Friedrich Robert Donat (March 18, 1905 – June 9, 1958), was an English Academy Award-winning film and stage actor.
Donat was born in Withington, Manchester, England, of English, Polish and German descent. He made his first stage appearance in 1921 and his film debut in 1932 in Men of Tomorrow. His first great screen success came with The Private Life of Henry VIII, playing Thomas Culpepper. He had a successful screen image as an English gentleman who was neither haughty nor common. That made him something of a novelty in British films at the time, and he was likened by critics to Hollywood's Clark Gable and Gary Cooper. His most successful films included The Ghost Goes West (1935), Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935), The Citadel (1938), for which he received his first Oscar nomination, and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939). For the latter, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, beating out Clark Gable for Gone with the Wind, Laurence Olivier for Wuthering Heights and James Stewart for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. He was a major theatre star, noted for his performances on the British stage in The Devil's Disciple (1938), Heartbreak House (1942), Much Ado About Nothing (1946), and especially as Thomas Becket in T. S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral at the Old Vic Theatre (1952).
Donat lobbied hard to be cast in two film roles, neither of which he got. He wanted to play the Chorus in Olivier's Henry V, but the role went to Leslie Banks, and he longed desperately to be cast against type as Bill Sikes in David Lean's Oliver Twist, but Lean thought him wrong for the part and cast Robert Newton instead.
According to Judy Garland in an interview, although she was shown to sing You Made Me Love You for Clark Gable, she was actually singing it for her real idol at the time - Donat.
Donat, unfortunately, suffered from ill-health (chronic asthma) which shortened his career and limited him to twenty films. Author David Shipman in his book The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years speculates that Donat's asthma may have been psychosomatic; however, this has never been substantiated. His final role was the mandarin Yang Cheng in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958). He died on June 9, 1958 age 53 in London, England. Many people believe that he died as a direct result of asthma but according to his biographer Kenneth Barrow, "Perhaps the asthma had weakened him but, in fact, it was discovered he had a brain tumour the size of a duck egg and cerebral thrombosis was certified as the primary cause of death." (Kenneth Barrow, Mr Chips The Life of Robert Donat, 1985, Methuen London)
Donat was twice married, first to Ella Annesley Voysey (1929-1946), with whom he had three children, and subsequently to British actress Renée Asherson (1953-1958).
Robert Donat has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures at 6420 Hollywood Blvd.
Filmography
Year
Film
Role
Other notes
1932
Men of Tomorrow
Julian Angell
That Night in London
Dick Warren
1933
Cash
Paul Martin
The Private Life of Henry VIII
Thomas Culpeper
1934
The Count of Monte Cristo
Edmond Dantès, the eponymous Count
1935
The 39 Steps
Richard Hannay
1936
The Ghost Goes West
Murdoch Glourie/Donald Glourie
1937
Knight Without Armour
Peter Ouronov
1938
The Citadel
Dr. Andrew Manson
Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor
1939
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Mr. Chips
Academy Award for Best Actor
1942
The Young Mr. Pitt
William Pitt / The Earl of Chatham
1943
The Adventures of Tartu
Captain Terence Stevenson, aka Jan Tartu
aka Sabotage Agent
The New Lot
Actor
uncredited
1945
Perfect Strangers
Robert Wilson
1947
Captain Boycott
Charles Stewart Parnell
1948
The Winslow Boy
Sir Robert Morton
1950
The Cure for Love
Sergeant Jack Hardacre
1951
The Magic Box
William Friese-Greene, "the forgotten inventor of movies"
1955
Lease of Life
Rev. William Thorne
Nominated - BAFTA Award
1958
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
The Mandarin of Yang Cheng
Nominated - Golden Globe
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Robert Donat
Robert Donat at the Internet Movie Database
Robert Donat archive at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of Bristol
Photographs and literature
v • d • e
Academy Award for Best Actor
Emil Jannings (1928) · Warner Baxter (1929) · George Arliss (1930) · Lionel Barrymore (1931) · Fredric March / Wallace Beery (1932) · Charles Laughton (1933) · Clark Gable (1934) · Victor McLaglen (1935) · Paul Muni (1936) · Spencer Tracy (1937) · Spencer Tracy (1938) · Robert Donat (1939) · James Stewart (1940)
Complete List · (1928–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001-present)
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Donat"
Categories: 1905 births | 1958 deaths | Deaths from asthma | English film actors | English stage actors | Best Actor Academy Award winners | Actors from Manchester | People from Withington
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This page was last modified on 1 September 2008, at 10:03.
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