Robert Donat

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Friedrich Robert Donat (18 March 1905--June 1958) was an English film and stage actor.

He is best known for his appearances in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for the latter. Donat was "the British cinema's one undisputed romantic leading man in the 1930s," Jeffrey Richards wrote in his book The Age of the Dream Palace.

"He presented the image of the romantic idealist, often with a dash of the gentleman adventurer." "Donat suffered from chronic asthma, which affected his career and limited him to only 20 films."

Early life

Friedrich Robert Donat, the fourth and youngest son of Ernst Emil Donat, a civil engineer of German origins from Prussian Poland, and his mother, Rose Alice Green, was born and baptized in Withington, Greater Manchester. He was educated at Manchester Central Grammar School for Boys and was of English, Polish, German, and French descent. Philip Donat, the father of actors Richard and Peter Donat, was his older brother.

He took elocution lessons with James Bernard, a leading authority on 'dramatic interpretation.' He quit school at 15 and spent his remaining lessons as Bernard's secretary. He has appeared in dramatic recitals at several venues around the North West of England.

Personal life

Donat married Ella Annesley Voysey, niece of architect Charles Voysey, in 1929. They had two sons and a daughter, but they divorced in 1946. John Annesley Donat's son became an architectural photographer.

Donat married actress Renée Asherson, born Dorothy Renee Ascherson, daughter of Charles Ascherson and Dorothy Lilian Wiseman, on May 4th, 1953. They lived at 8 The Grove, Highgate, before separating three years later, partly due to his asthma severity. When he died, they may have been close to a reunification. She never remarried.

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Stage career

Donat appeared in 1921 for his first stage appearance, with Henry Baynton's company, playing Lucius Caesar. His break came in 1924, when he joined Shakespearean actor Sir Frank Benson's company, where he stayed for four years. He also worked in provincial repertory theatres.

He began acting in plays by John Galsworthy, George Bernard Shaw, and Harold Brighouse among others. He appeared at the Festival Theatre in Cambridge in 1929 under the direction of Tyrone Guthrie. He appeared in several plays, some with Flora Robson and others with directed.

Donat married Ella Annesley Voysey (1903 West Bromwich, Staffordshire – 1994), the daughter of Rev. David Wilson. Ellison Voysey and Rachel Voysey née Enthoven. Ellison was the youngest son of the Reformed Rev. William Ellison. Charles Voysey. They had two sons and a daughter together, but then they divorced in 1946.

Donat and his wife immigrated to London in 1930, where he made his debut at the Ambassadors Theatre in Knave and Quean. He has been praised for his role in a revival of Saint Joan.

He appeared in 1931 as Gideon Sarn in a dramatization of the Mary Webb book Precious Bane, and he appeared in various capacities at the 1931 Malvern Festival. He was known as "screen test Donat" in the early 1930s because of his numerous unsuccessful auditions for various film directors. Irving Thalberg, a MGM executive, recognized him on the London stage in Precious Bane and offered him a part in the 1932 film Smilin' Through, which he turned down.

Later career

Donat and Asherson appeared in 1946 at the Aldwych Theatre in a production of Much Ado About Nothing directed by Donat. Peter Ustinov's book The Man Behind the Statue also starred him. Both lost money.

Donat was in Captain Boycott (1947) with Stewart Granger in a small but critical scene. In a revival of A Sleeping Clergyman in 1947, he appeared on stage.

He longed to be in Bill Sikes' Oliver Twist (1948), but Lean considered him wrong for the role and cast Robert Newton instead. In The Winslow Boy (1948), a common interpretation of the Terence Rattigan play, Donat played the male lead.

In the film version of The Cure for Love (1949), Donat and Asherson reprised their stage roles. His only film as director was impacted by his illness. After shooting was finished, Donat's asthma had a serious effect on his voice, the film's soundtrack had to be re-recorded. It was a hit in the North, with Modesty receiving it from a reviewer in The Monthly Film Bulletin, who has it dubbed "pedestrian" by Philip French in 2009. Donat's natural Mancunian accent was used in this film, which he had aimed to muzzle completely in this series.

Donat appeared on radio. On the Air for America, he did a 1949 performance of Justify by John Galsworthy on Theatre Guild for America.

In 1950, he moved to Cyprus in the hopes that the weather would help with his asthma.

In The Magic Box (1951), Donat and Asherson appeared together, in which Donat played William Friese-Greene. However, his asthma continued to influence his ability to function.

Thomas Becket was cast in the Cathedral of T. S. Eliot's Murder in Robert Helpmann's production at The Old Vic Theatre in 1952, but his illness caused him to withdraw during the performance. He also dropped out of Hobson's Choice (1954) for the same reason. Willy Mossop was scheduled to play Willy Mossop and was recalled by John Mills. Donat's asthma may have been psychotic, according to author David Shipman's "His tragedy was that the promise of his early years was never fulfilled, and that he was haunted by years of doubt and regret (which may have been the source of his persistent asthma." This explanation was also given by David Thomson, and Donat himself believed that his illness had a 90 percent cause in his psychology. Donat had an asthma attack as a psychosomatic reaction to the birth of their daughter, according to an 80 interview with Barry Norman, his first wife, Ella Annesley Voysey (by then known as Ella Hall). "Robert was full of anxiety," she said.

This was Lease of Life (1954), produced by Ealing Studios, and it was his penultimate film. Donat plays a vicar who learns he has a terminal illness.

Donat's last role was as the Mandarin of Yang Cheng in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958). The Mandarin confesses to Christianity in the film, reducing Ingrid Bergman to tears as the missionary Gladys Aylward says. "We will not see each other again," says the prophet. "Goodbye!" During recording, he had fallen with a stroke, but the film was still a success.

Donat was nominated for his first Golden Globe and was given a posthumous National Board of Review Special Citation for his role in Inn of the Sixth Happiness several months after his death.

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