[This is the twelfth in an occasional series describing
British artistes who found fame on stage or in the movies]
This piece briefly describes the achievements of two fine
actors, one an eminent director too. Both won Oscars. The first, Robert Donat,
died 56 years ago and is all but forgotten although he was a much cherished
star in his prime. The second, Richard Attenborough died a few weeks ago and
was a great energiser of the British cinema as an actor, producer and director,
making a unique contribution.
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| Donat: The 39 Steps (1935) |
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| Donat: Goodbye Mr Chips (1939) |
Friedrich Robert Donath (1905-58), known to his family as
Fritz and who adopted the stage name of Robert
Donat, was born in Manchester to parents of English, Polish, German and
French origins. Educated in Manchester, he stuttered, overcame his impediment
and worked hard to rid his beautifully modulated voice of its Northern accents.
He became an actor and joined Frank Benson’s touring company in 1924, playing
in many Shakespearean productions. He loved the stage and later illuminated
performances of Shaw’s plays The Devil’s
Disciple and Heartbreak House.
After a Korda part, he was attracted to Hollywood for his
first leading film role as Edmond Dantès in The
Count of Monte Cristo (1934) which was a great box-office success, though
Hollywood was not to Donat’s taste. He hit the bull’s-eye again as Richard
Hannay, handcuffed to Madeleine Carroll for much of the time, in Alfred
Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, the classic
chase thriller and one of Hitchcock’s best.
He received an Oscar Nomination for his performance as Dr
Morrison in The Citadel (1938), the
tale of a principled doctor to Welsh miners seduced by the wealth of private
medical practice. His greatest triumph followed in 1939 with his immortal
portrayal, with lovely Greer Garson, of the loyal schoolmaster Mr Chipping,
ageing 63 years, in Goodbye, Mr Chips.
It earned Donat the Oscar as the Best Actor in a very strong field beating
Clark Gable’s Rhett Butler in Gone with
the Wind, Lawrence Olivier’s Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, James Stewart in Mr Deedes goes to Washington and Mickey Rooney for Babes in Arms.
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| As Dr Morrison in The Citadel (1938) |
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| As Sir Robert Morton in The Winslow Boy (1948) |
Anxiety-ridden Donat suffered from chronic asthma, probably
to a degree psychosomatic, and he might have an attack if he were disappointed
with the parts he was offered or if the audience did not appreciate him. He
often had canisters of oxygen on hand in the wings of the theatre. He was thus
dogged by ill-health and plum film roles did not easily come his way. He was
excellent as barrister Sir Robert Morton in the film of Terence Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy (1948), his cross-examination
of young Ronnie Winslow, before accepting the brief, being a moment of high drama.
Donat had a theatrical triumph as Becket in TS Eliot’s verse
drama Murder in the Cathedral in 1952
but in many respects his early promise was not fully realised. In a fragile
condition his swansong was in a cameo as the Mandarin Yang Chen opposite Ingrid
Bergman in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
in 1958 and he died soon after, not as it transpired of asthma, but of a stroke
aggravated by a brain tumour.
Robert Donat left a priceless legacy of recordings of his
many poetry readings with his distinctive, clearly enunciated voice being
particularly effective for the Odes of Keats. His personal favourite was The Prayer of St Francis of Assisi which
was relayed at the funeral of this distinguished, and sadly underrated, actor.
--------------------------------
Richard Attenborough
(1923-2014) was the quintessential Thespian “luvvie” embracing all around him
and addressing the world as “Darling!” He was born into a notably liberal
academic family; his father was Principal of what became the University of
Leicester while his mother was a founder of the Marriage Guidance Council. His
brother David is the most well-known TV naturalist in Britain, while Richard,
later Lord Attenborough, was a leading figure in his profession.
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| Richard Attenborough |
Attenborough’s (often known as Dickie) career took various
turns. His film acting debut, after RADA, came in a small role in the 1942 War
morale-booster In which we Serve, where
terrified sailor Attenborough is steadied by his Captain, Noel Coward. His
breakthrough came in 1947 where he repeated his stage success in the film of
Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock,
playing the baby-faced gangster Pinkie. Into the 1950s he became a familiar
face in British comedies and war films, and internationally in the 1963 epic The Great Escape.
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| As Pinkie in Brighton Rock |
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| RAF prisoners' leader in The Great Escape |
In the late 1950s, with his friend Bryan Forbes, he formed
Beaver Films and they produced a succession of films, some quite good like The Angry Silence, Séance on a Wet Afternoon
and I’m Alright, Jack but very British-orientated. He appeared in many of
these and later chilled as mass murderer John Christie in 10, Rillington Place (1971). He turned his talents to directing and
his Leftie credentials were reinforced by Oh,
What a Lovely War and later Cry,
Freedom. But his great triumph after 20 years of fund-raising and cajolery,
was his Gandhi (1982) which won for
director Attenborough and star Ben Kingsley a heap of Oscars.
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| Attenborough and Kingsley celebrate their Oscar haul |
Then Dickie had an Indian summer in his acting career. His
friend Steven Spielberg cast him as the avuncular dinosaur-obsessed professor
in the wildly successful Jurassic Park
(1993) and he touched the younger generation with his Kris Kringle in the
remake of sentimental Miracle on 34th
Street (1994).
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| As Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street |
Dickie’s wife of 69 years was actress Sheila Sim. Tragically
a daughter and grand-daughter were killed in Thailand in the 2004 Indian Ocean
tsunami. Dickie kept up his lobbying for the British film industry; he was an
inveterate committee man supporting the Tate Gallery, myriad charitable causes and his
beloved Chelsea Football Club. A real live-wire, Attenborough will be fondly
remembered.
SMD
12.09.14
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2014
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