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Looking too romantic— even for an actor— that's
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"WWu Robert Donat
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By Ruth Lieber
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You are too romantic !" That is what motion picture producers in London told Robert Donat when he was trying to get a job to keep himself and family from starving ! This is the same Robert Donat who has become an international favorite since appearing in The Ghost Goes West, one of the best of pictures. A few months ago, he had refused the largest salary ever proposed for an actor, coming from a new English film company. He had refused almost daily offers from Hollywood, including one to play Romeo to Norma Shearer's Juliet in the Bard's great love tragedy, now being filmed in Hollywood. Since making The 39 Steps Bob Donat has been publicized as the greatest romantic hero of the day. And yet he had nearly starved because he was too romantic ! That was at the beginning.
"I've never told the story, but I guess it's about time I did," he said, his eyes twinkling with mirth. "To begin with, I have a freedom complex. I will not sign my life away with any company, American or English. I've fought up from the bottom. When I was playing in stock in the provinces, I had an opportunity to go to London. Fifteen pounds ($75) a week. That was so much money. They said the play would last at least six weeks. My wife and I figured that out. Ninety pounds ! ($450!) But the play closed in ten days! This was in 1931. Later when I had exactly six shillings ($1.25) in my pocket, I was offered my first contract — three years with a theatrical producer. The temptation was terrific. Without my wife behind me, I would have taken it. She said, 'Why sell yourself to him? If you're worth it to him, you're worth twice as much to yourself. She gave me the strength to say 'no' and the strength to live through nine successive stage failures. And that was a great many.
"And while I still did not have one success to my name, I was offered a chance to go to Hollywood to make Smilin' Thru with Norma Shearer. What a temptation that was I I hadn't made a single film. That is why it looked like suicide — to attempt a big role with Norma Shearer. It meant a possible overnight success. I might be a one-picture man or a complete failure. Finally, I turned it down !" His eyes looked wistful as he reminisced. "I [Continued on page 68]
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They don't consider Robert Donat too romantic now. He's a world favorite. Did you see him in Ghost Goes West?
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