Robert Donat

Robert Donat was married to Ella Annesley Voysey (1929-1946) and to the British actress Renee Asherson (1953-1958). He has also recently appeared on the BBC's Top Gear programme in which he launched a Suzuki Liana airborne off the final corner. The final corner has now been named 'Gambon' after this feat. He died from a cerebral haemorrage in London aged 53. He was last seen as the successor of Richard Harris playing Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). However, he suffered from ill-health (asthma) which blighted his career, and his last role, as the Mandarin of Yang Cheng in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness is memorable because it was apparent that he knew he was close to death. In recent years, films such as Dancing at Lughnasa (1998) and Plunkett and Macleane (1989), as well as television appearances in series such as Wives and Daughters (1999) (for which he won another BAFTA), a made for TV adaption of Beckett's Endgame (2001) and Perfect Strangers (2001), have made him one of Britain's most sought-after actors, as well as revealing his talent for comedy. Donat made his first stage appearance in 1921 and his film debut in 1932 in The Private Life of Henry VIII (as Thomas Culpepper), under the renowned film director and producer Alexander Korda. Even after this success, for which he won a BAFTA award, his career was patchy, with big hits such as the 1989 film, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover interspersed with less notable work.

Donat was born in Withington, Manchester, of Polish descent, but his success was largely due to typecasting as the quintessential English gentleman. However, his craggy looks soon made him into a character actor, and it was not until Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective (1986) that he became a household name. Chips (1939 film) (for which he won an Academy Award). In his youth, Gambon played romantic leads, notably in the early 1970s BBC television series, The Borderers, in which he was swashbuckling Gavin Ker. Robert Donat (March 18, 1905 - June 9, 1958) was an English actor, best remembered for his roles in The 39 Steps (1935) and Goodbye, Mr. Sir Michael Gambon (born October 19, 1940) is one of Britain's foremost actors, knighted for his services to the theatre - despite having been born in Dublin, Ireland. The Winslow Boy (1948)- Sir Robert Morton.