Donut, Robert

Robert Donat was born in a suburb of Manchester Whittington in England . As a child, he suffered from stuttering, but hard work allowed him not only to get rid of this shortcoming, but also aroused interest in the recitation of poems and passages of classical plays. Robert attended the Manchester School for Boys, and from the age of 16 began playing in the theater.

In 1930, Donat made his debut on the London stage, and two years later attracted the attention of film producers who invited him to a supporting role in the film "People of Tomorrow." His first major success was the role of Thomas Culpeper in the historical drama by Alexander Kord “The Private Life of Henry VIII ” (1933).

The aristocratic appearance of Donat and high growth (183cm) allowed him to create a successful image of an English gentleman. In those years, this role was unusual for English cinema, and critics compared it with Hollywood actors Clark Gable and Gary Cooper .

Success in the "Private Life of Henry VIII" brought Robert Donat an invitation to star in the Hollywood film " Count of Monte Cristo " (1934). After filming, Donat returned to England, despite the desire “ Warner Bros. "Remove him in the role of Captain Blood in the" Odyssey of Captain Blood ", his role was later played by the still unknown Errol Flynn .

The most notable films in Donat’s acting career were Rene Claire ’s comedy “ The Ghost Goes to the West ” (1935), in which he played two roles at once: the master of the castle and ghosts, then the spy thriller “ Thirty-nine Steps ” by Hitchcock (1935) as a detective, K. Vidor ’s social drama based on the novel by A. Cronin “The Citadel ” (1938), for which he was first nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor and the film “ Goodbye, Mr. Chips ” (1939). The latter brought him the long-awaited Oscar in 1940, beating Clark Gable in Gone With the Wind , Lawrence Olivier in Wuthering Heights , James Stuart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , and Mickey Rooney in Beauty in the Army.

He played a lot in the theater, for example, in such wonderful productions as “ The Devil's Apprentice ” (1938) and “The House where Hearts Are Broken” (1942) based on the plays of Bernard Shaw , “ Much Ado About Nothing ” (1946), and especially in the play by Thomas Eliot 's The Assassin in the Cathedral (1952) as Thomas Becket at the Old Wick Theater in London.

Donat really wanted to play in two more films: Henry V (1944) from Laurence Olivier , but Leslie Banks got the role, and Oliver Twist (1948) from director David Lean , but Lin preferred Robert Newton to him.

American singer and actress Judy Garland admitted that she considers her song “You Made Me Love You”, dedicated to Clark Gable, unsuccessful, since she initially wanted to write it for her idol Donat, to whom she even wrote a letter after watching “Count of Monte Cristo "In 1934 .

In the 40s, Donat’s career was complicated by chronic asthma , but even in this period he continued to star in roles, significantly raising the level of such films as “Young Mr. Pitt” (1942), “The Adventures of Tertyu” (Sabotage Agent, 1943), “Life on loan” (1954). The film “Medicine for Love” (1949), the only directorial work of Donat, where he played a war veteran attempting to marry, was regarded by critics as failure.

In addition to work in film and theater, Donat was known as a reader of classical English poetry, he recorded a series of records. The last work of Donat in the cinema was the role of the Chinese mandarin in the painting by M. Robson, “The Inn of the Sixth Degree of Happiness ” (1958) about the fate of the English missionaries in China, on the set of which he could no longer do without an oxygen pillow.

Robert Donat passed away in 1958 . His biographer Kenneth Barrow specified the cause of death as cerebral thrombosis, recognizing that asthma significantly weakened the actor’s health.

Donat was twice married. From the first marriage with Ella Ennesli Voisey (1929-1946), the actor had three children. The second wife of Donatus became the English actress Rene Escherson (1953-1958).

Canadian-American actor Peter Donat is the nephew of Robert Donat.

Robert Donat has star number 6420 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard.

• 1940 - Academy Award for Best Actor for the film Goodbye Mr. Chips

• 1932: People of Tomorrow ( Men of Tomorrow )
• 1932: That Night in London
• 1933: The Private Life of Henry VIII ( The Private Life of Henry VIII ) - Thomas Culpeper, lover Catherine Howard
• 1933: Cash
• 1934: The Count of Monte Cristo 's Mystery (Director: Rowland W. Lee
• 1935: The Thirty Nine Steps ( The 39 Steps ) - Director: Alfred Hitchcock
• 1935: “ The Ghost Goes West ” ( The Ghost Goes West ) - Director: Rene Claire
• 1937: Knight Without Armor - Director: Jacques Fader
• 1938: The Citadel - Director: King Vidor Nomination - Academy Award for Best Actor
• 1939: Goodbye, Mr. Chips , directed by Sam Wood . Academy Award for Best Actor
• 1942: The Young Mr. Pitt
• 1943: The Adventures of Tertyu ( Sabotage Agent )
• 1943: The New Lot
• 1945: Perfect Strangers - Director: Alexander Korda
• 1947: Captain Boycott Captain Boycott (1947)
• 1948: The Winslow Boy / The Attractive Boy
• 1950: The Cure for Love
• 1951: The Magic Box
• 1955: Lease of Life . Nomination - BAFTA Award for Best Actor
• 1958: The Inn of the Sixth Happiness , directed by Mark Robson .

• Robert Donat at the Internet Movie Database
• Archive of Robert Donat in the collection of the theater of the University of Bristol (English)
• Robert Donat's biography on the University of Manchester website
• Robert Donat: Photographs and Literature