Peter Donat

Pierre Collingwood Donat, better known simply as Peter Donat was the nephew of British actor Robert Donat, who won an Academy Award for his lead role in Goodbye Mr. Chips. Born in Nova Scotia, Donat moved to the United States in 1950 and studied drama at Yale. He began his career on stage when he was 23-years-old and made his Broadway debut in 1953 in Highlights of the Empire. Donat first performed at Ontario`s Stratford Shakespearean Festival appearing in The Winter’s Tale in 1958 and would return regularly over the next seven years appearing in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Henry VIII, The Taming of the Shrew and many others. In 1961 he played the lead role of Misty Woodenbridge in Donald Jack’s stage play The Canvas Barricade, the first Canadian play to be performed at the Stratford Festival. In 1968 he made his debut with the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco becoming a prominent member of the theatre appearing in 26 productions over the next 20 years. He made occasional trips back to Stratford, his last being in 1985 for The Government Inspector. There are a number of notable television roles in his long career including that of Elmo Tyson on the 1980s primetime serial, Flamingo Road and later playing Bill Mulder, dad to the quirky Fox Mulder in the hit series, The X Files. Born in Kentville, Nova Scotia Peter Donat was 90 when he died from complications of diabetes at his home in Point Reyes Station, California.

Also see: Richard Donat