Acting
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.
Filmography
Browse movies and TV shows featuring James Donald
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.
The Great Escape
The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied...
DuPont Show of the Month
DuPont Show of the Month is an acclaimed 90-minute television anthology series that aired monthly on CBS from 1...
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese cap...
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the ser...
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the ser...
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the ser...
Play of the Week
This syndicated anthology series staged a different play every week covering all genres, dramas, comedies, musi...
The Vikings
Einar, brutal son of the viking Ragnar and future heir to his throne, tangles with clever slave Eric, for the h...
Lust for Life
An intense and imaginative artist, revered Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh possesses undeniable talent, but he i...
The Way Ahead
A mismatched collection of conscripted civilians find training tough under Lieutenant Jim Perry and Sergeant Ne...
Cast a Giant Shadow
An American Army officer is recruited by the yet to exist Israel to help them form an army. He is disturbed by...
The Big Sleep
Private eye Philip Marlowe investigates a case of blackmail involving the two wild daughters of a rich general,...
King Rat
When Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, the Allied POWs, mostly British but including a few America...
Quatermass and the Pit
A mysterious artifact unearthed below a London Underground station proves to have powerful psychic effects on t...
Conduct Unbecoming
A company of British soldiers in colonial India is shaken when the widow of their most honored hero is assaulte...
In Which We Serve
The story of the HMS Torrin, from its construction to its sinking in the Mediterranean during action in World W...
Beau Brummell
Captain George Bryan Brummell is a British soldier who appreciates fine clothing and innovative dress. Although...
Gift Horse
Compton Bennett's war drama The Gift Horse follows the fortunes of ageing destroyer The Ballantrae and her crew...
David Copperfield
A young man journeys from a difficult childhood to maturity, exploring social injustice, personal development,...
The Jokers
Brothers Michael and David Tremayne decide to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London, not for criminal...
Hannibal Brooks
A POW in World War II is put to work in a Munich zoo, looking after an Asian elephant. The zoo is bombed by the...
White Corridors
White Corridors was based on Yeoman Hospital, a novel by Helen Ashton. Told episodically, the story concentrate...
Third Man on the Mountain
Famous British mountaineer Winter wants to climb a difficult summit, the Citadel. He goes to a small village bu...
Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood
A retrospective of the films of Britain's Hammer Studios, renowned for making stylish horror films in the 1950s...
The Net
A secret jet aircraft capable of traveling three times the speed of sound is being developed by a group of scie...
The Citadel
The good doctor is on trial before the British Medical Association Council, if he is found guilty, he will no l...
Trottie True
Tottie True is a gay-90s British music-hall performer who has her sights set on moving from rags to riches, who...
The Royal Hunt of the Sun
The Spanish explorer Pizarro captures the Inca god-chief Atahualpa and promises to free him upon the delivery o...
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing
During a raid on Germany, a British bomber crew is forced to bail out after their plane is damaged. They land i...
Edward, My Son
Following the death of his only son, a ruthless businessman reflects on his life, his unhappy marriage and his...
The Small Voice
A man and his wife take to their house some men they rescue from a road crash and then find they have picked up...
The Pickwick Papers
The Pickwick Club sends Mr. Pickwick and a group of friends to travel across England and to report back on the...