JD
Photo of James Donald

James Donald

Actor
Died August 3, 1993 (76 years)
​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.
Movies & Shows on Plex
  • In Which We Serve
  • The Big Sleep
  • One of Our Aircraft Is Missing
  • The Way Ahead
Known For
  • The Great Escape
  • The Bridge on the River Kwai
  • Quatermass and the Pit
  • The Vikings
  • King Rat
  • Cast a Giant Shadow
  • The Way Ahead
  • Glory at Sea
  • Edward, My Son
  • Beau Brummell
  • The Pickwick Papers
  • Third Man on the Mountain
  • Project M7
  • Cage of Gold
  • The Royal Hunt of the Sun
  • Conduct Unbecoming

Filmography

1987
Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood! · as Dr. Mathew Roney (archive Footage)
1978
The Big Sleep · as Inspector Gregory
1975
Conduct Unbecoming · as The Doctor
1970
David Copperfield · as Mr. Murdstone
1969
1969
Hannibal Brooks · as Padre
1967
Quatermass and the Pit · as Dr. Mathew Roney
1967
The Jokers · as Col. Gurney-Simms
1966
Cast a Giant Shadow · as Maj. Safir
1965
King Rat · as Dr. Kennedy
1963
1963
The Great Escape · as Ramsey 'the Sbo'
1961
Ben Casey (TV Series)
1961
The Dick Powell Show (TV Series) · as Major Frazer
1960
BBC Sunday-Night Play (TV Series) · as Jack Tanner
1959
Third Man on the Mountain · as Franz Lerner
1959
The Play of the Week (TV Series) · as Priest
1958
The Vikings · as Lord Egbert
1957
The Bridge on the River Kwai · as Maj. Clipton
1957
Suspicion (TV Series) · as James Thomason
1957
The DuPont Show of the Month (TV Series) · as Sydney Carton
1956
Playhouse 90 (TV Series) · as Miles Denshaw
1956
Lust for Life · as Theo Van Gogh
1956
The Errol Flynn Theatre (TV Series) · as Andrew
1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) · as Harry Pope
1955
ITV Play of the Week (TV Series) · as Dr. Davidson
1955
ITV Television Playhouse (TV Series) · as Napoleon
1954
Beau Brummell · as Lord Edwin Mercer
1953
Project M7 · as Michael Heathley
1952
The Pickwick Papers · as Nathaniel Winkle
1952
Glory at Sea · as Lt. Richard Jennings, No. 1
1952
Brandy for the Parson · as Bill Harper
1951
Hallmark Hall Of Fame (TV Series) · as Prince Albert
1951
White Corridors · as Neil Marriner
1950
Cage of Gold · as Alan
1950
Sunday Night Theatre (TV Series) · as Philip Sturgess
1949
The Gay Lady · as Lord Digby Langdon
1949
Edward, My Son · as Bronton
1948
The Hideout · as Murray Byrne
1948
Broken Journey · as Bill Haverton
1944
The Way Ahead · as Pvt. Evans Lloyd
1943
San Demetrio London · as Gunnery Officer - H.m.s. Jervis Bay
1942
Went the Day Well? · as German Corporal
1942
1942
Alibi · as Barman
1942
1942
The Missing Million · as Assistant To Dicker

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