Robert Donat

Highly gifted, handsome British lead who worked in theater from 1921 and continued appearing on the stage throughout most of his film career. Donat gained instant, international fame for his role in Alexander Korda’s “The Private Life of Henry VIII” (1933), moving Charles Laughton to dub him “the most graceful actor of our time.” He made only one US film, “The Count of Monte Cristo” (1934); thereafter he shunned Hollywood, restricting his film roles to prestigious British productions which took advantage of his beautiful, highly expressive voice.

Donat gave superb performances in Hitchcock’s “The 39 Steps” (1935), Vidor’s “The Citadel” (1938) and Carol Reed’s “The Young Mr. Pitt” (1942) and “The Winslow Boy” (1948). For a time his popularity and prestige exceeded that of Olivier and Leslie Howard; his early promise was never fulfilled, however, partly due to his depressive character and chronic asthma. (Illness sometimes lent his performances an ethereal edge, as in 1939’s “Goodbye, Mr. Chips”, which enabled Donat to beat Clark Gable—“Gone With the Wind”—out of an Oscar.) His death at the age of 53 was hastened by the illness. —TCM