Friedrich Robert Donat was an Oscar winning English film and stage actor born in the beginning of the twentieth century England. At eleven, he was put under eminent elocutionist James Bernard for speech impairment. Bernard recognized his latent acting talent and developed it. Under his guidance Donat began performing on stage at the age of sixteen. One of his acts caught the attention of film producer Korda, who signed him for three years. His fourth film, ‘The Private Life of Henry VII’, brought him worldwide recognition. Soon he was hired by American film producer Edward Small to play the lead role in ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’. The film was a huge hit but Donat did not like Hollywood and came back home to star in Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The 39 Steps’. The film brought him instant stardom and there was no looking back for him. In fact, he became the undisputed romantic star of British cinema, equivalent to America’s Clark Gable. Unfortunately, he often suffered from acute asthma, so he could make only twenty films before his premature death at the age of fifty-three.