Peter Donat
Encyclopedia
Peter Donat is a Canadian-American actor known for his roles in American
television
.
, Canada
, the son of Marie (née
Bardet) and Philip Ernst Donat, a landscape gardener. His uncle was British actor Robert Donat
. Peter Donat immigrated to the United States in 1950, studied drama at Yale University
, and first came to attention as a stage actor in the lead of a production of Cyrano de Bergerac
. In 1961 he played a leading role in Donald Jack
's stage play The Canvas Barricade
, the first Canadian play performed at the Stratford Festival.
. That show was the only Canadian serial ever broadcast on a commercial television network in the United States.
His credits include: Mission: Impossible
,
Banacek
, The Waltons
, Hawaii Five-O
, Charlie's Angels
, Lou Grant
, Dallas
, Quincy
, Hart to Hart
, Hill Street Blues
, Simon and Simon and Murder She Wrote. He also starred in Cyrano de Bergerac
playing the title role, in 1972 on the PBS anthology
Theatre in America. He was a regular cast member of the 1980s primetime serial, Flamingo Road as Elmo Tyson, and more recently had a recurring role as Bill Mulder, Agent Mulder's
father, in The X Files.
Donat has also worked extensively in films. Some of his more prominent roles include The Godfather Part II
(1974), The Hindenburg
(1975), The China Syndrome
(1979), The Babe
(1992), and The Game
(1997). Donat was a prominent member of the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) in San Francisco for a number of years. He has also been active in local theatre, most notably playing his first singing role as Professor Higgins in the 1988 Cabrillo Stage production of My Fair Lady.
from 1956 until 1972, when they divorced. They have three children — Caleb, Christopher and Lucas
. He is currently married to his second wife, Marijke. He is a naturalized United States citizen. He also moderated a multi-volume video series, The World of Joseph Campbell: Transformation of Myths Through Time, giving insightful commentary and celebrating Joseph Campbell's brilliance as a scholar and story teller.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
.
Early life
Donat was born Pierre Collingwood Donat in Kentville, Nova ScotiaNova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the son of Marie (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Bardet) and Philip Ernst Donat, a landscape gardener. His uncle was British actor Robert Donat
Robert Donat
Robert Donat was an English film and stage actor. He is best-known for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps and Goodbye, Mr...
. Peter Donat immigrated to the United States in 1950, studied drama at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, and first came to attention as a stage actor in the lead of a production of Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano de Bergerac
Hercule-Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac was a French dramatist and duelist. He is now best remembered for the works of fiction which have been woven, often very loosely, around his life story, most notably the 1897 play by Edmond Rostand...
. In 1961 he played a leading role in Donald Jack
Donald Jack
Donald Lamont Jack was a Canadian novelist and playwright.He was born in Radcliffe, Bury, England and grew up in Britain, attending the well regarded Bury Grammar School and Marr College and later serving in the RAF in World War II .After the war he emigrated to Canada in 1951, and became a...
's stage play The Canvas Barricade
The Canvas Barricade
The Canvas Barricade is a two-act play by Donald Jack. It won a Canadian play-writing competition held jointly by The Globe and Mail and the Stratford Festival, and had a six-performance run at the Stratford Festival in 1961. It was the first original Canadian play produced at Stratford...
, the first Canadian play performed at the Stratford Festival.
Career
In 1965, he was featured in the cast as Vince Conway on Moment of TruthMoment of Truth (TV series)
Moment of Truth was a Canadian serial drama television series which aired on CBC Television from 1964 to 1969.-Premise:The series was set in Ontario where clinical psychologist Dr. Robert Wallace not only operated a private practice but taught his subject field at the local university...
. That show was the only Canadian serial ever broadcast on a commercial television network in the United States.
His credits include: Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
,
Banacek
Banacek
Banacek is a short-lived, light-hearted detective TV series starring George Peppard on NBC from 1972 to 1974. It alternated in its timeslot with several other shows but was the only one to last beyond its first season...
, The Waltons
The Waltons
The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...
, Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...
, Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
, Lou Grant
Lou Grant (TV series)
Lou Grant is an American television drama series starring Ed Asner in the titular role as a newspaper editor. Unusual in American television, this drama series was a spinoff from a sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Aired from 1977 to 1982, Lou Grant won 13 Emmy Awards, including "Outstanding Drama...
, Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
, Quincy
Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M.E., also called Quincy, is a United States television series from Universal Studios that aired from October 3, 1976, to September 5, 1983, on NBC...
, Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart is an American television series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy couple who also moonlighted as amateur detectives. The series was created by writer Sidney Sheldon and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg...
, Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...
, Simon and Simon and Murder She Wrote. He also starred in Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano de Bergerac (play)
Cyrano de Bergerac is a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand. Although there was a real Cyrano de Bergerac, the play bears very scant resemblance to his life....
playing the title role, in 1972 on the PBS anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
Theatre in America. He was a regular cast member of the 1980s primetime serial, Flamingo Road as Elmo Tyson, and more recently had a recurring role as Bill Mulder, Agent Mulder's
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
father, in The X Files.
Donat has also worked extensively in films. Some of his more prominent roles include The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...
(1974), The Hindenburg
The Hindenburg (film)
The Hindenburg is a 1975 American film based on the disaster of the German airship Hindenburg. The film stars George C. Scott. It was produced and directed by Robert Wise, and was written by Nelson Gidding, Richard Levinson and William Link based on the book of the same name by Michael M. Mooney .A.A...
(1975), The China Syndrome
The China Syndrome
The China Syndrome is a 1979 American thriller film that tells the story of a reporter and cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant. It stars Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, Scott Brady, James Hampton, Peter Donat, Richard Herd, and Wilford Brimley.The film was...
(1979), The Babe
The Babe
The Babe is a 1992 biographical film about the life of famed baseball player Babe Ruth, who is portrayed by John Goodman.-Plot:The story begins in 1902 in Baltimore, Maryland, where a young Babe Ruth, troubled and not-so disciplined, is sent to the St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a...
(1992), and The Game
The Game (film)
The Game is a 1997 neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by David Fincher, starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn, and produced by Polygram. It tells the story of an investment banker who is given a mysterious gift: participation in a game that integrates in strange ways with his life...
(1997). Donat was a prominent member of the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) in San Francisco for a number of years. He has also been active in local theatre, most notably playing his first singing role as Professor Higgins in the 1988 Cabrillo Stage production of My Fair Lady.
Personal life
Donat was married to actress Michael LearnedMichael Learned
Michael Learned is an American actress known for her role as Olivia Walton on The Waltons.-Personal life:Learned was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Elizabeth Duane "Betti" and Bruce Learned, a diplomat. Her maternal grandfather was an attaché for the United States Embassy in Rome...
from 1956 until 1972, when they divorced. They have three children — Caleb, Christopher and Lucas
Lucas Donat
Lucas Donat, born 18 December 1962 in Toronto, Canada, to renowned actors Michael Learned and Peter Donat. In 1978 he played Mark Thorn in the film Damien: Omen II. He is co-founder and CEO of Donat/Wald Co., the advertising agency responsible for the highly successful eHarmony commercials that...
. He is currently married to his second wife, Marijke. He is a naturalized United States citizen. He also moderated a multi-volume video series, The World of Joseph Campbell: Transformation of Myths Through Time, giving insightful commentary and celebrating Joseph Campbell's brilliance as a scholar and story teller.
External links
- Peter Donat at Northernstars.ca