Robert Donat

Infobox actor
bgcolour = silver
name = Robert Donat


imagesize = 200px
caption = in the film "The 39 Steps" (1935)
birthdate = birth date|1905|03|18
location = Withington, Manchester, England
deathdate = death date and age|1958|06|09|1905|03|18
deathplace = London, England
birthname = Friedrich Robert Donath
yearsactive = fy|1932-fy|1958
spouse = Ella Annesley Voysey (1929-1946)
Renée Asherson (1953-1958)
academyawards = Best Actor
1939 "Goodbye, Mr. Chips"
awards = Hollywood Walk of Fame
6420 Hollywood Boulevard

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

External links

*imdb name|id=0232196|name=Robert Donat
* [http://www.bris.ac.uk/theatrecollection/donat.html Robert Donat archive at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection] - University of Bristol
* [http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/cgi-bin/deadsearch.cgi?serverid=DIST-V3-ead-rylands&bool=AND&numreq=1&fieldcont1=gb133frd&format=full&fieldidx1=docid&scanposition=middle&firstrec=1&server=SF papers of Robert Donat, University of Manchester]
* [http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=583 Photographs and literature]