Friedrich Robert Donat was an English actor. He is best remembered for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), winning for the latter the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Donat and Elissa Landi in The Count of Monte Cristo (1934)
Theatrical release poster for The 39 Steps (1935)
Promotional photograph of Greer Garson and Donat in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
English Heritage blue plaque at 8 Meadway, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London
The 39 Steps is a 1935 British spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. It is loosely based on the 1915 novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. It concerns a Canadian civilian in London, Richard Hannay, who becomes caught up in preventing an organisation of spies called "The 39 Steps" from stealing British military secrets. Mistakenly accused of the murder of a counter-espionage agent, Hannay goes on the run to Scotland and becomes tangled up with an attractive woman, Pamela, while hoping to stop the spy ring and clear his name.
Theatrical release poster
Forth Bridge in 2007