Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch 28 September 1916 14 January 1977 was an EnglishAustralian actor He is best remembered for his role as crazed television anchorman Howard Beale in the 1976 film Network which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor his fifth Best Actor award from the BAFTA and a Best Actor award from the Golden Globes He was the first of two people to win a posthumous Academy Award in an acting category the other was fellow Australian Heath Ledger Description above from the Wikipedia article Peter Finch licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia