Donald Meek
One Hollywood stalwart whose screen incarnations more than lived up to his name was bald-domed character actor Donald Meek, forever typecast as mousy, timorous or browbeaten Casper Milquetoasts. He stood at 5 ft. 6 in. in his boots and weighed a mere 81 pounds. However, the little Glaswegian's personal history rather belied his gormless image on the silver screen. By the age of fourteen, Donald had joined an acrobatic team ("The Marvells") on the piano wire as a top mounter. He accompanied the troupe on their tour of the U.S. but sustained several compound fractures in a fall and had to quit. After spending six months on crutches, he joined the U.S. 6th Pennsylvania Regiment and saw action during the Spanish-American War in Cuba, was wounded and lost his hair after a bout of yellow fever. This did not deter him from re-enlisting at the onset of World War I. He went on to serve with the Canadian Highlanders as a corporal, but, to his consternation, never got any further than Toronto. Donald had been infatuated with acting since early childhood. At the age of eight, he first performed publicly in the comic pantomime "Le Voyage en Suisse". Later, he toured Australia, South Africa, India and England in "Little Lord Fauntleroy". During his wartime sojourn in Cuba he had learned to "listen to those Yankees" and imitated their manner of speech, losing his Scottish accent in the process. When he was forced to abandon his career as an acrobat, he devoted more time to acting with various traveling stock companies and in New York. He made the first (of many) appearances on Broadway in 1903. Until the late 1920s, Donald remained quite gainfully employed in droll comical roles. Having flirted with screen acting since 1923, he made the move to the celluloid media by the end of the decade. Filmed at the Warner Brothers Eastern Vitaphone Studio in Brooklyn, he found himself an unlikely star, as amateur sleuth Dr. Amos Crabtree in The Clyde Mystery (1931), the first of eleven detective two-reelers, averaging just over twenty minutes in length. In 1933, Donald and wife Belle relocated to Hollywood. Moving from studio to studio (his only long-tern tenure was at MGM from 1940 to 1944), Donald Meek quickly emerged as one of the most prolific, sought-after character players in the business. Invariably, he was respectability personified, all prim and proper. The role of eccentric toy maker Mr. Poppins in You Can't Take It with You (1938) was specially written for him. Other memorable performances included the nervy little whiskey salesman Samuel Peacock, losing his samples to Thomas Mitchell in Stagecoach (1939) ("the cutest coach rider in the wagon", according to a New York Times review); shady gambler Amos Budge in My Little Chickadee (1940); Mr. Wiggs thinking himself to sleep in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1934); the eccentric little bee-keeper Bartholomew, helping the crime fighting exploits of Nick Carter, Master Detective (1939); and the intoxicated food taster and mince-meat enthusiast Hippenstahl of State Fair (1945). On odd occasions, Donald managed to step out of character, notably as the courageous Scottish prospector McTavish standing up to the villains of Barbary Coast (1935); scene-stealing, as miserly financier Daniel Drew in The Toast of New York (1937); as a rather loony citizen determined to collect a reward by unmasking Edward G. Robinson in The Whole Town's Talking (1935); or as tough railroad executive McCoy in Jesse James (1939) and The Return of Frank James (1940). Donald Meek crammed more than 120 screen roles into a mere one and a half decades. His performances were consistently a joy to watch. He was never able to realise his ambition of retiring to raise hybrid roses, dying in November 1946 at the age of 68. Fourteen years later, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Donald Moffat
The cinema took a while to discover him. Born in England, the son of an insurance agent, RADA-trained Donald Moffat first appeared on the Shakespearean stage with the Old Vic. In 1954, he stage managed the popular revue "Salad Days". Then, 'discontentment' (which, he later explained, had much to do with the class system in Britain) prompted a permanent relocation to the United States. Accompanying his American actress wife to her home state in Oregon, Moffat initially tried his hand at bartending and as a lumberjack. After six months, he concluded that he was not cut out for outdoorsy pursuits and decided to return to his original muse. A "motivating stimulus", as he would later explain, was that "America seemed much more theatrically vibrant than things were at home". Modest beginnings with an amateur theatre group in Princeton provided a meagre income of $25 a week which necessitated temporarily making ends meet as a carpenter. That situation improved in the wake of Moffat's 1957 debut on Broadway in "Under Milkwood". From then on, he managed to keep himself exceedingly busy for some three decades -- both on and off-Broadway -- in roles ranging from O'Neill and Chekhov to Ibsen and Miller. Stops along the way included the Ohio Shakespeare Festival in Akron, as well as theatres in New York (where he made a memorable Falstaff in 1987), Cincinnati, Chicago and Los Angeles. In the early 60s, Moffat enjoyed a lengthy tenure as a member of the ensemble of the Association of Producing Artists (APA) Phoenix Repertory Company. Having lost his British accent early on, Moffat excelled at slotting into diverse roles as totally believable Americans, be they dignified, self-effacing, doleful, tough or acerbic. This was very much in keeping with his working credo: "respect the text - you fit the part, not the other way around". Instantly recognisable in appearance -- lean, long-faced and bushy-browed -- he was a subtle actor who made good use of a mellow but resonant voice which combined with a strong stage presence. On the screen, Moffat began as a TV supporting player with numerous guest roles in hit shows, including Hawaii Five-O (1968), Bonanza (1959), Mission: Impossible (1966), Mannix (1967) and The West Wing (1999), playing an assortment of judges, doctors, reverends, politicians and army officers, even a quirky android named Rem in the short-lived CBS series Logan's Run (1977). His cinematic debut did not eventuate until 1968 as the (deceased) father of Joanne Woodward's titular protagonist in Rachel, Rachel (1968). Other memorable roles include the shady president in Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger (1994), the ill-fated station commander Garry in John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) and Lyndon B. Johnson in The Right Stuff (1983). Described as a consummate professional, Obie award-winning actor Donald Moffat retired in 2005 and passed away on 20 December 2018 at the age of 87.
Donald Morley
Donald Morley was born on June 9, 1923 in Fulham, London, England. He was an actor, known for The Railway Children (1957), Westway (1976) and Where's Johnny? (1974). He was married to Marianne Morley and Enid Irvin. He died on May 27, 1999 in Richmond, Surrey, England.
Donald Morrison
Donald Morrison is a Scottish actor, born and raised in Pollokshields on the south-side of Glasgow. He trained professionally at the prestigious Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. His recent credits include 'The Cry' for BBC 1/ Synchronicity Films, 'Science Scams' for Channel 4 and the BAFTA Scotland nominated short-film 'When the Tide Comes In'.
Donald Mugisha
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Donald Ndubuisi
Donald Ndubuisi is an actor, known for Dear Bayo (2020), Madam President (2017) and Juju Stories (2021).
Donald O'Brien
Though best known to cult film fans for his roles in Italian B-movies, Donald O'Brien hailed from Pau, in the Pyrenees mountains of France. His Irish father was a former US Army Calvary officer who fought in the Spanish-American war, and his mother was an English governess. When World War II broke out and France came under Nazi occupation, the O'Briens fled back to Ireland, where Donald would spend his formative years. He studied acting under the Irish theatre legend Micheál MacLiammóir, and later moved back to France, where he worked several oddjobs including prizefighter and office worker. In 1953, the 23-year-old O'Brien made his first appearance in a feature film, Anatole Litvak's war drama Un acte d'amour (1953). A chance meeting with director John Frankenheimer saw him cast as a Nazi officer in The Train (1964), which so impressed the director that he cast him in a supporting role in Grand Prix (1966). In 1967, O'Brien was brought to Italy to star in Sergio Sollima's cult Spaghetti Western Corri uomo corri (1968). His portrayal of ex-American lawman turned soldier of fortune Nathaniel Cassidy led to future leading roles in the genre for a number of years, during which he changed his name from "Donal" to "Donald" due to contracts frequently misspelling it. O'Brien quickly became a staple of Italian B-movies, appearing in everything from Spaghetti Westerns, to horror films, to Sexploitation pictures. In 1981, he starred in Zombi Holocaust (1980) (retitled 'Doctor Butcher, M.D.' for its US release), which earned him a strong cult following among horror and exploitation film fans for his portrayal of the eponymous mad scientist. However, that same year he sustained a brain injury that paralyzed half his body, and significantly reduced the number of roles he could play even after he recovered. He appeared in several films for the notorious Joe D'Amato, and had a supporting role as a Franciscan friar opposite Sean Connery in Jean-Jacques Annaud's Der Name der Rose (1986). Following another accident in 1996, O'Brien all but retired from acting, settling in Paris with his family.
Donald O'Brien
Though best known to cult film fans for his roles in Italian B-movies, Donald O'Brien hailed from Pau, in the Pyrenees mountains of France. His Irish father was a former US Army Calvary officer who fought in the Spanish-American war, and his mother was an English governess. When World War II broke out and France came under Nazi occupation, the O'Briens fled back to Ireland, where Donald would spend his formative years. He studied acting under the Irish theatre legend Micheál MacLiammóir, and later moved back to France, where he worked several oddjobs including prizefighter and office worker. In 1953, the 23-year-old O'Brien made his first appearance in a feature film, Anatole Litvak's war drama Un acte d'amour (1953). A chance meeting with director John Frankenheimer saw him cast as a Nazi officer in The Train (1964), which so impressed the director that he cast him in a supporting role in Grand Prix (1966). In 1967, O'Brien was brought to Italy to star in Sergio Sollima's cult Spaghetti Western Corri uomo corri (1968). His portrayal of ex-American lawman turned soldier of fortune Nathaniel Cassidy led to future leading roles in the genre for a number of years, during which he changed his name from "Donal" to "Donald" due to contracts frequently misspelling it. O'Brien quickly became a staple of Italian B-movies, appearing in everything from Spaghetti Westerns, to horror films, to Sexploitation pictures. In 1981, he starred in Zombi Holocaust (1980) (retitled 'Doctor Butcher, M.D.' for its US release), which earned him a strong cult following among horror and exploitation film fans for his portrayal of the eponymous mad scientist. However, that same year he sustained a brain injury that paralyzed half his body, and significantly reduced the number of roles he could play even after he recovered. He appeared in several films for the notorious Joe D'Amato, and had a supporting role as a Franciscan friar opposite Sean Connery in Jean-Jacques Annaud's Der Name der Rose (1986). Following another accident in 1996, O'Brien all but retired from acting, settling in Paris with his family.
Donald O'Connor
Born into a vaudeville family, O'Connor was the youthful figure cutting a rug in several Universal musicals of the 1940s. His best-known musical work is probably Singin' in the Rain (1952), in which he did an impressive dance that culminated in a series of backflips off the wall. O'Connor was also effective in comedic lead roles, particularly as the companion to Francis the Talking Mule in that film series.
Donald Ome
Donald Ome is known for Echo 3 (2022), Love's Secret Ingredient and Toxic Energy (2022).