Actor Frank Finlay dies aged 89

The Oscar nominated actor Frank Finlay, who was awarded a CBE in 1984, has died at the age of 89.

Finlay had a career that spanned over 50 years and included high-profile roles on both stage and screen. In 1973 he starred in the film The Three Musketeers opposite Oliver Reed and Michael York and he played Jacob Marley's ghost in the 1984 TV adaptation of A Christmas Carol.

His performance as Iago in Othello earned him an Oscar nomination in 1965.

Finlay began his professional life as an actor after graduating from RADA and took roles in Arnold Wesker plays at the Royal Court, and at the National Theatre while Laurence Olivier was artistic director.

The actor starred on Broadway in 1980 opposite Joan Plowright in Filumena.

Tributes came in from actors on Twitter including Anthony Head and Mark Gatiss:

Frank Finlay also passed today – one of our very best – a lovely, generous and incredibly talented man. So many heroes gone. x

Bouquets to the great Frank Finlay. Musketeer, vampire hunter, green-eyed Iago. A wonderfully fiery presence on stage and screen. RIP