Robert Donat was a British actor on stage and on film who managed to be a romantic lead and a character actor. As a child he was asthmatic and had a stammer and his parents brought in a coach to overcome this. He started in a touring theatre company and then in London. He was signed up by Alexander Korda and appeared in several of his films in the early 1930's. His break into films was in The Private Life Of Henry VIII and on the back of that he took the lead in The Count of Monte Cristo in Hollywood. However he did not like Hollywood and returned to England. He then stared in Alfred Hitchcockes 39 Steps makes him heroic and with a romaic comic element. The Ghost Goes West is a fantasy comedy. Knight Without Armouris a more serious war film opposite Marlene Dietrich. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in The Citadel. One of his most popular roles was in Goodbye Mr Chips. He then worked on the stage until starting in The Young Mr Pitt, which was history made in the middle of WW2 and reflects both of these. The Adventures of Tartu was a war adventure film. In Perfect Strangers he reunited with Alexander Korda and stared with Deborah Kerr. The magic Box was about Britian's place in the development of cinema. The Inn Of Sixth Happiness was his final film released just after his death.
