Daniel Day-Lewis - Biography - IMDb 6' 2" (1.88 m) Mini Bio (2) Born in London, England, Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis (A.K.A. Nicholas Blake ) (Poet Laureate of England) and his second wife, Jill Balcon . His maternal grandfather was Sir Michael Balcon , an important figure in the history of British cinema and head of the famous Ealing Studios. His older sister, Tamasin Day-Lewis , is a documentarian. His mother's family were Jewish immigrants (from Poland and Latvia), and his father was of Northern Irish and English descent. Daniel was educated at Sevenoaks School in Kent, which he despised, and the more progressive Bedales in Petersfield, which he adored. He studied acting at the Bristol Old Vic School. Daniel made his film debut in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), but then acted on stage with the Bristol Old Vic and Royal Shakespeare Companies and did not appear on screen again until 1982, when he landed his first adult role, a bit part in Gandhi (1982).

He also appeared on British TV that year in Frost in May (1982) and BBC2 Playhouse: How Many Miles to Babylon? (1982). Notable theatrical performances include Another Country (1982-83), Dracula (1984), and The Futurists (1986). His first major supporting role in a feature film was in The Bounty (1984), quickly followed by My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) and A Room with a View (1985). The latter two films opened in New York on the same day, offering audiences and critics evidence of his remarkable range and establishing him as a major talent. The New York Film Critics named him Best Supporting Actor for those performances. In 1986, he appeared on stage in Richard Eyre 's The Futurists and on television in Eyre's production of Screen Two: The Insurance Man (1986). He also had a small role in a British/French film, Nanou (1986).

In 1987 he assumed leading-man status in Philip Kaufman 's The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), followed by a comedic role in the unsuccessful Stars and Bars (1988). His brilliant performance as "Christy Brown" in Jim Sheridan 's My Left Foot (1989) won him numerous awards, including The Academy Award for best actor. He returned to the stage to work again with Eyre, as Hamlet at the National Theater, but was forced to leave the production close to the end of its run because of exhaustion, and has not appeared on stage since. He took a hiatus from film as well until 1992, when he starred in The Last of the Mohicans (1992), a film that met with mixed reviews but was a great success at the box office. He worked with American director Martin Scorsese in The Age of Innocence (1993) in 1994. Subsequently, he teamed again with Jim Sheridan to star in In the Name of the Father (1993), a critically acclaimed performance that earned him another Academy Award nomination.

His next project was in the role of John Proctor in father-in-law Arthur Miller 's play The Crucible (1996), directed by Nicholas Hytner . Renown for his eloquent acceptance speeches Is very selective in his role choices Trivia (78) Ranked #25 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997] Moving to County Wicklow, Ireland, he assumed Irish citizenship. [1993] Was in a relationship with Isabelle Adjani from 1989 to 1994; they had one son together. Younger brother of Tamasin Day-Lewis . Chosen by People magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in the world. [1990] Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars" in film history (#11). [1995] Several times offered and turned down the role of Aragorn (Strider) in Peter Jackson 's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Son-in-law of playwright Arthur Miller .

According to Harvey Weinstein , Day-Lewis was taking time off to work as a cobbler in Florence, Italy when Weinstein, director Martin Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio lured him into coming back to New York "on false pretenses" so they could persuade him to accept lead role in Gangs of New York (2002). Describes himself as "a lifelong study of evasion." According to Gangs of New York (2002) co-star John C. Reilly , he got sick during shooting in Italy, refusing to trade his character's threadbare coat for a warmer coat because the warmer coat did not exist in the 19th century; doctors finally forced him to take antibiotics. Announced that he will star in Rose and the Snake, co-written and directed by his wife, Rebecca Miller . The film was later renamed The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005). [February 2003] Chosen by People magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in the world. [2003] Is a skilled woodworker in addition to being able to make his living as a cobbler.

He listened to Eminem to get into an angry, self-righteous frame of mind as Bill the Butcher while shooting Gangs of New York (2002). He was Jonathan Demme 's first choice for the part of Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia (1993). He turned the part down to work on In the Name of the Father (1993) and Tom Hanks was cast in Philadelphia (1993) instead. He earned an Oscar nomination for best actor in In the Name of the Father (1993), but Hanks won the Best Actor Oscar for Philadelphia (1993). Always quiet and introverted, he said that he was not popular in school and was mocked as an outsider while growing up in England, partially because he was of half-Jewish/half-Irish stock. The upside was that, instead of socializing, he developed a rich fantasy life that later helped him to delve so deeply into his characters. He was the first of three consecutive British actors to win the Oscar for Best Actor in a leading role, Jeremy Irons being next and Anthony Hopkins the third. Each of them coincidentally won at their first nomination in the Academy Awards.

In The Crucible (1996) Joan Allen plays his wife. In The Boxer (1997) Emily Watson plays his wife. Both have played Reba McLain. Allen played the part in Manhunter (1986), Watson played the part in the remake, Red Dragon (2002). Was considered for the role of Jesus Christ in The Passion of the Christ (2004), but director Mel Gibson thought he looked "too European" and the part instead went to Jim Caviezel . Frequently called the "English Robert De Niro ." He recently referred to De Niro as his champion. Considered doing an adaptation of "Rose and the Snake" in the early 1990s, but the project fell through. After marrying Rebecca Miller , she convinced him to take the lead role and directed him in the adaptation The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005). After Michael Madsen was found to be unavailable for the part, Day-Lewis tried to get the role of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction (1994), one of the few times he actively pursued a part.

However, by that point in the casting, Quentin Tarantino had John Travolta in mind for the part. Hated being at Sevenoaks School so much that he ran away. While filming Gangs of New York (2002) he rarely got out of character and would talk with a New York accent the whole day and would be sharpening his knives at lunch. His performance as Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989) is ranked #11 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006). His performance as Bill "The Butcher" Cutting in Gangs of New York (2002) is ranked #53 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006). Grandson of Michael Balcon . Born to Nicholas Blake (aka Cecil Day-Lewis) and his second wife Jill Balcon , he lost his father at the age of 15. Appears in the novel "That Must Be Yoshino". Turned down leading role of Steven Soderbergh film Solaris (2002). The role instead went to George Clooney .

While filming The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005) on Prince Edward Island, Canada, he lived alone in a hut on the beach, away from his wife, director Rebecca Miller , and their children. Late in the run of the 1989 production of "Hamlet" at the National Theatre in London, he reported that he had a strange sensation that he was talking to his father, who died of pancreatic cancer when Daniel was 15. Unnerved, he walked off the stage and never returned. He still doesn't like to talk about it. During The Last of the Mohicans (1992) he built a canoe, learned to track and skin animals, and perfected the use of a 12-pound flintlock gun, which he took everywhere he went, even to a Christmas dinner. Dedicated his 2008 SAG Award to Heath Ledger , who was one of his favorite actors. Holds dual citizenship - British and Irish. Was director Alex Cox 's second choice for the role of Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy (1986). Gary Oldman got the part. Supports Millwall Football Club.

Trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School where colleagues included Miranda Richardson and Greta Scacchi . Owns homes in the US and Ireland. Got to know his future wife Rebecca Miller while working on The Crucible (1996), the film version of her father Arthur Miller 's play. The first non-American actor to win three Academy Awards for Best Actor. He is also the first actor anywhere to win three Oscars in that category--2013's Oscar for Lincoln (2012) was his third. Dedicated his 2008 Oscar to his grandfather, film studio boss Michael Balcon , his poet father Nicholas Blake (aka Cecil Day-Lewis), and his three sons Gabriel-Kane Day Lewis (born on 9 April 1995), Ronan Cal Day-Lewis (born on 14 June 1998) and Cashel Blake Day-Lewis (born in May 2002). He won 23 acting awards for his performance in There Will Be Blood (2007), including the coveted Oscar.

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) and A Room with a View (1985) both opened in New York on the same day--March 7, 1986. Both featured him in prominent and very different roles: in "A Room with a View" he played a repressed, snobbish Edwardian upperclassman, while in "My Beautiful Laundrette" he played a lower-class, gay ex-skinhead in love with an ambitious Pakistani businessman in Margaret Thatcher 's London. When American critics saw him--he was then virtually unknown in the US--in two such different roles on the same day, many (including Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times and Vincent Canby of The New York Times) raved about the talent it must have taken him to play such vastly different characters. Is one of 11 actors to have won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance ( There Will Be Blood (2007) and Lincoln (2012)).

The others in chronological order are Geoffrey Rush for Shine (1996), Jamie Foxx for Ray (2004), Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote (2005), Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland (2006), Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men (2007), Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008), Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (2009), Colin Firth for The King's Speech (2010), Christopher Plummer for Beginners (2010), and J.K. Simmons for Whiplash (2014). Was offered the role of Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003) but declined. Son-in-law of photographer Inge Morath and playwright Arthur Miller . His performance as "Daniel Plainview" in There Will Be Blood (2007) was listed as third in TotalFilm's "150 Greatest Movie Performances of All Time" (Dec 2009). Turned down a role in Terminator Salvation (2009).

Zack Snyder offered him the role of "Jor-El" in Superman: Man of Steel (2013). Turned down the lead role in Mary Reilly (1996). Turned down a role in Cutthroat Island (1995). Sir John Gielgud said that "he had what every actor in Hollywood wants: talent. And what every actor in England wants: looks". Turned down the lead role in The English Patient (1996). Turned down the role of "Simon Templar" in The Saint (1997). Turned down the lead role in a film based on mass murderer Dennis Nilsen . He originally decided to become a cabinet maker but was not accepted for an apprenticeship. His father was of Northern Irish and English descent. His mother was from a Jewish family that emigrated to the U.K. from Poland and Latvia. He first became interested in acting when he learned to replicate the accent and mannerisms of people in his neighborhood to avoid standing out to bullies. The longest he has gone without an Oscar nomination is 9 years, between In the Name of the Father (1993) and Gangs of New York (2002).

Is the second actor to have received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for portraying Abraham Lincoln ; the other is Raymond Massey in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940). Is one of 5 actors to have won the Academy Award 3 times in their career; the others in chronological order are Walter Brennan , Ingrid Bergman , Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep . These actors have only been surpassed by Katharine Hepburn , who won the Academy Award 4 times during her career. Dedicated his 2013 Best Actor Oscar to his late mother, actress Jill Balcon . He is the first actor to win an Oscar for playing a U.S. President, and the first to win for playing Abraham Lincoln. Only one other actor, Raymond Massey , has been Oscar-nominated for playing the role; despite turning in a critically acclaimed performance as Lincoln in Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), Henry Fonda was not nominated for his performance.

On March 19, 2013, a two-DVD set entitled "Daniel Day-Lewis Triple Feature", a compilation of much of the actor's performances on British TV programs from 1982 to 1986, was released in the U.S. by BBC Home Entertainment. One of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World. [2013] In May 2013 he received an honorary degree from the Julliard School. He partook in the 2013 Millie Miglia driving a 1953 Jaguar XK 120. His co-driver was James Gianopulos , the Chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment. In 2013 he used the international premiere of his film Lincoln (2012) in Ireland as a fundraiser for the Wicklow Hospice Foundation. Became a father for the 1st time at age 37 when his ex-girlfriend Isabelle Adjani gave birth to their son Gabriel-Kane Day Lewis on April 9, 1995.

Became a father for the 2nd time at age 41 when his wife Rebecca Miller gave birth to their son Ronan Cal Day-Lewis on June 14, 1998. Became a father for the 3rd time at age 45 when his wife Rebecca Miller gave birth to their son Cashel Blake Day-Lewis in May 2002. In Gangs of New York (2002) his character "The Butcher" throws a knife at a picture of President Abraham Lincoln , hitting him right between the eyes. Ten years later he starred in Steven Spielberg 's Lincoln (2012), playing the president himself. As of 2014, has appeared in seven films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Gandhi (1982), A Room with a View (1985), My Left Foot (1989), In the Name of the Father (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), There Will Be Blood (2007) and Lincoln (2012). Gandhi (1982) won in the category.

He is not only the first actor to win 3 Best Actor Oscars, but the only British Actor to win at least 2 Best Actor Oscars. He was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to Drama. His Oscar for Lincoln (2012) makes he and Raymond Massey the eighth pair of male actors to be nominated for playing the same part (Massey for Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940), and he is the only actor to win when his predecessor had lost. Charles Laughton and Richard Burton were both nominated for playing King Henry VIII (Burton for Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), Laughton for The Private Life of Henry VIII. (1933)), for which Laughton won. Robert Donat and Peter O'Toole were both nominated for playing Mr. Chips (Donat in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), O'Toole for Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)), which Donat won.

John Wayne and Jeff Bridges were both nominated for playing Rooster Cogburn (Wayne in True Grit (1969), Bridges in True Grit (2010), which Wayne won. Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro both won for playing Vito Corleone (Brando in The Godfather (1972), De Niro for The Godfather: Part II (1974)). José Ferrer and Gérard Depardieu were both nominated for playing Cyrano de Bergerac (Ferrer for Cyrano de Bergerac (1950), Depardieu for Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)), and Ferrer won. Anthony Hopkins and Frank Langella were both nominated for playing Richard Nixon (Hopkins in Nixon (1995), Langella for Frost/Nixon (2008)); both lost. Jason Robards and Leonardo DiCaprio were both nominated for playing Howard Hughes (Robards for Melvin and Howard (1980), DeCaprio for The Aviator (2004)); both lost.

Personal Quotes (72) [on acting] If I weren't allowed this outlet, there wouldn't be a place for me in society. I suppose I have a highly developed capacity for self-delusion, so it's no problem for me to believe I'm somebody else. [on whether or not he will act in films more often in the future] Nothing happened over the course of making Gangs of New York (2002) that made me think, "Why don't I do this more often?". In every actor's life, there is a moment when they ask themselves, "Is it really seemly for me to still be doing this?". [on 'Martin Scorsese' (Fqv)] Martin doesn't have to convince me about anything. I can only say that I would wish for any one of my colleagues to have the experience of working with Marty once in their lifetime. If you get it twice, it's a privilege that you don't necessarily look for but you certainly don't try to avoid. Life comes first. What I see in the characters, I first try to see in life. The West has always been the epicenter of possibility. One of the ways we forge against mortality is to head west.

It's to do with catching the sun before it slips behind the horizon. We all keep moving toward the sun, wishing to get the last ray of hope before it sets. [on playing Jack Slevin in The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005)] I was, as always, wary of taking on the role. This was a man whose soul was torn, and once you've adopted that kind of internal conflict, it's difficult to quiet. [on disengaging from a character after filming] There's a terrible sadness. The last day of shooting is surreal. Your mind, your body, your spirit are not in any way prepared to accept that this experience is coming to an end. In the months that follow the finish of a film, you feel profound emptiness. You've devoted so much of your time to unleashing, in an unconscious way, some sort of spiritual turmoil, and even if it's uncomfortable, no part of you wishes to leave that character behind. The sense of bereavement is such that it can take years before you can put it to rest. Before I start a film, there is always a period where I think, "I'm not sure I can do this again".

I remember that before I was going to start There Will Be Blood (2007), I wondered why I had said yes. When Martin Scorsese told me about Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York (2002), I wanted to change places with that man. But even then, I did not say yes right away. I kept thinking, "I'm not sure I can do this again". [on seeing his face on posters for The Last of the Mohicans (1992)] That was, and will always be, difficult for me. The work itself is never anything but pure pleasure, but there's an awful lot of peripheral stuff that I find it hard to be surrounded by. I like things to be swift, because the energy you have is concentrated and can be fleeting. The great machinery of film can work against that. I have never had a positive reaction to all the stuff that supposedly promotes the film. The thought of it will make me hesitate to do any films at all. [on learning to box for The Boxer (1997)] I wanted to see if I loved the sport, because if I didn't love the sport, I wouldn't want to tell the story.

At its best, boxing is very pure. It requires resilience and heart and self-belief even after it's been knocked out of you. It's a certain kind of a test. And it's hard: the training alone will kill you. And that's before people start giving you a dig. Playing the part of Christy Brown [in My Left Foot (1989)] left me with a sense of setting myself on a course, of trying to achieve something that was utterly out of reach. [after filming The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)] I was hopelessly at sea. I was extremely unhappy most of the time. I think I probably felt I'd made a fundamental error in agreeing to do that movie even though it was the part and the film that everyone wanted to do. And God help us, that is, in itself, a reason not to do something. [while filming My Left Foot (1989)] I needed--and I still need--to create a particular environment. I need to find the right kind of silence or light or noise. Whatever is necessary--and it is always different.

I know it sounds a little fussy and a little ridiculous, but finding your own rhythm is one of the most important things you can discover about yourself. And you have to observe it. As actors, we're all encouraged to feel that each job is the last job. They plant some little electrode in your head at an early stage and you think, "Be grateful, be grateful, be grateful". So it's not without a sense of gratitude that I work. But I couldn't do this work at all unless I did it in my own rhythm. It became a choice between stopping and taking the time I needed. Why would I want to play middle-aged, middle-class Englishmen? [T]here's a quality of wildness that exists in Ireland that coincides with utter solitude. I've managed to create a sense of banishment in so many different areas of my life. I live in Ireland, not England. I make films in America. And now I'm banished from the theater because I've slagged it off so much. And I did the unspeakable thing of fleeing from "Hamlet".

[on acting school] For a few years at school I tried to play the roles they wanted me to play, but it became less and less interesting to ponce around the place. Even now, when I sometimes think of doing a play, I think of rehearsal rooms and people hugging and everyone talking over cups of coffee because they are nervous. It's both very touching and it makes me a little nauseous and claustrophobic. Too much talk. I don't rehearse at all in film if I can help it. In talking a character through, you define it. And if you define it, you kill it dead. Laurence Olivier might have been a much better actor on film if he hadn't had that flippant attitude. [He] was a remarkable actor, but he was entirely missing the point consistently. He felt that film was an inferior form. The thing that Konstantin Stanislavski lays out is how you do the thing the first time every time - 1,000 times. That's the idea you're always searching for. [on working when he was a teenager as an extra in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)] I was just a local kid.

I got to come out of the church, the same church where I sang in the choir, and scratch up a row of cars--a Jag, a Bentley--parked in front. I thought, "I get paid for this!". Years later I saw the director, John Schlesinger , at the Edinburgh festival, where we were showing My Beautiful Laundrette (1985). I play a hooligan punk in that, too. I said to Schlesinger, "I guess I haven't progressed much". I came from the educated middle class but I identified with the working classes. Those were the people I looked up to. The lads whose fathers worked on the docks or in shipping yards or were shopkeepers. I knew that I wasn't part of that world, but I was intrigued by it. They had a different way of communicating. People who delight in conversation are often using that as a means to not say what is on their minds. When I became interested in theater, the work I admired was being done by working-class writers. It was often about the inarticulate. I later saw that same thing in Robert De Niro 's early work--it was the most sublime struggle of a man trying to express himself.

There was such poetry in that for me. [on obtaining Irish citizenship] I dare say it was still considered to be an abandonment of England! A betrayal! A heresy! It is not expected that someone from my background will leave England. But I've committed so many heresies that there's no sense in not making the final gesture. [on visiting the west of Ireland every year since childhood] From the day we arrived here, my sense of Ireland's importance has never diminished. Everything here seemed exotic to us. Just the sound of the west of Ireland in a person's voice can affect me deeply. [on researching his role as Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007)] I like to learn about things. It was just a great time trying to conceive of the impossibility of that thing. I didn't know anything about mining at the turn of the century in America. My boarding school in Kent didn't exactly teach that. [on researching his role as Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007)] Back then men would get the fever. They would keep digging, always with the idea that next time they'll throw the dice and the money will fall out of the sky.

It killed a lot of men, it broke others, still more were reduced to despair and poverty, but they still believed in the promise of the West. [on researching his role as Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007)] I read a lot of correspondence dating from that period. Decent middle-class lives with wives and children were abandoned to pursue this elusive possibility. They were bank clerks and shipping agents and teachers. They all fled West for a sniff of cheap money. And they made it up as they went along. No one knew how to drill for oil. Initially, they scooped it out of the ground in saucepans. It was man at his most animalistic, sifting through filth to find bright, sparkly things. It was always assumed that the classics were a good line of work for me because I had a decent voice and the right nose. But anybody who comes from an essentially cynical European society is going to be bewitched by the sheer enthusiasm of the New World. And in America, the articulate use of language is often regarded with suspicion. Especially in the West. Look at the president. He could talk like an educated New Englander if he chose to.

Instead, he holds his hands like a man who swings an ax. George W. Bush understands, very astutely, that many of the people who are going to vote for him would regard him less highly if he knew how to put words together. He would no longer be one of them. In Europe, the tradition is one of oratory. But in America, a man's man is never spendthrift with words. This, of course, is much more appealing in the movies than it is in politics. [replying to a compliment on his articulation] I am more greatly moved by people who struggle to express themselves. Maybe it's a middle-class British hang-up, but I prefer the abstract concept of incoherence in the face of great feeling to beautiful, full sentences that convey little emotion. [on applying to theater school, the Bristol Old Vic] I picked just one because then it would be a sign from the gods if it was not meant to be. [on his reluctance to expose the mechanics of his acting process] It's not that I want to pull the shutters down. It's just that people have such a misconception about what it is I do.

They think the character comes from staying in the wheelchair or being locked in the jail or whatever extravagant thing they choose to focus their fantasies on. Somehow, it always seems to have a self-flagellatory aspect to it. But that's just the superficial stuff. Most of the movies that I do are leading me toward a life that is utterly mysterious to me. My chief goal is to find a way to make that life meaningful to other people. I was deeply unsettled by the script [of There Will Be Blood (2007)]. For me, that is a sure sign. If you remain unsettled by a piece of writing, it means you are not watching the story from the outside; you've already taken a step toward it. When I'm drawn to something, I take a resolute step backward, and I ask myself if I can really serve this story as well as it needs to be served. If I don't think I can do that, no matter how appealing, I will decline. What finally takes over, what took over with this movie, is an illusion of inevitability. I think, "Can this really be true? Is this happening to me again? Is there no way to avoid this?".

My love for American movies was like a secret that I carried around with me. I always knew I could straddle different worlds. I'd grown up in two different worlds and if you can grow up in two different worlds, you can occupy four. Or six. Why put a limit on it? I used to go to all-night screenings of [ Clint Eastwood ] movies. I'd stagger out at 5 in the morning, trying to be loose-limbed and mean and taciturn. Where I come from, it was a heresy to say you wanted to be in movies, leave alone American movies. We were all encouraged to believe that the classics of the theater were the fiery hoops through which you'd have to pass if you were going to have any self-esteem as a performer. It never occurred to me that that was the case. One of the great privileges of having grown up in a middle-class literary English household, but having gone to school in the front lines in Southeast London, was that I became half-street-urchin and half-good-boy at home. I knew that dichotomy was possible.

England is obsessed with where you came from, and they are determined to keep you in that place, be it in a drawing room or in the gutter. The great tradition of liberalism in England is essentially a sponge that absorbs all possibility of change. America looked different to me: the idea of America as a place of infinite possibilities was defined for me through the movies. I'm glad I did the classical work that I did, but it just wasn't for me. I'm a little bit perverse, and I just hate doing the thing that's the most obvious. I saw Taxi Driver (1976) five or six times in the first week, and I was astonished by its sheer visceral beauty. I just kept going back--I didn't know America, but that was a glimpse of what America might be, and I realized that, contrary to expectation, I wanted to tell American stories. I don't particularly like westerns as a genre, but I do love certain westerns. High Noon (1952) means a lot to me--I love the purity and the honesty, I love Gary Cooper in that film, the idea of the last man standing. I do not like John Wayne --I find it hard to watch him.

I just never took to him. And I don't like James Stewart as a cowboy. I love him, but just not as a cowboy; Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) is one of my favorite films. I love Frank Capra . I love Preston Sturges . But we're talking about westerns . . . I have always admired Clint Eastwood 's westerns. The spaghetti westerns were a great discovery. And Pale Rider (1985). As a child, the John Ford film Cheyenne Autumn (1964) made a big impression on me. And Five Easy Pieces (1970). It's not really a western, but it is about the possibilities that can be found in the West. Jack Nicholson is sublime in that film, just sublime. It's the most stultifying portrait of middle-class life. You want to flee from that world and head anywhere less civilized. Which is, of course, the appeal of the West: It's not tamed yet. [on creating a characterization] The intention is always the same.

To try to discover life in its entirety, or at least create for yourself the illusion that you have, which might give you some chance of convincing other people of it. It's the same thing each time, but it requires totally different work in the process of achieving that. You are set on a path that's strewn with obstacles, but getting over them is the joy of the work. So it's impossible to think in terms of difficulty: it all seems utterly impossible, but the pleasure is in trying to forge ahead anyway. My ambition for many years was to be involved in work that was utterly compelling to me, regardless of the consequences. But I worried a lot as a young man about where such and such a thing might take me; you're encouraged to think that way. You're supposed to build a career for yourself. But there's no part of me that was able to do that. And thank God I was able to recognize it before I sort of went grey with anxiety. [on why he takes long breaks between films] For my sense of continuity, I suppose I work in a certain way. But it goes beyond that.

It's really about the sense of joy you have in having worked hard to imagine and discover and--one hopes--to create a world, an illusion of a world that other people might believe in because you believe in it yourself, a form of self-delusion. After achieving that, it seems far crazier to jump in and out of that world that you've gone to such pains to create. And it wouldn't be my wish to do that, because I enjoy being in there. Whenever we reach what we think are the boundaries of our endurance, you know ten minutes later you're thinking: "I could have done that"--like in any athletic pursuit--"I could have gone further than that; I could have jumped higher". I am rather surprised that I haven't made more stories about my own country but it is a mistake to suggest that the biggest influence on my life in terms of movies has been America. It was and remains Ken Loach and his whole body of work, not that I have ever worked with him. There is something unique and pure about the way he works, without a taint on it. His beliefs have remained unwavering since he made I do have dual citizenship, but I think of England as my country.

I miss London very much but I couldn't live there because there came a time when I needed to be private and was forced to be public by the press. I couldn't deal with it. I was very influenced by Ken Loach 's work from the moment I saw Kes (1969) when I was a kid. It still remains for me one of the most powerful pieces of work ever. Before that, there was Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), This Sporting Life (1963) and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), which all expressed a new British social realism. Undoubtedly, they opened up the possibility of examining British life in a new way. That was probably the most important film experience I had. I have no illusion about the fact that I'm an Englishman living in Ireland. Even though I do straddle both worlds and I'm very proud to be able to carry both passports. But I do know where I come from. I particularly miss southeast London--the front-lines of Deptford and Lewisham and New Cross and Charlton--because that's my patch.

[on accepting the best actor Oscar for There Will Be Blood (2007)] This sprang like a sapling out of the mad, beautiful head of Paul Thomas Anderson . [on the "wisdom" of actors as public figures] Initially it was invigorating. People suddenly wanted to hear my views on all manner of social problems. I was up for it but it palled very soon afterwards. It was not like real conversation, where you listen and learn. It's hard to learn anything when you are talking about it. You only learn doing it. And if you are not learning, what's the point? Theatre invites a nuts-and-bolts process to rehearsing in which all the actors are transparent to each other. For me, even if the truth I am looking for might be a specious one, I still need to believe in a kernel of truth. And I find it hard to do in a rehearsal situation where everyone is saying, "Are you going to do it like that?" It is distracting and deadly in the end to any discovery you might make.

I'm never far away from a sense of potential absurdity of what I am doing, and maybe as I get older I have to work harder and harder to obliterate it. That's maybe why I seem to take it far too seriously. [His acceptance speech for Best Actor In A Leading Role SAG award for There Will Be Blood (2007)] Thank you. I'm very, very proud of this. Thank you so much for giving it to me. And I'm very proud to be included in that group of wonderful actors this year. You know, for as long as I can remember, the thing that gave me a sense of wonderment, of renewal, the thing that teased me with the question, "How is such a thing possible?", and then dare you to go back into the arena one more time, with longing and self-doubt, jostling in the balance. It's always been the work of other actors, and there are many actors in this room tonight, including my fellow nominees, who have given that sense of regeneration and Heath Ledger gave it to me.

In Monster's Ball (2001), that character that he created, it seemed to be almost like an unformed being, retreating from themselves, retreating from his father, from his life, even retreating from us, and yet we wanted to follow him, and yet we're scared to follow him almost. It was unique. And then, of course, in Brokeback Mountain (2005), he was unique, he was perfect. And that scene in the trailer at the end of the film is as moving as anything that I think I've ever seen. And I'd like to dedicate this to Heath Ledger. So, thank you very much. Thank you so much. [on choosing film roles] I begin with a sense of mystery. In other words, I am intrigued by a life that seems very far removed from my own. And I have a sense of curiosity to discover that life and maybe change places with it for a while. [About Heath Ledger ] As much as I was glad to have a chance to say something in that moment. There was plenty more I could say but we're not just fueling a fire that's already out of control.

His family, for instance, at this moment are trying to suffer that unimaginable grief in the full scrutiny of a fucking circus and anything that I say is probably going to contribute even more to that and keep the story running and running and running. There will come a time eventually when people just remember that he was a beautiful man who did some wonderful work and we would have seen great things from him. Right now I can't say that I'm too enthusiastic about just adding more fodder to what is already a horrendously, obscenely overblown machine that's gathered around his death. It's horrible. [on the passing of Pete Postlethwaite ] "Pos" was the one. As students, it was him we went to see on stage time and time again. It was him we wanted to be like: wild and true, lion-hearted, unselfconscious, irreverent. He was on our side. He watched out for us. We loved him and followed him like happy children, never a breath away from laughter. He shouldn't have gone. I wish so much that he hadn't. There's a tendency to make lists at this time of the year.

When we get to the Best of British, if Pete isn't at the top of that list, he shouldn't be far from it. [on the rumors surrounding his acting process]: Certainly in England I think they prefer to believe that I'm stone mad. That's how they account for all my eccentric behavior. But I always feel as if that has been largely misrepresented, the details that have been singled out...People are fascinated by the peripheral details. But that's not where the principal work takes place, obviously. That takes place either inside you, or it doesn't happen at all. It's your own life that breathes itself into and through the character. But people prefer to dwell on the stuff that appears on the face of it to be some form of self-flagellation. And for me, everything is part of the joy of discovering this life - that one is trying to inform as well as satisfying an irresistible curiosity. So it's the pleasure in learning that has always been the prevailing feeling for me. And yet consistently it's represented as this tortured thing. Interviews are God's great joke on me.

I like to take a long time over things, and I believe that it's the time spent away from the work that allows me to do the work itself. If you're lurching from from one film set or one theater to the other, I'm not sure what your resources would be as a human being. [on playing Abraham Lincoln ] The minute you begin to approach him--and there are vast corridors that have been carved that lead you to an understanding of that man's life, both through the great riches of his own writing and all the contemporary accounts and biographies--he feels immediately and surprisingly accessible. He draws you closer to him. I became conflicted in my late teens. I imagined an alternative life as a furniture maker. For about a year I just didn't know what to do. I did laboring jobs-- working in the docks, construction sites. When I did make the decision to focus on acting, I think my mother was just relieved for me that I had finally started to focus.

She probably feared for me much more than she ever let on, because all I got from her, no matter what I was doing was encouragement--so much so that I think I became quite a harsh judge of myself to try to restore some kind of balance. [on the United States] I probably do have a greater fascination for the history of this country than I do for my own. I date that back to the moment that Michael Mann invited me to do The Last of the Mohicans (1992)]. I hedged my bets for a long time because I thought, "Why? Why would he want to do that?". Eventually I thought, "Well, if he's willing to take that chance, who am I to say no?". [on events in America, 2012] I think a lot about what President [ Barack Obama ] is going through at this moment. I look to the extent to which he has aged visibly. I feel I aged visibly just playing [President Abraham Lincoln ], so to actually have that responsibility is a burden that one can only explore in one's imagination. Anyone who has that position of authority must necessarily find themselves very, very alone at certain times.

I'm not in any way comparing his work to the work that I do as an actor, but it's a common theme. I'm woefully one-track-minded. Without sounding unhinged, I know I'm not Abraham Lincoln . I'm aware of that. But the truth is the entire game is about creating an illusion, and for whatever reason, and mad as it may sound, some part of me can allow myself to believe for a period for time without questioning, and that's the trick. Maybe it's a terrible revelation about myself that one does feel able to do that. [on playing Abraham Lincoln ] I thought this is a very, very bad idea. But by that time it was too late. I had already been drawn into Lincoln's orbit. He has a very powerful orbit, which is interesting because we tend to hold him at such a distance. He's been mythologized almost to the point of dehumanization. But when you begin to approach him, he almost instantly becomes welcoming and accessible, the way he was in life. [on photos of Abraham Lincoln by Alexander Gardner] I looked at them the way you sometimes look at your own reflection in a mirror and wonder who that person is looking back at you.

I never, ever felt that depth of love for another human being that I never met. And that's, I think, probably the effect that [ Abraham Lincoln ] has on most people that take the time to discover him . . . I wish he had stayed [with me] forever. [accepting the Best Actor award at SAG, 2013] It occurred to me--it was an actor that murdered Abraham Lincoln . And therefore, somehow it is only so fitting that every now and then an actor tries to bring him back to life again. [on being presented the 2013 Best Actor Oscar by Meryl Streep ] It's strange because three years ago, before we decided to do a straight swap, I had actually been committed to play Margaret Thatcher and Meryl was Steven Spielberg 's first choice for Lincoln (2012). I'd have liked to see that version. Since we got married 16 years ago, my wife [ Rebecca Miller ] has lived with some very strange men. But luckily, she's the versatile one in the family and she's been the perfect companion to all of them. I miss playing [ Abraham Lincoln ]. Very much. I miss the proximity to his character.

There was a time in my life when it wasn't clear whether or not I would amount to anything. I was fearful about my future. In England, people were hell-bent on certifying me--to them, the way I work as an actor is the system of someone who is unhinged. As a young man, when I saw the early movies by Martin Scorsese , I saw a way to be, a kind of liberation. In those movies, America seemed like a place of infinite opportunities. In Lincoln (2012), we tried to show that sense of grand democratic possibility. We created a world I didn't want to leave. "I know as an Englishman, it's absolutely none of my business, but I'm so very grateful it was you." [On Barack Obama's re-election, November 2012] [on stage vs. film acting in a 1987 interview] I'm greedy. I prefer both. By that I mean I feel that I'd be missing out if I were to do only one or the other. There's no point in making social comments badly. That is really dangerous... I don't like things that just gripe.

[in a 1987 interview about the variety of his roles] I don't set out in search of something that is different, although I probably do go in search of things that involve traveling a certain distance away from my own life and away from the lives of characters I've already explored. But at the end of a job, there's always a sense of having failed to some extent in the exploration - of knowing that there are many, many other factors that might have been explored. Yet at the same time, I always feel it's time to move on, regardless of any dissatisfaction.

Salary (1) Robert Donat - Biography - IMDb Robert Donat Biography Showing all 30 items Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (2) | Trivia (17) | Personal Quotes (4) | Salary (1) Overview (5) 9 June 1958 , London, England, UK (cerebral thrombosis due to brain tumor) Birth Name 6' (1.83 m) Mini Bio (1) Robert Donat's pleasant voice and somewhat neutral English accent were carefully honed as a boy because he had a stammer and took elocution lessons starting at age 11 to overcome the impediment. It was not too surprising that freedom from such a vocal embarrassment was encouragement to act. His other handicap, acute asthma, did not deter him. At the age of 16 he began performing Shakespeare and other classic roles in a number of repertory and touring companies throughout Britain. In 1924 he joined Sir Frank Benson's repertory company, and later he was with the Liverpool Repertory Theater. His work was finally noticed by Alexander Korda , who gave him a three-year film contract.

Three minor films were followed by his role as Katherine Howard's lover, Thomas Culpepper, in the hit The Private Life of Henry VIII. (1933). Donat's style of acting, whether comic or dramatic, was usually reserved, with the subtleties of face and voice being his talents to complement the role. A top draw in Britain, he went to Hollywood for The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), but he did not care for the Hollywood scene--the fishbowl lifestyle of the movie star. "Cristo" gave him the opportunity for Captain Blood (1935), but he eventually declined. (With a nod to hindsight, it is hard to think of anyone but a fresh-faced Flynn doing the role.) Although he would have contracts with MGM, Warner Bros. and RKO through the remainder of the 1930s, he begged off many a film role or broke commitments, ostensibly because of health problems, though, along with being finicky about roles, he was also such a conscientious actor that lack of confidence sometimes stymied his forward progress. Hollywood usually had to shoot in England if it wanted him badly enough.

And that was not a problem after the box office reception given The 39 Steps (1935), the big hit for Alfred Hitchcock. There was a hint of whimsy in Donat's face that worked especially well with the sophisticated comedic elements that crept into several of his dramatic roles. His portrayal of individualist Canadian Richard Hannay--which registered with North Americans both above and below the 49th parallel--in "Steps" was the first of such popular characters. Some of Hitch's famous on-the-set practical jokes ensued on the first day of shooting "Steps." The first scene was the escape on the moors from the master spy's henchmen by Donat and Madeleine Carroll handcuffed together. Donat and Carroll had not met before this, and Hitchcock handcuffed them together hours before filming so that they could get very well acquainted. He insisted he had misplaced the key when in fact he had slipped it to a studio security officer for safekeeping.

Hitchcock attempted to land Donat for three other roles, Sabotage (1936) and Secret Agent (1936) and Rebecca (1940), but illness, commitments, and more illness, respectively, supposedly kept Donat from accepting each. Hollywood would be treated in kind, for Donat was more dedicated to stage work. Hollywood did get him for The Citadel (1938), for which he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. He won the Oscar the next year for perhaps his best known role in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) (MGM's with Greer Garson ). Since 1939 was one of the most competitive film years in Hollywood history, Donat's reward for his mild Mr. Chipping was something of a stunner. This was the year of Gone with the Wind (1939), and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler seemed a shoo-in for best actor. But there is something of a myth that since both pictures were from MGM and "Wind" had so many nominations (including best actor, actress, and picture), MGM head and strongman Louis B.

Mayer used his weight to spread the wealth toward "Chips". Unlike other British actors who came to work in America during World War II, Donat stayed in Britain. He did mostly theater but also some British films--only four--with one for Korda and one for Carol Reed. Only six more films were allotted Donat after the war and into the 1950s, all but one British productions. He starred, directed and co-wrote The Cure for Love (1949) and starred in The Magic Box (1951), a well-crafted and delightful (if a bit fictionalized) salute to the history of the British film industry. By 1955, all of Donat's acting efforts required a bottle of oxygen kept off stage and at the ready as his health continued to turn toward the worse. The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), a Twentieth Century Fox production shot in the UK, was Donat's final film. His fragility was poignantly obvious on screen, and he died shortly after the film was finished. He received a posthumous Special Citation from the USA National Board of Review and was nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe.

It was a career for Robert Donat that should have gone on, yet it was filled with many notable screen memories just the same. - IMDb Mini Biography By: William McPeak Spouse (2) ( 6 August 1929 - 10 December 1946) (divorced) (3 children) Trivia (17) His last words on screen are: "We shall not see each other again, I think". "Farewell, Jen-Ai". (Spoken to 'Ingrid Bergman's' character 'Jen-Ai' ("the one who loves people") in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958)). He passed away shortly after filming was completed. He was originally scheduled to play the title role in Captain Blood (1935) but withdrew before shooting began, which created an opportunity for Errol Flynn to become a star. He did not feel comfortable with Hollywood, so Hollywood came to him, filming mostly in England. Uncle of actor Peter Donat . He was English born of Polish descent, and several of his brothers emigrated to Canada.

Favorite actor of British comedy legend Peter Sellers, who once said about Bob Donat: "I thought he was a god." Great-uncle of Lucas Donat . When he died in 1958, he left none of his $70,000 estate to wife, Renee Asherson. Instead his estate was divided among his three children, Joanna, John and Brian. Father of 1 daughter, Joanna Donat (born 1931) and 2 sons, John Donat (born 1933) and Brian Donat (born 1936) with his first wife, Ella Annesley Voysey. Lobbied for the role of the Chorus in Henry V (1944), but Leslie Banks was cast instead. Campaigned to be cast against type as Bill Sikes in Oliver Twist (1948), but Robert Newton was cast in the part instead. Was the favourite actor of Judy Garland , who wrote a fan letter to him after seeing his performance in The Count of Monte Cristo (1934). He played Charles Edward "Mr.

Chips" Chipping between the ages of 20 (in 1870) and 83 (in 1933) in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939). Uncle of actor Richard Donat . He was offered the part of Robin Hood in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) but turned it down due to illness. His first wife Ella was remarried in 1956, becoming Ella Hall . She passed away in Sussex in the summer of 1994, aged 91. Personal Quotes (4) I never had any real security in my life until I found the false security of stardom. One of the reasons why so few actors are successful both on the stage and on the screen is that too many film actors look upon filming as a rather boring, well-paid job. Their performances in front of the camera, if also rather boring, are not quite so much of a joke. The chief thing in my mind was that I must appear dashing. I distinctly remember in The Count of Monte Cristo (1934) pulling my shoulders back and trying to look handsome. [on his role in Goodbye, Mr.

Chips (1939)] "As soon as I put the moustache on, I felt the part, even if I did look like a great airedale come out of a puddle." Salary (1) A Group Portrait from Civil War Cinema | National Portrait Gallery A Group Portrait from Civil War Cinema The National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum will close to the public at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, January 18 for an Inaugural event. All afternoon tours and programs on that day are canceled. facetoface A Group Portrait from Civil War Cinema A Group Portrait from Civil War Cinema Warren Perry March 20, 2014 (This article marks our 500th blog post!) Oscars 1940, Robert Donat; Vivien Leigh; Hattie McDaniel; Thomas Mitchell / Alfred Bendiner / Pencil, crayon and opaque white on illustration board, 1940 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Alfred Bendiner Foundation / © Alfred and Elizabeth Bendiner Foundation Although the Civil War was a national tragedy, it made a popular comeback seventy-five years ago.

In 1939, there were some Americans alive who had personal memories of the war, but it was a work of fiction rather than history that rejuvenated interest in the war between the North and the South in American culture. “There is no Confederacy now—though you’d never know it, to hear some people talk,” Rhett Butler states flatly in Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 classic, Gone with the Wind. Mitchell not only resurrected the Confederacy, but also the entire Civil War experience. By 1939, Mitchell’s work had made it to the silver screen, and the film, its cast, and its crew were nominated for many awards for both the richness of the drama and the technical mastery with which it was produced. Directed by Victor Fleming and produced by David O. Selznick, Gone with the Wind stands atop the list of Civil War movies; it received ten Academy Awards, including honors for best picture, best actress, and best supporting actress. Frank Nugent, reviewing for the New York Times, noted: Mr.

Selznick’s film is a handsome, scrupulous and unstinting version of the 1,037-page novel, matching it almost scene for scene with a literalness that not even Shakespeare or Dickens were accorded in Hollywood, casting it so brilliantly one would have to know the history of the production not to suspect that Miss Mitchell had written her story just to provide a vehicle for the stars already assembled under Mr. Selznick’s hospitable roof. To have treated so long a book with such astonishing fidelity required courage . . . and yet, so great a hold has Miss Mitchell on her public, it might have taken more courage still to have changed a line or scene of it. From an age when Hollywood was flexing its young muscles and becoming the undisputed entertainment capital of the world, Gone with the Wind was an epic undertaking. It was a true cinematic event, and the venture was responsible for enhancing the young visual process called Technicolor; Gone with the Wind received two Oscars for technical achievements in the creation of color cinematography. However, the film was appreciated in its debut and is still remembered more for the passions of its protagonist than for its outstanding musical score and the masterful use of effects.

As Nugent noted in his review, “Miss Leigh’s Scarlett is the pivot of the picture, as she was of the novel, and it is a column of strength in a film that is part history, part spectacle and all biography.” Scarlett O’Hara’s quest to win Ashley Wilkes’s love and Scarlett’s fight for her home,Tara, are the movie’s primary plot ingredients; these storylines are convoluted by Scarlett’s three marriages and William Tecumseh Sherman’s march through Georgia. Vivien Leigh’s proud, manipulative, and resilient portrayal of Scarlett is one of the two Academy Award–winning performances in the film. Though Clark Gable and Olivia de Havilland were both nominated for Oscars, Hattie McDaniel won the film’s only Academy Award, for best supporting actress for her performance as Mammy, the O’Hara household slave. McDaniel was the first African American to win an Oscar. The accompanying 1940 pencil, crayon, and opaque white drawing on illustration board is from the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. The work, by Alfred Bendiner, depicts the four winners of the acting Oscars from 1939 films.

Other than Leigh and McDaniel, the image also includes the two winners for best lead actor and best supporting actor, Robert Donat and Thomas Mitchell, respectively. Donat won the Oscar for playing Charles Edward Chipping in Goodbye Mr. Chips, while Thomas Mitchell—who played Scarlett O’Hara’s father, Gerald, in Gone with the Wind—won the best supporting actor Oscar for his work in Stagecoach. —Warren Perry, Catalog of American Portraits, National Portrait Gallery Cited: National Portrait Gallery | Face to Face blog: A Group Portrait from Civil War Cinema A Group Portrait from Civil War Cinema (This article marks our 500th blog post!) Oscars 1940, Robert Donat; Vivien Leigh; Hattie McDaniel; Thomas Mitchell / Alfred Bendiner / Pencil, crayon and opaque white on illustration board, 1940 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Alfred Bendiner Foundation / © Alfred and Elizabeth Bendiner Foundation Although the Civil War was a national tragedy, it made a popular comeback seventy-five years ago.

In 1939, there were some Americans alive who had personal memories of the war, but it was a work of fiction rather than history that rejuvenated interest in the war between the North and the South in American culture. “There is no Confederacy now—though you’d never know it, to hear some people talk,” Rhett Butler states flatly in Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 classic, Gone with the Wind. Mitchell not only resurrected the Confederacy, but also the entire Civil War experience. By 1939, Mitchell’s work had made it to the silver screen, and the film, its cast, and its crew were nominated for many awards for both the richness of the drama and the technical mastery with which it was produced. Directed by Victor Fleming and produced by David O. Selznick, Gone with the Wind stands atop the list of Civil War movies; it received ten Academy Awards, including honors for best picture, best actress, and best supporting actress. Frank Nugent, reviewing for the New York Times, noted: Mr.

Selznick’s film is a handsome, scrupulous and unstinting version of the 1,037-page novel, matching it almost scene for scene with a literalness that not even Shakespeare or Dickens were accorded in Hollywood, casting it so brilliantly one would have to know the history of the production not to suspect that Miss Mitchell had written her story just to provide a vehicle for the stars already assembled under Mr. Selznick’s hospitable roof. To have treated so long a book with such astonishing fidelity required courage . . . and yet, so great a hold has Miss Mitchell on her public, it might have taken more courage still to have changed a line or scene of it. From an age when Hollywood was flexing its young muscles and becoming the undisputed entertainment capital of the world, Gone with the Wind was an epic undertaking. It was a true cinematic event, and the venture was responsible for enhancing the young visual process called Technicolor; Gone with the Wind received two Oscars for technical achievements in the creation of color cinematography. However, the film was appreciated in its debut and is still remembered more for the passions of its protagonist than for its outstanding musical score and the masterful use of effects.

As Nugent noted in his review, “Miss Leigh’s Scarlett is the pivot of the picture, as she was of the novel, and it is a column of strength in a film that is part history, part spectacle and all biography.” Scarlett O’Hara’s quest to win Ashley Wilkes’s love and Scarlett’s fight for her home,Tara, are the movie’s primary plot ingredients; these storylines are convoluted by Scarlett’s three marriages and William Tecumseh Sherman’s march through Georgia. Vivien Leigh’s proud, manipulative, and resilient portrayal of Scarlett is one of the two Academy Award–winning performances in the film. Though Clark Gable and Olivia de Havilland were both nominated for Oscars, Hattie McDaniel won the film’s only Academy Award, for best supporting actress for her performance as Mammy, the O’Hara household slave. McDaniel was the first African American to win an Oscar. The accompanying 1940 pencil, crayon, and opaque white drawing on illustration board is from the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. The work, by Alfred Bendiner, depicts the four winners of the acting Oscars from 1939 films.

Other than Leigh and McDaniel, the image also includes the two winners for best lead actor and best supporting actor, Robert Donat and Thomas Mitchell, respectively. Donat won the Oscar for playing Charles Edward Chipping in Goodbye Mr. Chips, while Thomas Mitchell—who played Scarlett O’Hara’s father, Gerald, in Gone with the Wind—won the best supporting actor Oscar for his work in Stagecoach. —Warren Perry, Catalog of American Portraits, National Portrait Gallery Cited:

Question: Who won a Best Actor 'Oscar' for playing the character 'Charles Edward Chipping'?
Answer: ROBERT DONAT