Robert Donat
| Robert Donat | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Friedrich Robert Donath 18 March 1905 Withington, Manchester, England |
| Died | 9 June 1958 (aged 53) London, England |
| Cause of death | Cerebral thrombosis |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1924–1958 |
| Spouse(s) | Ella Annesley Voysey (1929–1946) Renée Asherson (1953–1958) |
Friedrich Robert Donat (18 March 1905 – 9 June 1958) was an English film and stage actor. He is best remembered for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), winning for the latter the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Donat was also a successful stage actor, despite the challenge of chronic asthma from which he suffered.
Donat was born in Withington, Manchester, the fourth and youngest son of Ernst Emil Donath, a civil engineer of German origin from Prussian Poland, and his wife Rose Alice Green. He was of English, Polish, German and French descent and was educated at Manchester's Central High School for Boys. He took elocution lessons with James Bernard.
Donat made his first stage appearance in 1921, at the age of 16, with Henry Baynton's company at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Birmingham, playing Lucius in Julius Caesar. His real break came in 1924 when he joined the company of Shakespearean actor Sir Frank Benson, where he stayed for four years. Donat married Ella Annesley Voysey (1903–1994) in 1929; the couple had three children together but divorced in 1946.
"The British cinema's one undisputed romantic leading man in the 1930s was Robert Donat", wrote Jeffrey Richards in his book The Age of the Dream Palace. "The image he projected was that of the romantic idealist, often with a dash of the gentleman adventurer."
Initially, around 1930 and 1931, he was known as "screen test" Donat in the industry because of his many unsuccessful auditions for film producers. MGM's producer Irving Thalberg spotted him on the London stage in Precious Bane, and Donat was offered a part in the American studio's Smilin' Through (1932). He rejected this offer. Instead, Donat made his film debut in a quota quickie Men of Tomorrow (1932) for Alexander Korda's London Films. An abysmal screen test for Korda had ended with Donat's laughter. Reputedly, Korda in response exclaimed: "That's the most natural laugh I have ever heard in my life. What acting! Put him under contract immediately." Donat's first great screen success soon followed in his fourth film. This was as Thomas Culpeper in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) for the same producer.
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