James Donald

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James Donald (born May 18, 1917 in Aberdeen , Scotland , † August 3, 1993 in Wiltshire , England ) was a Scottish actor .

life and career

James Donald was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and began his professional acting career in the late 1930s. His breakthrough came in 1943 with his highly acclaimed appearance in Noël Coward's play Present Laughter . He also played in plays by William Shakespeare , George Bernhard Shaw and Jean Cocteau .

Although his career was mainly devoted to the theater, Donald also achieved fame as an actor in film and television, where he embodied mostly somewhat humorless, but mostly decent people of respect in supporting roles. Already during the Second World War he had minor roles in some propaganda military films. But it was only after the war that Donald got bigger roles in film, for example as Theo van Gogh in Vincente Minnelli's film biography Vincent van Gogh - A Life in Passion (1954) with Kirk Douglas . Donald's best-known film role was the British military doctor Major Clipton in David Lean's war epic The Bridge on the Kwai (1957), where he exclaimed the famous final sentence of the film ("Madness! Madness!"). After Die Brücke am Kwai , Donald also starred in two other films that dealt with the captivity of soldiers during World War II: Broken Chains (1963) and You Called Him King (1965). Donald also took on leading roles in a few smaller films; the science fiction thriller The Green Blood of Demons is known from these films today . He also starred in many British television series and television films.

James Donald largely retired from the acting business in the 1970s after his lifelong asthma worsened. He was married until his death and had one child. After a long period of inactivity, Donald died of gastric cancer in 1993 .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Donald, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actor
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Aberdeen
DATE OF DEATH 3rd August 1993
Place of death Wiltshire