been a talented tap dancer (he got his first break in films after being discovered by Gene Kelly). His film credits include the Luis Bunuel film "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgoisie" (1972), "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" (1965), and "The Boat on the Grass" (1971). His role in "Orient Express" was a particularly challenging one, since his character's emotions had to be kept continually in check, as he presents the impassive façade of the veteran conductor. The scene in which he finally breaks down into tears after Poirot presents him with the photograph of his daughter, who had committed suicide after being wrongly accused of complicity in the Armstrong kidnapping, is deeply moving. Cassel was the father of actors Vincent and Cecile Cassel; his last screen appearance was a dual role in the Julian Schnabel film "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", which was released in 2007, the year Cassel died.

Answer: Shimoga is in India.

Shimoga is actually a district along the Tunga river in India, not Africa. Poirot is apparently aware of this, and at the beginning of his interview with Col. Arbuthnot, asks him about Shimoga's exact location, and if it has a mission. Arbuthnot is able to answer the first, but not the second question, though he allows that it is more than likely that it does have a mission. It is not clear whether Miss Ohlsson is merely confused (VERY confused!), or whether her story about working in Shimoga is a complete fabrication.

Difficult as it may be to believe, Sidney Lumet originally wanted Bergman to play the Princess Dragamiroff rather than Ohlsson. Lumet felt that Bergman would be perfect in the showy role of the fragile but indomitable Russian Princess (a character similar to the one which Helen Hayes had played alongside Bergman in "Anastasia", eighteen years earlier), and that the role would win her an Oscar. Bergman, however, stubbornly insisted that she wanted to play the smaller role of the drab, timid Swedish missionary, who had earlier been the nursemaid to the murdered child Daisy. Unable to change her mind, Lumet decided to film the scene of her interrogation by Poirot in one take, a challenge to which Bergman rose superbly. Ably partnered by Finney's Poirot, Bergman is by turns subtly hilarious as she butchers the English language nearly as badly as she and her co-conspirators butchered Ratchett, and deeply moving as she guardedly recalls her past. She won an Oscar for her brief but memorable performance, and in a notably gracious acceptance speech acknowledged that Italian actress Valentine Cortese, who was nominated in the same category for her performance in Francois Truffaut's "Day for Night" was the more deserving nominee (the other nominees were Madeleine Kahn for "Blazing Saddles", Talia Shire for "The Godfather, Part II", and Diane Ladd foe "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore").

Answer: Princess Dragamiroff

At the conclusion of his interview with the Princess, Poirot notes "You never smile, Madame la Princesse!", to which she drily replies "My doctor has advised against it."

The distinguished British actress Dame Wendy Hiller was cast as the frail, but autocratic and majestic Princess Dragamiroff. Hiller was a celebrated stage actress who also enjoyed success in films. George Bernard Shaw considered her one of the finest interpreters of his female characters, an she appeared onstage in "Saint Joan", "Pygmalion", and "Major Barbara", and she starred in the film versions of the latter two plays (alongside Leslie Howard in "Pygmalion" and Rex Harrison in "Major Barbara"). Her stage appearances included plays by Shakespeare and Ibsen. She portrayed an independent and materialistic woman who undergoes a life-altering experience on a Scottish Isle in the 1945 film "I Know Where I'm Going", and won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the 1958 film "Separate Tables". At the Academy Awards ceremony, she shocked many with her decidedly cold acceptance speech: "Never mind the honour," she said, "cold hard cash is what it means to me." Many were put off, but others found her candor refreshing; the fact was that Hiller didn't value film stardom very highly. In later years, she appeared in the films "A Man for All Seasons", "Voyage of the Damned", and "The Elephant Man", as well as "Orient Express". Hiller died in 2003 at her home in Beaconsfield, England, aged 90. Trivia Fact: Both Hiller and American cookbook author and TV chef Julia Child were born on the same date- August 15, 1912.

Answer: Paulette Michel

While Poirot is interviewing the Princess Dragamiroff, he questions her maid regarding the Armstrong's ill-fated French maid, who committed suicide. Although she deftly avoids giving the girl's surname (which would expose her relation to Pierre Michel), Fraulein Schmidt cannot suppress a twinge of emotion when uttering her first name. Poirot later visits her cabin and asks if she has a photo of Paulette, which she does (along with the tunic of a Wagon Lit conductor which someone had concealed in her luggage). When Poirot exclaims over the beauty of the unfortunate young girl, Hildegarde cannot conceal her emotions. Poirot seizes the opportunity to offer her the costly embroidered handkerchief found in Ratchett's cabin, bearing the initial H. She (truthfully) denies that it is hers, and likewise denies (untruthfully) that it belongs to her mistress, pointing out that the initial is wrong, since the Princess' Christian name is Natalia (however, in the Russian alphabet, the letter H is the equivalent of the English letter N).

Rachel Roberts was a Welsh actress, whose career encompassed stage, film, and even American television (she played a nanny on the short-lived 1976 sitcom "The Tony Randall Show", and appeared in episodes of "Marcus Welby M.D.", "Night Gallery", and "Family"). Among her best-known movie roles was the 1960 film "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning", in which she played the older paramour of a young architect, portrayed by none other than Albert Finney (then in his early twenties!). Her film career also includes performances in "This Sporting Life", "Picnic at Hanging Rock", "Yanks", and "When a Stranger Calls". Onstage, her best-known roles were in the Lionel Bart musical "Maggie May" and productions of Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf", Feydeau's "Chemin de Fer", and Durrenmatt's "The Visit". Roberts suffered from depression and alcoholism, both of which were exacerbated by her ill-fated marriage to actor Rex Harrison. She became increasingly despondent in the decade following her divorce from Harrison in 1971, and tragically took her own life in 1980..

Answer: Martin Balsam (Signor Bianchi)

In "Psycho", Balsam portrays detective Milton Arbogast, who becomes the second murder victim in the film when he goes to the Bates home to interview Norman's mother concerning the mysterious disappearance of Marion Crane. Arbogast is attacked at the top of a staircase by a knife-wielding figure, who slashes him, causing him to fall down the stairs, where he is stabbed to death. The murderer is revealed to be Bates (Perkins), who suffers a split personality and commits his crimes in the guise of his dead mother, whom he had murdered years before. In the film version of "Murder on the Orient Express", McQueen is given a mother fixation, which had found an outlet in the late Sonia Armstrong, mother of the murdered child Daisy (in the novel, McQueen, whose father had been the prosecutor in the Armstrong case, had developed a boyish crush on Mrs. Armstrong). No doubt this was intended to recall Perkins' iconic role in the 1960 film.

Prior to "Psycho", Perkins had appeared in the 1956 film "Friendly Persuasion", in which he portrayed the idealistic teenaged son of Quaker couple Jess and Eliza Birdwell (Gary Cooper and Dorothy McGuire). Among his other notable films were "The Matchmaker" with Shirley Booth (an adaption of the Thornton Wilder play which served as the basis for "Hello Dolly"), "Green Mansions", in which he costarred with Audrey Hepburn), "Goodbye Again" (with fellow "Orient Express" star Ingrid Bergman), "Catch 22" (in which he again co-starred with Martin Balsam), and "The Trial". Perkins was a close friend of composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, with whom he wrote the screenplay for the 1973 murder-mystery film "The Last of Sheila". Perkins died of complications from AIDS in 1992; his widow, Berinthia ("Berry") Berenson, sister of actress Marisa Berenson, was tragically killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, having boarded American Airlines flight 11, which was crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Answer: Edward Beddoes

Beddoes, the quintessential English butler, shared a cabin with the talkative Italian Antonio (Gino) Foscarelli, a mismatch if ever there was one. He tells Poirot that he spent the evening reading, since he could not sleep, due to a bad toothache, and was disinclined to engage in conversation with Foscarelli. At one point, Foscarelli had asked what he was reading, whereupon Beddoes replied that he was reading a novel entitled "Love's Captive", by Mrs. Arabella Richardson. When the vulgar Foscarelli asks "Is it about sex?", Beddoes primly replies, glancing at his watch "No, it's about ten-thirty, Mister Foscarelli." Poirot laughes heartily at Beddoes account of this droll exchange.

Beddoes (whose name was Masterman in the novel) is played by Sir John Gielgud. One of the greatest actors England has produced, Gielgud enjoyed a brilliant and distinguished career on both stage and screen during his long life. He was descended, on his mother's side, from the great actress Ellen Terry. As a Shakespearean actor, he was generally considered unsurpassed by all save Olivier (and, in the opinion of some, not even by him). He appeared with Olivier in productions of "Romeo and Juliet", in which they alternated the roles of Romeo and Mercutio. Earlier in his career, he had created a sensation on Broadway in the title role of "Hamlet", in a production starring Lillian Gish as Ophelia. Other great Shakespearean roles included the title role in "Richard II", Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice" and Prospero in "The Tempest". He appeared with equal distinction in the works of Chekhov, Sheridan, and Oscar Wilde. Gielgud didn't care for movie-making early in his career, and appeared in very few films. In his later career, however, he became a familiar fixture of the screen, albeit mostly in supporting roles. He won an Academy Award for his portrayal of a quintessential English butler in the 1981 film "Arthur", alongside Dudley Moore (a role not unlike his star turn in "Orient Express". His final film appearance was in the film version of Becket's play "Catastrophe", released in 2000, the year of his death at age 96.

Answer: Pipe

He pronounces it as "peep". Among the clues found in the victim's room was a used pipe cleaner; Poirot notes to Arbuthnot during the interview that "...you are the only passenger aboard the Calais Coach who smokes a peep." Arbuthnot agrees that he is, whereupon Poirot produces the pipe cleaner and asks "Then this must be your peep cleaner?" Arbuthnot allows that it is the same brand. When Poirot mentions that it was found in Ratchett's cabin, Arbuthnot explodes: "Then someone planted it there; it's a USED 'peep' cleaner! Or are you suggesting that I'm fool enough to have entered Ratchett's cabin, murdered him, cleaned my 'peep', and dropped it into the ash tray on my way out?"

The role of Hercule Poirot was a challenging one for the English-born Finney. In order to appear shorter and more squat than he actually was, Finney wore body padding, and his hair had to be not only dyed and pomaded, but polished. He adopted a limp, in keeping with the description of the character in the early novels, and he wore a ring made from a bullet, according to one of Christie's novels Poirot wore a ring made from the bullet that had wounded him during World War I. Following his appearance in the film, Finney complained that he had become so associated with the character that "People really do think that I'm 300 pounds with a French accent." Unlike Peter Ustinov, who made several film appearances as Poirot, and David Suchet, who starred in numerous adaptions of Christie's novels in the British television drama series "Agatha Christie's Poirot", Finney never reprised the role, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award (he lost to Art Carney in "Harry and Tonto") .

Albert Finney's long and distinguished career in films includes portrayals of American characters, in American-made films such as "Shoot the Moon", "Traffic", "Erin Brockovich", and the musical "Annie", in which he played Daddy Warbucks. Early in his career, he appeared in film versions of John Osborne's "The Entertainer" and Henry Fielding's "Tom Jones" (screenplay by Osborne), the latter in a stellar cast including Dame Edith Evans, Susannah York, Hugh Griffith, Rachel Kempson, and a young Lynn Redgrave. He portrayed a psychopathic killer in "Night Must Fall", and the younger paramour of future "Orient Express" costar Rachel Roberts in "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning". In his later career, he portrayed an aging Shakespearean actor in "The Dresser" alongside Tom Courtenay, an Oscar Wilde-obsessed bus conductor in "A Man of No Importance", and Winston Churchill in "The Gathering Storm". Nominated several times for an Academy Award, with no success, at the 2000 Oscar ceremony, costar Julia Roberts, accepting a best actress award for her performance in "Erin Brockovich" warmly acknowledged Finney and offered to share her Oscar with him.

Agatha Christie, who was frequently unhappy with filmed versions of her novels, was largely pleased with "Orient Express", and with Finney's portrayal; however she did not care for his mustache. She was quoted as having said "I wrote that he had the finest moustache in England- and he didn't in the film. I thought that a pity- why shouldn't he?"