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James Donald

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia James Donald (18 May 1917 - 3 August 1993) was a Scottish actor. Tall and gaunt, he specialised in playing authority figures; military officers, doctors or scientists. Donald was born in Aberdeen, and made his first professional stage appearance sometime in the late-1930s, having been educated at Rossall School on Lancashire's Fylde coast. During World War II he appeared in minor roles in such propaganda classics as In Which We Serve (1942), Went the Day Well? (1942) and The Way Ahead (1944), and he played Mr. Winkle in the 1952 film version of The Pickwick Papers. However, leading roles eluded him until Lust for Life (1956), in which he played Theo Van Gogh. His work in the theatre included Noël Coward's Present Laughter (1943) which starred Coward himself, and The Eagle with Two Heads (1947), You Never Can Tell (1948), and The Heiress (1949) with Ralph Richardson, Peggy Ashcroft and Donald Sinden. He memorably portrayed Major Clipton, the doctor who expresses grave doubts about the sanity of Col. Nicholson's (Alec Guinness) efforts to build the bridge in order to show up his Japanese captors, in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). The final words are his: "Madness!, Madness!" He also played Group Captain Ramsey, the Senior British Officer in The Great Escape (1963), as well as supporting roles in other notable films both in Britain and the United States, including The Vikings (1958), King Rat (1965), Cast a Giant Shadow (1966), and Quatermass and the Pit (1967). Donald starred in a 1960 television adaptation of A. J. Cronin's The Citadel and appeared regularly in many other television dramas in the UK and USA, as well as on stage. In 1961, he played Prince Albert opposite Julie Harris's Queen Victoria, in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of Laurence Housman's play Victoria Regina. Description above from the Wikipedia article James Donald, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.


Read bio at tmdb | Read bio at Wikipedia
Born:
May 18, 1917 In Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK
Movie/TV Credits:
32
First Appeared:
In the movie One of Our Aircraft Is Missing 1942-04-24
Latest Project:
Movie Shark Lake 2015-10-02
Known For
Poster of The Royal Hunt of the Sun
Poster of The Pickwick Papers
Poster of Hallmark Hall of Fame
Poster of Trottie True
Filmography
Movie Shark Lake Hunter Kyle 2015-10-02
Movie Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made Self 2015-03-14
Movie Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood Dr. Mathew Roney (archive footage) 1987-06-26
Movie The Big Sleep Inspector Gregory 1978-03-13
Movie Conduct Unbecoming The Doctor 1975-01-01
Movie The Royal Hunt of the Sun King Carlos 1969-10-05
Movie David Copperfield Mr. Murdstone 1969-12-01
Movie The Jokers Col. Gurney-Simms 1967-05-15
Movie Quatermass and the Pit Dr. Mathew Roney 1967-11-09
Movie Cast a Giant Shadow Maj. Safir 1966-03-30
Movie King Rat Dr. Kennedy 1965-10-27
Movie The Great Escape Ramsey 'The SBO' 1963-07-03
Series Ben Casey Unknown 1961-10-02
Movie Perilous Assignment Self 1959-11-06
Movie The Vikings Lord Egbert 1958-06-11
Movie The Bridge on the River Kwai Maj. Clipton 1957-10-11
Movie Lust for Life Theo van Gogh 1956-09-15
Series Alfred Hitchcock Presents Unknown 1955-10-02
Movie Beau Brummell Lord Edwin Mercer 1954-11-16
Movie The Net Michael Heathley 1953-02-09
Movie Brandy for the Parson Bill Harper 1952-05-02
Movie Gift Horse Lt. Richard Jennings, No. 1 1952-06-01
Movie The Pickwick Papers Nathaniel Winkle 1952-11-14
Series Hallmark Hall of Fame Unknown 1951-12-24
Movie Cage of Gold Alan 1950-10-23
Movie Edward, My Son Bronton 1949-03-01
Movie Trottie True Lord Digby Langdon 1949-09-29
Movie Broken Journey Bill Haverton 1948-04-14
Movie The Small Voice Murray Byrne 1948-11-27
Movie San Demetrio London Gunnery Officer - H.M.S. Jervis Bay 1943-12-07
Movie One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (uncredited) 1942-04-24
Movie In Which We Serve Doc 1942-09-17
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