(Not to be confused with English actor Donald Wolfit)
Donald Moffat | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 26, 1930 |
| Died | December 20, 2018 (aged 87) Sleepy Hollow, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (BA) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1956–2005 |
| Spouses |
|
| 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 .
Moffat was born 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. [1] [2]
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. [3]
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." [4] 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. [2]
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 . [5]
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. [6] He won an Obie for Painting Churches . [7] In 1998, he was nominated for a Gemini Award for his performance as attorney Joe Ruah in the CBC miniseries The Sleep Room. [8] He also appeared in many Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including John Guare's A Few Stout Individuals (as Ulysses S. Grant), [9] The Heiress , [10] The Cherry Orchard , [11] Much Ado About Nothing , [12] The School for Scandal , [12] The Affair [13] and Hamlet . [14]
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 . [15]
Moffat played Enos in the CBS western miniseries The Chisholms , [16] Lars Lundstrom in the ABC drama The New Land . [17] and Rem in the CBS science-fiction series Logan's Run . [18] 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* . [15] Moffat's last role was as a judge in an episode of Law & Order: Trial by Jury in 2005. [19]
Moffat married actress Anne Murray in 1954; [1] they had a daughter, Wendy, and a son, Gabriel, before divorcing in 1968. [2] He later married actress Gwen Arner. [4]
Moffat died on December 20, 2018, in Sleepy Hollow, New York due to complications from a stroke, six days before his 88th birthday. [1]
