Robert Donat

Robert Donat (1905‑03‑18 – 1958‑06‑09) was an English actor renowned for his elegant presence and the depth of his performances, emerging from a modest upbringing in Withington, Manchester. The son of Ernst Emil Donat, a civil engineer of Prussian descent, and Rose Alice Green, Donat was educated at Manchester Central Grammar School before leaving at fifteen to fund elocution lessons that helped him overcome a stammer, a determination that propelled him onto the stage at only sixteen. He debuted in 1921 as Lucius in Julius Caesar with Henry Baynton’s company, and after years with Sir Frank Benson and the Liverpool Playhouse, he moved to London where his West End appearance in A Sleeping Clergyman (1933) earned critical acclaim and led to his management of the Queen’s Theatre in 1936. Donat’s film breakthrough arrived with Alexander Korda’s The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), and he quickly became Britain’s pre‑eminent romantic lead, starring in classics such as The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), Alfred Hitchcock’s suspense masterpiece The 39 Steps (1935), and the Oscar‑winning Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), for which he received the Academy Award for Best Actor. Despite his talent, chronic asthma—possibly psychosomatic—limited his output to just nineteen films and forced numerous withdrawals from lucrative Hollywood offers, yet his dedication to the theatre persisted throughout World War II, where he directed and performed in productions at the Westminster Theatre. In his personal life he married twice, first to Ella Annesley Voysey (1929‑1946) with whom he had three children, and later to actress Renée Asherson (1953‑). Donat’s health deteriorated in the 1950s, culminating in a stroke during the filming of The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958); he died shortly thereafter in London, leaving a legacy marked by a Hollywood Walk of Fame star, several commemorative plaques, and an enduring reputation as one of Britain’s most cherished leading men.