Bill Finnegan
Encyclopedia
William R. Finnegan was an American
television
and film producer
whose well known credits included The Fabulous Baker Boys
, Hawaii Five-O
and the cult hit, Reality Bites
. he was a five time Emmy Awards nominee.
, on June 29, 1928. He enlisted and served in the United States Navy
during World War II
.
Finnegan initially launched a career as a newsman in 1950 when he began writing for the Associated Press
, CBS
and the Hollywood Citizen News.
and newsman, Finnegan began working as an assistant director
and production manager in the television industry. Finnegan founded Finnegan-Pinchuk Company, a production company, with his wife, Patricia Finnegan, and their business partner
, Sheldon Pinchuk. Their company, which was headquartered in Studio City, California, became one of the entertainment industry's leading leading suppliers of network and cable
television movies by the late 1970s and 1980s.
Television productions by Finnegan's Finnegan-Pinchuk Company included Wes Craven
's Summer of Fear
in 1978; The Ordeal of Patty Hearst (1979) starring Dennis Weaver
; The $5.20 an Hour Dream with Linda Lavin
in 1980; 1982's World War III
starring Rock Hudson
; Jane Fonda
's The Dollmaker
in 1984; Amos
, starring Kirk Douglas
in 1985; The Atlanta Child Murders
with Morgan Freeman
, also aired in 1985; Circle of Violence
which starred Tuesday Weld
and River Phoenix
in 1986, and Hoover in 1987, which starred Treat Williams
. Finnegan also produced several television shows, including Hawaii Five-O
in 1977 and The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
ten years later in 1987, and the Emmy-award winning Northern Exposure
, which aired from 1990 to 1995.
Finnegan and his company also produced or co-produced many feature films including Support Your Local Gunfighter in 1971; North Shore
in 1987; The Fabulous Baker Boys
in 1989; White Palace
in 1990; The Babe
in 1992; CrissCross
in 1992; Reality Bites
, starring Ben Stiller
, in 1994; and Ed
, starring Matt LeBlanc
, in 1996.
Finnegan officially retired from the production business in 2003.
Bill Finnegan died of Parkinson's disease
at his home in Sag Harbor, New York
, on November 28, 2008, at the age of 80. He was survived by his wife, Patricia Finnegan, and their children - Michael Finnegan, a political reporter for The Los Angeles Times; William Finnegan
, a staff reporter for The New Yorker
; Colleen, a doctor
; and Kevin, a labor lawyer. He was also survived by three grandchildren and a brother, Charles Robinson.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
and film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
whose well known credits included The Fabulous Baker Boys
The Fabulous Baker Boys
The Fabulous Baker Boys is a 1989 American romantic drama musical film written and directed by Steve Kloves, and starring real life brothers Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges as two brothers struggling to make a living as lounge jazz pianists in Seattle...
, Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...
and the cult hit, Reality Bites
Reality Bites
Reality Bites is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Helen Childress and featuring the directorial debut of Ben Stiller. It stars Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Stiller, with major supporting roles played by Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn. The film was shot on location in Austin...
. he was a five time Emmy Awards nominee.
Early life
Bill Finnegan was born in Kansas City, MissouriKansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, on June 29, 1928. He enlisted and served in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Finnegan initially launched a career as a newsman in 1950 when he began writing for the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and the Hollywood Citizen News.
Television and film production
Following his stint as a journalistJournalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and newsman, Finnegan began working as an assistant director
Assistant director
The role of an Assistant director include tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, maintaining order on the set. They also have to take care of health and safety of the crew...
and production manager in the television industry. Finnegan founded Finnegan-Pinchuk Company, a production company, with his wife, Patricia Finnegan, and their business partner
Business partner
Business partner is a term used to denote a commercial entity with which another commercial entity has some form of alliance. This relationship may be a highly contractual, exclusive bond in which both entities commit not to ally with third parties...
, Sheldon Pinchuk. Their company, which was headquartered in Studio City, California, became one of the entertainment industry's leading leading suppliers of network and cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
television movies by the late 1970s and 1980s.
Television productions by Finnegan's Finnegan-Pinchuk Company included Wes Craven
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character, the...
's Summer of Fear
Summer of Fear
Stranger in Our House is a 1978 television horror film directed by Wes Craven and starring Linda Blair...
in 1978; The Ordeal of Patty Hearst (1979) starring Dennis Weaver
Dennis Weaver
William Dennis Weaver was an American actor, best known for his work in television, including roles on Gunsmoke, as Marshal Sam McCloud on the NBC police drama McCloud, and the 1971 TV movie Duel....
; The $5.20 an Hour Dream with Linda Lavin
Linda Lavin
Linda Lavin is an American singer and actress. She is best known for playing the title character in the sitcom Alice and for her Broadway performances.After acting as a child, Lavin joined the Compass Players in the late 1950s...
in 1980; 1982's World War III
World War III
World War III denotes a successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would be likely nuclear and devastating in nature....
starring Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson
Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
; Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
's The Dollmaker
The Dollmaker
The Dollmaker is an American made-for-TV movie, starring Jane Fonda. It was first broadcast on ABC in 1984. The movie is based on the novel of the same title, written by Harriette Arnow and originally published in 1954.-Plot summary:...
in 1984; Amos
Amos
-First name:* Amos , one of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible**Book of Amos, his writings* Amos, son of Nephi and his son Amos, two minor figures in the Book of Mormon...
, starring Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
in 1985; The Atlanta Child Murders
The Atlanta Child Murders (TV miniseries)
The Atlanta Child Murders is a TV miniseries that aired on February 10 and 12, 1985 on CBS. Inspired by true events, the miniseries examines the so-called "Atlanta child murders" of the late 1970s and early 1980s.-Cast:*Calvin Levels - Wayne Williams...
with Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
, also aired in 1985; Circle of Violence
Circle of Violence: A Family Drama
Circle of Violence: A Family Drama is a 1986 CBS television movie starring Tuesday Weld, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Peter Bonerz and River Phoenix that tells the tragic story of the seldom addressed issue of elder parent abuse.-Synopsis:Georgia Benfield is at a...
which starred Tuesday Weld
Tuesday Weld
Tuesday Weld is an American actress.Weld began her acting career as a child, and progressed to more mature roles during the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960...
and River Phoenix
River Phoenix
River Jude Phoenix was an American film actor, musician, and teen icon. He was the oldest brother of fellow actors Rain, Joaquin, Liberty, and Summer Phoenix.Phoenix began acting at age 10 in television commercials...
in 1986, and Hoover in 1987, which starred Treat Williams
Treat Williams
Richard Treat Williams is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television...
. Finnegan also produced several television shows, including Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...
in 1977 and The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is an NBC/Lifetime comedy-drama that aired from 1987 to 1991. It was created by Jay Tarses and starred Blair Brown in the title role.-Premise:...
ten years later in 1987, and the Emmy-award winning Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure is an American television series that ran on CBS from 1990 to 1995, with a total of 110 episodes.-Overview:The series was given a pair of consecutive Peabody Awards: in 1991–92 for the show's "depict[ion] in a comedic and often poetic way, [of] the cultural clash between a...
, which aired from 1990 to 1995.
Finnegan and his company also produced or co-produced many feature films including Support Your Local Gunfighter in 1971; North Shore
North Shore (film)
North Shore is a 1987 film about Rick Kane , a young fictional surfer from a wave tank in Arizona, who heads to surf the season on the North Shore of Oahu and see if he has the skills to cut it as a pro surfer...
in 1987; The Fabulous Baker Boys
The Fabulous Baker Boys
The Fabulous Baker Boys is a 1989 American romantic drama musical film written and directed by Steve Kloves, and starring real life brothers Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges as two brothers struggling to make a living as lounge jazz pianists in Seattle...
in 1989; White Palace
White Palace
White Palace is a 1990 film starring Susan Sarandon and James Spader. It is a romantic drama about the unlikely relationship between a young middle class widower who falls in love with a middle-aged working class waitress in St. Louis, Missouri...
in 1990; The Babe
The Babe
The Babe is a 1992 biographical film about the life of famed baseball player Babe Ruth, who is portrayed by John Goodman.-Plot:The story begins in 1902 in Baltimore, Maryland, where a young Babe Ruth, troubled and not-so disciplined, is sent to the St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a...
in 1992; CrissCross
CrissCross
CrissCross is a 1992 feature film directed by Chris Menges, based on the novel by Scott Sommer. It stars Goldie Hawn, Arliss Howard, Keith Carradine, Steve Buscemi, and David Arnott.- Plot :...
in 1992; Reality Bites
Reality Bites
Reality Bites is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Helen Childress and featuring the directorial debut of Ben Stiller. It stars Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Stiller, with major supporting roles played by Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn. The film was shot on location in Austin...
, starring Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller
Benjamin Edward "Ben" Stiller is an American comedian, actor, writer, film director, and producer. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara....
, in 1994; and Ed
Ed (film)
Ed is a 1996 comedy film starring Matt LeBlanc. LeBlanc plays Jack "Deuce" Cooper, a talented baseball pitcher. Deuce also finds a friend in a talented ball-playing chimpanzee, who was originally his team's mascot.-Reception:...
, starring Matt LeBlanc
Matt LeBlanc
Matthew Steven "Matt" LeBlanc is an American actor, best known for his role as Joey Tribbiani on the NBC sitcoms Friends and its spin-off Joey....
, in 1996.
Finnegan officially retired from the production business in 2003.
Bill Finnegan died of Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
at his home in Sag Harbor, New York
Sag Harbor, New York
Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, with parts in both the Towns of East Hampton and Southampton. The population was 2,313 at the 2000 census....
, on November 28, 2008, at the age of 80. He was survived by his wife, Patricia Finnegan, and their children - Michael Finnegan, a political reporter for The Los Angeles Times; William Finnegan
William Finnegan
William Finnegan is a staff writer at The New Yorker and well-known author of works of international journalism. He has specially addressed issues of racism and conflict in Southern Africa and politics in Mexico and South America, as well as poverty among youth in the United States, and is...
, a staff reporter for The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
; Colleen, a doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
; and Kevin, a labor lawyer. He was also survived by three grandchildren and a brother, Charles Robinson.