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Donald Moffat

{{Short description|British–American actor (1930–2018)}}

{{about||the American author|Donald Moffitt|the English actor|Donald Wolfit}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}}

{{Use British English|date=October 2014}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Donald Moffat

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1930|12|26}}

| birth_place = Plymouth, Devon, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|2018|12|20|1930|12|26}}

| death_place = Sleepy Hollow, New York, U.S.

| education = Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (BA)

| occupation = Actor

| yearsactive = 1956–2005

| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Anne Murray Ellsperman|1954|1968|reason=divorced}}|{{marriage|Gwen Arner|1970}}}}

| children = 4

}}

Donald Moffat (December 26, 1930 – December 20, 2018) was a British-American actor with a decades-long career in film and stage in the United States.

Moffat began his acting career on- and off-Broadway, which included appearances in The Wild Duck and Right You Are If You Think You Are, earning Tony Award nominations for both, as well as Painting Churches, for which he received an Obie Award. Moffat also appeared in several feature films, including The Thing (1982), The Right Stuff (1983) and, in a rare leading role on film, as a tenuously recovering alcoholic in On the Nickel (1980). Moffat also made guest appearances in numerous television series, including such shows as Little House on the Prairie, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and The West Wing. He also was a principal in the 1993 TV miniseries Tales of the City.

Early life

Moffat was born on December 26, 1930, in Plymouth, Devon, the only child of Kathleen Mary (née Smith) and Walter George Moffat, an insurance agent. His father was Scottish. His parents ran a boarding house in Totnes. After completing his studies at the local King Edward VI School and a period of national service in the Army from 1949 to 1951, Moffat trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/obituaries/donald-moffat-dead.html| title=Donald Moffat, 87, a Top Actor Who Thrived in Second Billings, Dies| last=McFadden| first=Robert D.| date=December 20, 2018| newspaper=The New York Times| access-date=December 21, 2018| language=en-US| issn=0362-4331}}{{cite news| last1=Glover| first1=William| title=He's Still Broke But Has Grown As Actor| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13031762/donald_moffat/| newspaper=The Danville Register| agency=Associated Press| date=March 28, 1967| page=9| via=Newspapers.com| access-date=August 11, 2017}}

Career

=Stage=

Moffat began his career as a stage actor in London and New York City. His first work was at the Old Vic Theatre Company in London.{{cite news |title=Familiar Face |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/familiar-face-1.139359 |newspaper=The Irish Times |location=Dublin| access-date=December 21, 2018}}

After moving to the United States, Moffat worked as a bartender and a lumberjack in Oregon, his wife's home state. "After six months," he said, "I realized that I was an actor and I would always be an actor. And an actor must act. So I started acting again."{{cite news| title=Waiting for Rem| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13032667/donald_moffat/| newspaper=San Antonio Express| date=August 25, 1977| page=2B| via=Newspapers.com| access-date=August 11, 2017}} His first acting job in the United States was in Princeton, New Jersey. He worked as a carpenter, and his wife did ironing in order to supplement his $25 per week pay.

He joined APA (The Association of Producing Artists), a repertory company on Broadway, and was nominated for a Tony for Best Actor in a Play in 1967 for his roles in revivals of Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck and Pirandello's Right You Are If You Think You Are.{{cite news| title=Two-Time Tony Nominee Donald Moffat Dead at 87| url=https://www.playbill.com/article/two-time-tony-nominee-donald-moffat-dead-at-87| magazine=Playbill| access-date=March 25, 2022| date=March 21, 2018| first=Mark| last=Peikert}}

He was nominated for Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Actor in a Play for his work in Play Memory (1984) and for Outstanding Featured Actor in the revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh (1986) with Jason Robards.{{cite web| title=Donald Moffat| url=http://www.playbill.com/person/donald-moffat-vault-0000018529| website=Playbill| access-date=August 12, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812004439/http://www.playbill.com/person/donald-moffat-vault-0000018529| archive-date=August 12, 2017}} He won an Obie for Painting Churches.{{cite web| title=1980s: Winners| url=http://www.obieawards.com/events/1980s/year-83/| website=OBIE Awards| access-date=August 12, 2017| archive-url=https://archive.today/20170812005831/http://www.obieawards.com/events/1980s/year-83/| archive-date=August 12, 2017| url-status=dead}} In 1998, he was nominated for a Gemini Award for his performance as attorney Joe Ruah in the CBC miniseries The Sleep Room.{{cite journal| title=The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman produced by Louise Lore and Gerry Flahive, The Sleep Room produced by Bernard Zukerman, The Un-Canadians produced by Joanne Smale (review)| last=Hannant| first=Larry| journal=Canadian Historical Review| volume=80| number=4| date=December 1999| pages=698–705| url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/606069/pdf}} He also appeared in many Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including John Guare's A Few Stout Individuals (as Ulysses S. Grant),{{cite magazine| url=https://variety.com/2002/legit/reviews/a-few-stout-individuals-1200549734/| title=A Few Stout Individuals| last=Isherwood| first=Charles| date=May 13, 2002| magazine=Variety| language=en| access-date=December 21, 2018}} The Heiress,{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-09-13-ca-43317-story.html| title=Cruelty Forges a Shining 'Heiress'| last=Winer| first=Laurie| date=September 13, 1996| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| access-date=December 21, 2018| language=en-US| issn=0458-3035}} The Cherry Orchard,{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jUpXfnV6TR8C&pg=PA119| title=Chekhov: The Cherry Orchard| last=Loehlin| first=James N.| date=September 14, 2006| publisher=Cambridge University Press| isbn=978-0-5218-2593-1| page=119| language=en}} Much Ado About Nothing,Criscitiello, Alexa (December 20, 2018). [https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Award-Winning-Actor-and-Director-Donald-Moffat-Passes-Away-At-Age-87-20181220 "Award-Winning Actor and Director Donald Moffat Passes Away At Age 87"]. Broadway World. Retrieved December 22, 2018. The School for Scandal, The Affair{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tH4RDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA382| title=American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1930-1969| last=Bordman| first=Gerald| date=November 21, 1996| publisher=Oxford University Press, USA| isbn=978-0-1950-9079-6| page=382| language=en}} and Hamlet.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/22/archives/cbs-series-plans-part-of-the-brig-play-will-be-a-segment-of-look-up.html| title=C.B.S. Series Plans Part Of 'The Brig'; Play Will Be a Segment of 'Look Up and Live'| last=Adams| first=Val| date=May 22, 1964| newspaper=The New York Times| access-date=December 21, 2018| language=en-US| issn=0362-4331| url-access=subscription}}

=Film=

Among Moffat's best-known film roles are as Lyndon B. Johnson in The Right Stuff (1983), the corrupt U.S. president in Clear and Present Danger, and as Garry, the station commander in The Thing.

=Television=

Moffat played Enos in the CBS western miniseries The Chisholms,Terrace, pp. 185–186. Lars Lundstrom in the ABC drama The New Land.Terrace, p. 755. and Rem in the CBS science-fiction series Logan's Run.Terrace, pp. 617–618. He also appeared in Columbo, The West Wing, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and Tales of the City, in which his performance as dying executive Edgar Halcyon earned him many new fans. One of his final roles was as Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in the HBO movie, 61*. Moffat's last role was as a judge in an episode of Law & Order: Trial by Jury in 2005.{{cite web |last1=Lincoln |first1=Ross |title=Donald Moffat, 'The Right Stuff' and 'The Thing' Actor, Dies at 87 |url=https://www.thewrap.com/donald-moffat-prolific-broadway-film-and-tv-actor-dies-at-87/ |website=TheWrap |date=December 21, 2018 |access-date=December 21, 2018}}

Personal life

Moffat married actress Anne Murray in 1954; they had a daughter, Wendy, and a son, Gabriel, before divorcing in 1968. He later married actress Gwen Arner.

Moffat died on December 20, 2018, in Sleepy Hollow, New York due to complications from a stroke, at the age of 87.

Selected TV and filmography

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References

{{Reflist}}

Bibliography

  • {{cite book| last=Terrace| first=Vincent| date=January 10, 2014| title=Encyclopedia of television shows, 1925 through 2010| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YX_daEhlnbsC&q=Encyclopedia+of+television+shows,+1925+through+2010| edition=2nd| location=Jefferson, N.C.| publisher=McFarland| isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7}}

External links

  • {{IMDb name|0595567}}
  • {{IBDB name}}
  • {{iobdb name|8489}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moffat, Donald}}

Category:1930 births

Category:2018 deaths

Category:20th-century British Army personnel

Category:Actors from Totnes

Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

Category:American people of Scottish descent

Category:English emigrants to the United States

Category:English male film actors

Category:English male stage actors

Category:English male television actors

Category:English people of Scottish descent

Category:Male actors from Plymouth, Devon