Died 1958-06-09.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
Figure timeline
Robert Donat
Friedrich Robert Donat was an English actor. Making his breakthrough film role in Alexander Korda's The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), today he is best remembered for his roles in The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935), and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor as the gentle English schoolmaster Mr. Chips.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
entertainment · English actor (1905–1958) · film actor · character actor · stage actor · film director · actor · director · also Robert Donat, Friedrich Robert Donat, Frederick Robert Donat, Donat
Born 18 March 1905 · Died 9 June 1958 · Q116983
21 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
5 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Award
1958· 1 entry
1952· 1 entry
But, although his return to stage was well received, his illness forced him to withdraw during the run
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1946· 1 entry
Donat and Asherson appeared at the Aldwych Theatre in a production of Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Donat
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1943· 1 entry
Took over the lease of the Westminster Theatre, staging a number of plays there until 1945, including An Ideal Husband (1943–44), The Glass Slipper (1944) and The Cure for Love (1945) by Walter Greenwood
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1940· 1 entry
Awarded Academy Award for Best Actor for Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1940).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1938· 1 entry
Donat signed a contract with MGM British for £150,000 with a six-film commitment
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1937· 1 entry
To make Clementine for Small at RKO but changed his mind, fearing legal reprisals from Warners
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1936· 1 entry
Donat took on the management of the West End's Queen's Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue, where he produced Red Night by J
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1934· 1 entry
Appeared in the West End stage production of Mary Read, opposite Flora Robson
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1933· 1 entry
And in 1936 he took on the management of the West End's Queen's Theatre
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1931· 2 entries
Achieved notice as Gideon Sarn in a dramatisation of the Mary Webb novel, Precious Bane, and he played various roles at the 1931 Malvern Festival
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
They had one daughter, Joanna Donat (born 1931) and two sons, John Donat (born 1933) and Brian Donat (born 1936), but divorced in 1946.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #life
- #personal-life
1930· 1 entry
Donat and his wife moved to London, where he eventually made his debut in Knave and Quean at the Ambassadors Theatre
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1929· 3 entries
Played at the Festival Theatre in Cambridge under the direction of Tyrone Guthrie
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Donat married Ella Annesley Voysey (1903 West Bromwich, Staffordshire – 1994), the daughter of Rev
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Donat married Ella Annesley Voysey, niece of architect Charles Voysey
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1928· 1 entry
Began a year at the Liverpool Playhouse, starring in plays by John Galsworthy, George Bernard Shaw and Harold Brighouse, among others
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1924· 1 entry
When he joined the company of Shakespearean actor Sir Frank Benson, where he stayed for four years
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1921· 2 entries
Playing Lucius in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, and in 1928 he appeared in productions at the Liverpool Playhouse, starring in plays by John Galsworthy, George Bernard Shaw among others, before moving to London in 1930
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
At the age of 16, with Henry Baynton's company at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Birmingham, playing Lucius in Julius Caesar
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1905· 1 entry
Born 1905-03-18.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth