Finetime Fontayne (born "Ian Crossley", 1951 in Wombwell, South Yorkshire) appeared on Coronation Street between January and February 1985 as former foundry worker, Henry Wakefield, who temporarily lodged with Hilda Ogden; and he returned to the programme almost thirty years later, appearing between July and November 2014 as Eugene Clelland, who shared a cell in Highfield Prison with Peter Barlow.
He started out in caberet at a local folk club under the stage name "Ordinary Seaman Whittle" before moving into repertory theatre.
His other television credits include roles in All Creatures Great and Small, Truckers, How We Used to Live, Waterfront Beat, Mr. Wroe's Virgins, Cracker, Heartbeat, Degrees of Error, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, Casualty, City Central, Crossroads, The Royal, Emmerdale, Doctors and The Gallows Pole.
Film roles include Butterfly Kiss, Girls' Night, Heart, Secret Society, The Knife That Killed Me and Peterloo.
On stage, he appeared in productions of A Night at the Derby Branch of the Toggle-Pushers and Tool-Pullers, A Chorus of Disapproval, Cinderella, Aladdin, Family Values, Dick Whittington and his Wonderful Cat, Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, King John, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Medea.
