EXTREMELY rare vintage 8x10-inch black and white portrait in 1939's Goodbye, Mr. Chips, boldly signed and inscribed in blue fountain pen the year after the film, when he snagged an Oscar for his performance. In good condition, with minor edgewear. Classically-trained stage actor Robert Donat was lured to cinema by Alexander Korda, who cast him in The Private Life of Henry VIII in 1933. He was immediately popular with audiences, who were enchanted by his good looks, soft voice, and reserved, subtle manner of acting. His all-too-brief list of film credits included For Love or Money (1933); The Count of Monte Cristo (1934); Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935); the horror flick The Ghost Goes West (1935); Knight Without Armour (1937); The Citadel (1938), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award; and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), for which he snagged the trophy the following year, infamously beating out Clark Gable for Gone with the Wind. Despite his talent and appeal, Donat would go on to make only a handful of films throughout the next two decades, most notably The Cure for Love (1949), The Magic Box (1951) and The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958). In 1958, he tragically succumbed to a lifelong respiratory ailment, aged only 53. His autograph is rather uncommon in any format.

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