Shirley Jo Finney (July 14, 1949 – October 10, 2023) was an American actress and theater director.[1][2][3]
Finney was born in Merced, California, in 1949, and grew up primarily in Sacramento, California.[4] She graduated from Sacramento State College with a degree in theater in 1971, where she met and befriended Wilma Rudolph. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1973 with a master's degree in theater arts, and thereafter began an acting career.[4] She portrayed Wilma Rudolph in the 1977 television film Wilma.[3][4] Finney continued to act into the 1990s.[4] She attended the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women.[2]
As a director, Finney worked with The Fountain Theatre for many years, where she directed eight productions.[1] She also directed plays at the Mark Taper Forum, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the Humana Festival.[2] Her work earned her recognition from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, the Ovation Awards and the NAACP.[2] In 2008, she was attached to direct a Broadway revival of for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, but the production was scrapped due to a lack of funding.[4] Finney directed plays across the United States, and her last credit was a 2023 production of Clyde's at The Ensemble Theatre in Houston.[1][2]
Finney died from multiple myeloma at a hospital in Bellingham, Washington, on October 10, 2023, at the age of 74.[2][4]
^ abcThompson, Jaden (October 14, 2023). "Shirley Jo Finney, Theater Director and 'Wilma' Star, Dies at 74". Variety. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
^ abcdefPerman, Stacy (October 14, 2023). "Shirley Jo Finney, actress and theater director who championed Black works, dies at 74". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
^ abTinoco, Armando (October 15, 2023). "Shirley Jo Finney Dies: 'Wilma' Star And Theater Director Was 74". Deadline. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
^ abcdefSandomir, Richard (November 13, 2023). "Shirley Jo Finney, 74, Dies; Addressed the Black Experience Onstage". The New York Times. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
ShirleyJoFinney (July 14, 1949 – October 10, 2023) was an American actress and theater director. Finney was born in Merced, California, in 1949, and...
Dassanowsky, 58, Austrian-American writer, historian, and film producer. ShirleyJoFinney, 74, American actress (Nashville Girl, Echo Park, Moving) and stage...
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Actor Stepfather II Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III 10 ShirleyJoFinney 74 US Actress Echo Park Moving 10 Mark Goddard 87 US Actor Blue Sunshine...
Jason Bernard Jason Bernard and ShirleyJoFinney in Wilma in 1977 Born Ronald Carl Johnson (1938-05-17)May 17, 1938 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Died October...
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made-for-television docudrama adaptation of her autobiography starring ShirleyJoFinney as Rudolph and costarring Cicely Tyson, Jason Bernard, and Denzel...
Glenn Brown and Karen Malina White. The production was directed by ShirleyJoFinney and toured 38 cities, beginning in Wenatchee, WA, and ending in Lexington...
Rodriguez as Himself Jesse White as C.Y. Ordell Marcie Barkin as Alice ShirleyJoFinney as Frisky Judith Roberts as Fran Leo Gordon as Burt Nashville Girl...
the production was picked up by ShirleyJoFinney. In Kathleen Foley's review of the play, along with praising Finney's direction, she opined that Bayeza's...
Williams Valentino Rudolph Valentino Rudolf Nureyev Wilma Wilma Rudolph ShirleyJoFinney 1978 American Hot Wax Alan Freed Tim McIntire Bud and Lou Bud Abbott...
— Bill Cobbs Lyrics from Lockdown — Gina Belafonte Runaway Home — ShirleyJoFinney Best Director of a Musical — Larger Theatre Best Director of a Musical...
Awards In the Red and Brown Water 6 1 Won for Director of a Play (ShirleyJoFinney) 2013 Ovation Awards On the Spectrum 1 1 Won for Video Design (Jeffrey...
Marshall Pailet – Triassic Parq: The Musical – The Chance Theater ShirleyJoFinney – In the Red and Brown Water – Fountain Theatre Debbie Devine – Walking...
Michael Matthews – The Women of Brewster Place – Celebration Theatre ShirleyJoFinney – The Ballad of Emmett Till – Fountain Theatre David Esbjornson –...
Connemara – Theatre Tribe August Viverito – Equus – The Production Company ShirleyJoFinney – Stick Fly – The Matrix Theatre Company David Fofi – The Idea Man –...
Virginia McKenna, Peggy Ashcroft, Nigel Hawthorne, Julie Walters, Albert Finney, Helen Mirren, and Mark Rylance. Only Helen Mirren has earned both the American...
Barnaby Jones episode "Testament of Power" (1977). Dey co-starred with Albert Finney in the 1981 science-fiction film Looker, written and directed by Michael...
dissolved in 1883, with the land area being split between Hamilton and Finney counties. It was reestablished with its original borders in 1887, and organized...
International) Harry Enten (CNN) Brian Fallon (CNN) Ben Ferguson (CNN) Karen Finney (CNN) Tom Foreman (CNN) Max Foster (CNN International) Sandi Freeman (CNN)...
Cecilia Carol "C.C." Bloom in Beaches (1988) Christopher McPherson, Albert Finney and Ewan McGregor as Edward Bloom in Big Fish (2003) Christopher Cook and...
Polynesia, Longman Paul Ltd. pp. 122–128. Finney, Ben R. (1976) "New, Non-Armchair Research". In Ben R. Finney, Pacific Navigation and Voyaging, The Polynesian...
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