James Donald

James Donald
Born	18 May 1917 Aberdeen, Scotland
Died	3 August 1993 (aged 76) Wiltshire, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1930s-1978

James Donald (18 May 1917 - 3 August 1993) was a Scottish actor. Tall and gaunt, he specialized 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-30s, having been educated at Rossall School. 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). 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 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.

External links

• James Donald at the Internet Movie Database
• Tribute to James Donald Fan Site

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