Robert Donat

[Gary D.]

I think with his chronic asthma the poor love wouldn't have had the strength to get up to too much mischief.

It's funny how some biog's can put you right off people. I never felt the same about Gary Cooper after I read he went hunting animals with Hemmingway. How macho.



Conversely, I can read the most vile revelations about Joan Crawford and I just love her all the more.

Wicked Lady, again I share some of your beliefs. My mother thought Gary Cooper was the greatest! So, guess what, I was named after him. At least, that was better than Percy, which my brother wanted to call me--all due respect to the Scarlet Pimpernel.



Cooper was a notorious philanderer, and I pity his poor wife. Someone had to report to his dressing-room trailer one time and he was sitting there, stark naked, with a well-known starlet, discussing his attributes. I think even the person called in, who thought he had seen everything, was pretty turned off.



If you ever wrote to Joan Crawford, you'd most likely get a thank-you letter back in return, with her self-autographed picture--no secretaries ever forged her signature.



Even with the revealing biography written by Marlene Dietrich's daughter, Maria Riva, I still like that eccentric German actress. I recommend that book, if anyone is a fan--if it doesn't turn you off.



To finish this off with our subject, I once worked with a Chinese gentleman, whose wife's sister, both stunning creatures, was in Mr. Donat's last picture with Ingrid Bergman. She didn't say anything about either Donat or Bergman, hwoever.

[batman]

My dear, it's quite simple.

Gary Cooper always struck me as an intelligent, sophisticated man, especially after seeing him handle McCarthy so smoothly. Why a man of such abilities would want to go into a woodland (with Ernest Hemingway, no less) and shoot small animals in the name of sport was a mystery to me. I found it quite disappointing that such a bright man would want to do such a neanderthal thing.

Joan Crawford was as tough as an old boot, alcoholic, was riddled with neuroses, and probably did some pretty unsavoury things to get where she was. Whether she was a child beater or not is still a matter of some conjecture. The only testimony we have is a book written after Joan's death by a child who was cut out of Joan's will and supported by the other child who was - you guessed it- cut out of Joan's will. The other two girls said the book was rubbish. Who is right, we may never know. I doubt she was very pleasant to live with.



The difference? It comes down to expectation.



Joan is Joan - I anticipate with everything I read about her she will be shown to be a controlling, vodka-swilling haridan, and she never disappoints. In fact she often exceeds that expectation.



But Gary Cooper, who I anticipated would be a little more evolved than the average schmoe, let me down.



Simple as that.

Why didn't you say that in the first place?

[Wicked Lady]

Why didn't you say that in the first place?

Where would be the fun in that?

[CaptainWaggett]

Bringing the conversation back to Donat - did anyone get the last issue of The Oldie which had an interview with Asherson - if so could they PM me a copy, would be very grateful.

The relevant pages have been torn out of our copy Not by a Britmovie member, I hope. The only thing I remember is that Larry kept her so late on the set of Henry V one day that she missed the curtain of the play she was in and her understudy had to go on. Renee then had to apologise to all the cast individually (thouugh the understudy was probably quite chuffed!)

[Wicked Lady]

Cooper was a notorious philanderer, and I pity his poor wife. Someone had to report to his dressing-room trailer one time and he was sitting there, stark naked, with a well-known starlet, discussing his attributes. I think even the person called in, who thought he had seen everything, was pretty turned off.



If you ever wrote to Joan Crawford, you'd most likely get a thank-you letter back in return, with her self-autographed picture--no secretaries ever forged her signature.

You know, I'm never bothered by someone being a 'pants man' if they're discreet and treat all parties well.



But sitting about in the nuddy is just untidy.

[Wicked Lady]

Don't know about mischief but he was certainly quite the ladies man, even while married.

I don't doubt it, Captain Waggett!

There's something very (for want of a better word) fragile about Robert Donat which is very appealing.



I can imagine a few women wanted to wrap him up and take him home.

[stuart.scot]

Cooper rejected the advances of Helen Hayes while making A Farewell To Arms, because she was already married and thought it wrong.



I would cut him a little slack about his hunting trips. It was a different world then, even Teddy Roosevelt liked to hunt.



Now it's different. I would think Gary wouldn't do it if he was a young man today

[batman]

I don't doubt it, Captain Waggett!

There's something very (for want of a better word) fragile about Robert Donat which is very appealing.

I can imagine a few women wanted to wrap him up and take him home.

He was very fragile physically due to his chronic asthma and this did often come through in his performances IMHO.

[stuart.scot]

It's funny that despite his health that two of his best films were The Count Of Monte Cristo and The 39 Steps, playing athletic characters. I wonder if Donat did his own stunts running in the Scottish countryside, or was it a stuntman

[CaptainWaggett]

Don't know about stunts but he made the Cure for Love at Denham rather than Oop North because he thought the climate would make him ill. Which meant building a huge set - I wonder if this is why he didn't direct again. .

[Windthrop]

It has been argued that the British spy movie really started with The 39 Steps and that it is the ancestor of the Bond flicks. Certainly IMHO Donat as Hannay was the first stylish male leading performance in British films.

[batman]

It's funny that despite his health that two of his best films were The Count Of Monte Cristo and The 39 Steps, playing athletic characters. I wonder if Donat did his own stunts running in the Scottish countryside, or was it a stuntman

Virtually all the running around in the Highlands stuff was done by a double. I think his frailness added to his performance in The 39 Steps, it lent him a vulnerability which ideally suited the role and stopped him from becoming a more overt Bond-style hero. It is a ver yfine performance from actor at the top of his game.

[Windthrop]

It's funny that despite his health that two of his best films were The Count Of Monte Cristo and The 39 Steps, playing athletic characters. I wonder if Donat did his own stunts running in the Scottish countryside, or was it a stuntman

A number of people in the business have given very athletic performances and indeed been famous for them. Eric Morecambe was one of the energetic cemedians of his generation yet had a very weak heart (and sadly like Donat paid the price for it). There are numerous others.

Virtually all the running around in the Highlands stuff was done by a double. I think his frailness added to his performance in The 39 Steps, it lent him a vulnerability which ideally suited the role and stopped him from becoming a more overt Bond-style hero. It is a ver yfine performance from actor at the top of his game.

Agreed. Donat was IMHO the best of British screen actors of his generation. Better than Olivier IMHO, if I dare say so. All real stars need a dose of vulnerablility for the public to respond to.

[stuart.scot]

Robert Powell in contrast did his own running in his version, shot gloriously on location

[Wicked Lady]

Donat was IMHO the best of British screen actors of his generation. Better than Olivier IMHO, if I dare say so. All real stars need a dose of vulnerablility for the public to respond to.

Oh, Donat was miles better than Olivier. Larry never learned to tone it down for the big screen and consequently always looked like he was overdoing it. Watch his terrible Othello sometime - it's astonishingly hammy. RD was far more subtle an actor.



It's a sad thing that RDs health limited his work. I was watching Hobson's Choice last night and wondered what he'd have been like if he'd been well enough to play the part. (Johnny Mills was fab though). Same with The Adventures of Robin Hood - although it's hard to imagine it without Errol Flynn. I expect there were a few actors who got parts due for Donat.

[Mysteryfan]

Hunting was more accepted then. Also lets stop judging everyone by someones standard today on things that happened 50 years ago.