Robert Donat Biography

At age 11, Robert Donat began taking elocution lessons to overcome a stutter, going on to develop an exceptional and versatile voice. At 16 he debuted onstage and later played a number of Shakespearean and classical roles in repertory and touring companies; it was almost ten years, however, before he made his London debut. In the early '30s he attracted the attention of filmmakers, and signed a contract with Alexander Korda; almost immediately he was internationally famous for his romantic lead in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), his third film. He made one film in Hollywood but he didn't like the town or the prospect of becoming a conventional movie star. For his starring role in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), in which he aged from 25 to 83 onscreen, he won the "Best Actor" Oscar. Although very successful, his career was hampered by chronic asthma and an insecure, self-doubting personality; he turned down many more films than he accepted, and for an actor of his time, his filmography is unusually thin. He appeared in only three films in the '50s, and was seriously ill during the production of his last, requiring oxygen tanks to complete his work. Donat died at 53. He was married to actress Renee Asherson. - Rovi

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