For an actor frequently dubbed the finest of his generation, there's a glaring omission from Albert Finney's list of awards. He has been nominated for an Oscar five times - thrice as Best Actor, twice as Best Supporting Actor - but has never won the big prize. Which means there's an extra buzz around Hollywood at the prospect of the 67-year-old Mancunian star of treats such as Charlie Bubbles, Erin Brockovich, The Gathering Storm, The Green Man and Saturday Night And Sunday Morning, finally getting an Oscar for his role in BIG FISH. Not that the man himself seems that bothered. Maybe he's being diplomatic, and playing up the importance of the nominations rather than the awards themselves, when he says: "Getting an Oscar isn't the be all and end all of being an actor. "I'm not saying winning an Oscar wouldn't be nice and getting nominated is a real feather in the cap, but it doesn't suddenly make you a better actor and it shouldn't suddenly make you more in demand. Though I know it does." Albert would rather just get on with work than be distracted by awards, in the same way that he would rather not be given additions to his name. In 1980, he could have become Albert Finney CBE but he turned it down. Then in 2000, he could have become Sir Albert Finney for services to acting, but he again refused the honour. Explaining his decision to turn down the knighthood, he says: "I think we should all be misters together. "I think the awards system is appropriate for some - those who have saved lives, those who've worked tirelessly in hospitals for many years, for example - but they are not for the likes of me." Some might argue that Albert has done enough for the good of mankind to merit a gong. That he has enriched many a cinema-going experience for nigh on half a century. And he does so again in Big Fish. He plays Edward Bloom, a man dying but determined to be reconciled with his estranged son, William. The film is moving, surreal (a lot of it is in flashback, with Ewan McGregor as the young Edward) and has earned Albert some fantastic reviews. The influential Rolling Stone magazine in America calls his performance "exceptional", and it's already earned him a Golden Globe nomination. Although not always the case, victory at that ceremony is often followed by success at the Oscars. Not that Albert will be rushing to America to find out if he has won an Oscar, should he be nominated for his role in Big Fish. Despite all those near misses, he has never actually attended an Oscar ceremony in Los Angeles, preferring to stay at his home in a fashionable part of West London and gaze at them from afar. "Not my cup of tea," he says. "You are not allowed to smoke or drink during the Oscars - which can go on for six hours - and that wouldn't appeal to me in the slightest. "It would be like sitting in church for a very long service." His likely absence is no indication of his lack of enthusiasm for Big Fish. He is full of praise for the film-maker Tim Burton and for the project in general. But how does he feel about playing a dying man and what kind of relationship does he enjoy with his own son, his only child, 43-year-old camera operator, Simon? "We have a great relationship and I am very proud of what he's achieving in the movie industry. He's just finished work on the latest Harry Potter movie. "As for dying, it is a sobering thought but it's probably one that, like a lot of people, I'd been over in my mind several times. Filming Big Fish didn't make me feel any more or less morbid, but it did affect Simon when he saw the film. "I suppose it's not a very nice thing to watch your father dying on screen, even if it's only in a movie, and it did make him sad. But it will happen to me one day - I just hope not too soon." At least not before he gets an Oscar on his mantelpiece. | 
