William R. Finnegan (June 29, 1928 - November 28, 2008) 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.[1] he was a five time Emmy Awards nominee.[1]
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Bill Finnegan was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 29, 1928.[1] He enlisted and served in the United States Navy during World War II.[1]
Finnegan initially launched a career as a newsman in 1950 when he began writing for the Associated Press, CBS and the Hollywood Citizen News.[1]
Following his stint as a journalist 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.[1] 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.[1]
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.[1] 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.[1]
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.[1]
Finnegan officially retired from the production business in 2003.[1]
Bill Finnegan died of Parkinson's disease at his home in Sag Harbor, New York, on November 28, 2008, at the age of 80.[1] 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.[1] He was also survived by three grandchildren and a brother, Charles Robinson.[1]