Jimmy Finlayson

James Henderson Finlayson (27 August 1887 – 9 October 1953) was a Scottish actor who worked in both silent and sound comedies. Balding, with a fake moustache, he had many trademark comic mannerisms—including his squinting, outraged double-take reactions, and his characteristic exclamation: "D'ooooooh!" He is the best remembered comic foil of Laurel and Hardy. Finlayson was known by a variety of nicknames. According to Laurel and Hardy scholar Randy Skretvedt, he "called himself Jimmy, was known around the lot as Jim and is usually referred to today as 'Fin'"—a truncated version of his surname, as author John McCabe also noted in his 1961 biography Mr. Laurel & Mr. Hardy. Early life and stage career Born in Larbert, Stirlingshire, Scotland to Alexander and Isabella (née Henderson) Finlayson, James worked as a tinsmith before pursuing an acting career. As part of John Clyde's company, he played Jamie Ratcliffe in Jeanie Deans at the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh in 1910. The next year (1911), with both parents deceased, he emigrated at age 24 to the United States, along with his brother, Robert. In May 1912 in New York City, he played a detective disguised as a teuchter (person originating from the Scottish West Highlands or Western Isles) in the stage production The Great Game at Daly's Theatre: A reviewer in the Daily Mirror wrote: "Finlayson had an excellent opportunity, which he did not miss, for developing two characters in his one role—the simple, naive Scotsman and the artful, determined detective. The remarkable thing is that he managed to do them both at the same time."