Robert Donat
Posted: September 11th, 2008, 11:09 am
Robert Donat was one of the great actors of his generation, but one wonders if not for his ill health, just what he might have acheived. Donat made only 19 films, turning down many roles, but his health was so bad in the 50s that insurance comapanies for the most part refused to allow him to work.
What makes Donat's career even more remarkable was that he made only one Hollywood film, The Count Of Monte Cristo, though did join MGM, who employed him at MGM British Studio, so his UK films were sure of a global audience.
Robert Donat first came to attention in a supporting role in The Private Life Of Henry V111, which was the first British movie to take Hollywood by storm. Charles Laughton won best actor in the film, but Donat on the strength of it was offered a small budget film The Count Of Monte Cristo. However, Donat managed to persaude the producers to turn the film into a major epic, which got his career of and running.
Though he had an affair with leading lady Elissa Landi, Donat hated Hollywood and never returned. He was offered Captain Blood, which I think would have led to 'Robin Hood' but he pulled out at the last minute and unknown Errol Fynn became an over night sensation as his replacement (I can't imagine the fragile Donat in something as athletic as Robin Hood)
However, in the mid 30s, Donat, like Flynn was hot. He played Richard Hanney in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps with Madeline Carrol, a film that has one of the best bedroom scenes in movie history. There was The Ghost Goes West and the medical classic The Citadel with Rosalind Russell. However, I prefer the 80s tv series of The Citadel, which was closer to the book with star Ben Cross widowed when wife Claire Higgens is knocked down by a car, whereas in the film it's Ralph Richardson that dies.
Donat won an Oscar for Goodbye Mr. Chips, beating off Clark Gable for GWTW and James Stewart for Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. He played a young school master, who ages to 83. It was intersting to see an actor, who died so young, playing an old man. The film also marked an impressive peformance by Greer Garson.
In the mid 40s IMO like Errol Flynn his best films were behind him, but he still had plenty to offer with Perfect Strangers with Deborah Kerr and The Winslow Boy with Margaret Leighton and Cedric Hardwyck. He also did Cure For Love with future wife Renee Astherson, who is still alive today.
I'm amazed The Magic Box isn't that well known in America, because of its theme and all star cast. Donat played William Friese Green, an inventor who was alleged to have invented the movie camera, though most will say it's Thomas Edison. It's hard to believe that Donat didn't want to do the most famous scene in the film, where in a flat in a back alley he shows policeman Laurence Olivier, the first ever motion picture. He thought a big star like Olivier in what was a cameo role, would damage the scene. Donat was wrong and producers the Boulting brothers right in casting Olivier in such an important scene. The two were magnificent together.
Now his health was failing and work was hard to come by. He played a dying vicar in Lease Of Life with Kay Walsh.
Donat went out with a bang with his last film The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness as a manderin. His last words to star Ingrid Bergman 'We Shall Never See Each Other Again, I Think. Farewell,' Is a very moving part of the film. However, It was also a goodbye to his fans, as he died shortly afterwards.
What makes Donat's career even more remarkable was that he made only one Hollywood film, The Count Of Monte Cristo, though did join MGM, who employed him at MGM British Studio, so his UK films were sure of a global audience.
Robert Donat first came to attention in a supporting role in The Private Life Of Henry V111, which was the first British movie to take Hollywood by storm. Charles Laughton won best actor in the film, but Donat on the strength of it was offered a small budget film The Count Of Monte Cristo. However, Donat managed to persaude the producers to turn the film into a major epic, which got his career of and running.
Though he had an affair with leading lady Elissa Landi, Donat hated Hollywood and never returned. He was offered Captain Blood, which I think would have led to 'Robin Hood' but he pulled out at the last minute and unknown Errol Fynn became an over night sensation as his replacement (I can't imagine the fragile Donat in something as athletic as Robin Hood)
However, in the mid 30s, Donat, like Flynn was hot. He played Richard Hanney in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps with Madeline Carrol, a film that has one of the best bedroom scenes in movie history. There was The Ghost Goes West and the medical classic The Citadel with Rosalind Russell. However, I prefer the 80s tv series of The Citadel, which was closer to the book with star Ben Cross widowed when wife Claire Higgens is knocked down by a car, whereas in the film it's Ralph Richardson that dies.
Donat won an Oscar for Goodbye Mr. Chips, beating off Clark Gable for GWTW and James Stewart for Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. He played a young school master, who ages to 83. It was intersting to see an actor, who died so young, playing an old man. The film also marked an impressive peformance by Greer Garson.
In the mid 40s IMO like Errol Flynn his best films were behind him, but he still had plenty to offer with Perfect Strangers with Deborah Kerr and The Winslow Boy with Margaret Leighton and Cedric Hardwyck. He also did Cure For Love with future wife Renee Astherson, who is still alive today.
I'm amazed The Magic Box isn't that well known in America, because of its theme and all star cast. Donat played William Friese Green, an inventor who was alleged to have invented the movie camera, though most will say it's Thomas Edison. It's hard to believe that Donat didn't want to do the most famous scene in the film, where in a flat in a back alley he shows policeman Laurence Olivier, the first ever motion picture. He thought a big star like Olivier in what was a cameo role, would damage the scene. Donat was wrong and producers the Boulting brothers right in casting Olivier in such an important scene. The two were magnificent together.
Now his health was failing and work was hard to come by. He played a dying vicar in Lease Of Life with Kay Walsh.
Donat went out with a bang with his last film The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness as a manderin. His last words to star Ingrid Bergman 'We Shall Never See Each Other Again, I Think. Farewell,' Is a very moving part of the film. However, It was also a goodbye to his fans, as he died shortly afterwards.
