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Friedrich Robert Donath (March 18, 1905 - June 9, 1958), better known by his stage name Robert Donat, was a distinguished Academy Award-winning English film and stage actor of English, Polish and German descent. He was born in Withington, Manchester, England. Donat made his first stage appearance in 1921 and his film debut in 1932 in Men of Tomorrow . His first great screen success came with The Private Life of Henry VIII (playing Thomas Culpepper), under the renowned film director and producer Alexander Korda. He had a successful screen image as an English gentleman who was neither haughty nor common. That made him something of a novelty in British films at the time, and he was likened by critics to Hollywood's Clark Gable and Gary Cooper. His most successful films included The Ghost Goes West (1935), Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935), The Citadel (1938), for which he received his first Oscar nomination, and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939). For the latter, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, beating out Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind, Laurence Olivier in Wuthering Heights and James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington . He was a major theatre star, noted for his performances in The Devil's Disciple (1938), Heartbreak House (1942), Much Ado About Nothing (1946), and especially as Thomas Becket in T. S. Elliot's Murder in the Cathedral at the Old Vic Theatre (1952). However, he suffered from ill-health (chronic asthma) which shortened his career and limited him to twenty films. His final role, as the mandarin of "Yang Cheng" in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958) is memorable because it is apparent that he knew that he was close to death. He died of an asthma attack on June 9 of that year at age 53 in London, England. Donat was twice married, first to Ella Annesley Voysey (1929-1946), by whom he had 3 children, and subsequently to British actress Renée Asherson (1953-1958). Robert Donat has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures at 6420 Hollywood Blvd.
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