Robert Donat

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Friedrich Robert Donat (born March 18, 1905 in Withington , Manchester , England , † June 9, 1958 in London , England) was a British theater and film actor. He played his most important film roles in the Hitchcock thriller The 39 Steps (1935) and in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), for which he won the Oscar for best leading actor in 1940 .

Life

Friedrich Robert Donat, the son of the Prussian engineer Ernst Emil Donat, made his theater debut in London in 1930. In 1932 he took on his first film role and quickly became one of the most popular British stars as a comedian and romantic hero.

He played his most famous part in 1935 in Alfred Hitchcock's classic The 39 Steps , in which he is chased across the country as an innocent persecuted person. The film established the genre of the romantic thriller, and Donat's portrayal became the role model for countless actors who appeared in similar roles over the decades. Although Donat made some films co-produced by Hollywood , he made only one film, A Ghost Goes To America, directly in Hollywood, where he did not like the atmosphere. Most of his American productions were shot in England. After he had already received a nomination for the Oscar for Best Actor in the previous year for The Citadel , he was able to receive the coveted trophy in 1940 for his portrayal of a committed teacher in Goodbye, Mr. Chips .

Although Donat had great success in both film and theater, he had to cut his career again and again because of a chronic asthma illness. In the course of his life he was only able to make 20 films, shortly before his death he played a mandarin in the film drama Die Herberge zur 6. Glückseligkeit . Despite having a stroke while filming, he was able to finish the film. A little later, at the age of 53, he died of a thrombosis caused by a brain tumor .

The performer was married twice; first from 1929 to 1946 with Ella Annesley Voysey, with whom he had three children, and later from 1953 until his death with the British actress Renée Asherson . His nephew is the actor Peter Donat . Donat's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 6420 Hollywood Boulevard .

Filmography

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert Donat | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. Retrieved July 29, 2020 (American English).
  2. ^ Robert Donat | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. Retrieved July 29, 2020 (American English).
  3. ↑ Robert Donat. Retrieved July 29, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Donat, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Donat, Friedrich Robert (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actor
DATE OF BIRTH March 18, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Withington , Manchester , England
DATE OF DEATH June 9, 1958
Place of death London , England