James Henderson "Jimmy" Finlayson (27 August 1887 – 9 October 1953) was a Scottish actor who worked in both silent and sound comedies. Bald, with a fake moustache, Finlayson had many trademark comic mannerisms and is famous for his squinting, outraged, "double take and fade away" head reaction, and characteristic expression "d'ooooooh", and as the most famous comic foil of Laurel and Hardy.
Born in 17 South Broomage Ave, Larbert, Stirlingshire, Scotland to parents Alexander and Isabella (Henderson) Finlayson, he attended George Watson's College before dropping out of the University of Edinburgh to pursue an acting career.After the death of both his parents, he emigrated to the U.S. in 1911 at the age of 24 with his brother Robert. He married Emily Cora Gilbert in 1919 and became a U.S. citizen in 1920.
Finlayson is most remembered for his work at the Hal Roach Studios. In the mid-1920s, Roach attempted to make a top-billed star out of Finlayson,[10] but the effort was unfocused and he never caught on. The next step came in 1927 when the All-Star Comedy series gave Finlayson equal billing with up-and-coming co-stars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, comedienne Edna Marionand others;[11] some studio publicity even referred to Finlayson, Hardy and Laurel as a "famous comedy trio."[12] But Roach staff producer and future multi-Oscared director Leo McCareyrecognized the great potential of a Laurel-and-Hardy pairing and began developing their characters and expanding their roles toward that end;[13] by the fall of 1928, Laurel and Hardy was a formal studio series with its own production prefixes while the All-Star Comedy series — and Finlayson's co-equal billing — were things of the past.[14] Yet so memorable an antagonist was he to "The Boys" that even with his diminished billing, he was still "considered by many to be an indispensible part of the Laurel & Hardy team."[15]
Altogether, Finlayson played roles in 33 Laurel and Hardy films, usually as a villain or an antagonist, notably in the celebrated films Big Business (1929) and Way Out West (1937). He also starred alongside Stan Laurel in 19 films and opposite Oliver Hardy in five films before Laurel and Hardy were teamed together. He appeared in dozens of Roach Studio films, with Charley Chase, Glenn Tryon, Snub Pollard and Ben Turpin. He was also in several Our Gang shorts, notably Mush and Milk, in which he and Spanky McFarland match wits in a comically adversarial phone