Robert Donat: "Goodbye, Mr. Chips"

The fame and reputation of British actor Robert Donat basically rests on just two of his nineteen screen roles: his Academy Award winning portrayal as the gentle schoolmaster in "Goodby, Mr. Chips" (1939) and as hero Richard Hannay in Alfred Hitchcock's classic "The 39 Steps" (1935). It is these two films keeping Donat's name from fading into obscurity as he devoted most of his energies to the English stage despite being a highly sought after box office screen presence.

Donat was a rarity among actors for he remained true to his principles and stymied the Hollywood powers with arrogance. The actor preferred plying his craft on stage and shunned Hollywood by refusing to work in Los Angeles regardless of the roles offered. Imagine an actor rejecting the kinds of roles promising screen immortality that Donat rejected. He said no to "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (Errol Flynn), "Beau Geste" (Gary Cooper), "Romeo and Juliet" (Leslie Howard), "The Four Feathers" (Ralph Richardson), "Peter Ibbetson" (Cooper), "Magnificent Obsession" (Robert Taylor), "Beau Brummel" (Stewart Granger) and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hr. Hyde" (Spencer Tracy). He also lost parts due to his salary demands. For example, Donat wanted to do Hitchcock's "Sabotage" but producer Alexander Lorda balked at his price.

Robert Donat was born March 18, 1905 in Manchester. He was a frail and stuttering child whose lifelong asthmatic condition wreaked havoc with his career. His parents hired a tutor for elocution lessons to rid his stutter, and eventually the young man became his tutor's private secretary. Through the tutor, Donat met Sir Frank Benson and joined Benson's theatrical company. Donat made his stage debut in 1921 with a small role in a Birmingham production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar."