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It's hard to imagine anyone else in the role, but actually there were a few similarities between the two.

At that time there was more than a passing resemblance. Physically they were of a similar slender build with freckles, both had distinctive voices, and a similar acting style. Both were also stage and television actors.

Jon Finch appeared in many Shakesperean plays. He had notable film roles in Polanski's Macbeth and Hitchcock's Frenzy. His last film role was in Kingdom of Heaven, where he finally got to work with Sir Ridley Scott.

We'll never know how the Chestburster scene would have turned out with Finch, but he too was a very good actor.

John Hurt was superb in that scene though, a few seconds of his absolute brilliance made the scene utterly realistic and horrifying. John could convey tortured, suffering, characters and human frailty better than just about anyone.

Jon Finch passed away on 28th December 2012. 

@Lone

Interesting points you raise! More parallels than I originally thought-- mind boggling to say the least. 

In fact, there's a collectible of KANE that has Finch's resemblance!

Rest in Peace, Jon Finch

Ahhh....the incredible Hot Toys sixth scale figures! 

Sadly John Hurt refused permission for his likeness to be used. That's why the figure looks nothing like him. It does look a tad like Jon Finch when he sported a moustache though.

Those figures are incredible, the detail did fine justice to Moebius' original designs. Heck even the packaging was gorgeous!

Wow!!! Gorgeous indeed!

"Sadly John Hurt refused permission for his likeness to be used."

It reminds me of Hurt's strange absence from the video game Alien: Isolation /Crew Expendable. Couldn't the designers have used Finch's likeness instead at least?

Well, it looks as if the face design could certainly have been a nod to Jon Finch. Whether he was asked and gave his permission is still unknown.

Forgot to upvote this......now done!

Thanks for the upvote!