Peter Donat Movies
Canadian-born, Yale-trained Peter Donat made his mark on the theatrical world with his rich portrayals of such larger-than-life characters as Cyrano de Bergerac. Donat brought some of this grandiosity into his film work, which includes appearances in films as diverse as The Godfather II (1974), The China Syndrome (1979), War of the Roses (1987), Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), and The Babe (1992). His TV-series roles include Arthur Raymond in Rich Man, Poor Man -- Book 2 (1977) and Elmo Tyson in Flamingo Road (1980). Peter Donat was making occasional appearances on the syndicated TV sci-fier Time Trax (1993), gesticulating his way through the role of Dr. Mordecai (Mo) Sahmbi, the ee-vil scientist who used the time-traveling TRAX machine for his own nefarious purposes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
The purchase of Manhattan's venerable Larkin's Department Store by a nasty corporate raider (Harley Venton) gets off to a bad start when the accountant who brokered the deal is murdered. Jessica (Angela Lansbury) enters the picture when she finds out that the store's former owner Floyd Larkin (Peter Donat) has been forced to renege on his agreement to donate the original Larkin's building to a new cultural museum. Things get worse when another of Jessica's acquaintances, Bill Maguire (Martin Milner) is accused of knocking off the accountant--but that's only the beginning of this sordid tale of doublecrossing, book-juggling and masked murderers! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
When a formerly dedicated family man succumbs to the temptations of a lethal seductress, he discovers that black widows aren't exclusive to the arachnid family in this tense thriller starring television mainstay Susan Lucci. Hired to restore the home of attractive widow Victoria Landers (Lucci), loving husband and father Dan Hiller (David Charvet) soon falls prey to the manipulative Victoria's alluring and irresistible sensuality. By the time Dan attempts to put a halt to the torrid affair, he quickly realizes that any attempt to loosen Victoria's suffocating grasp only seems to drive her to more desperate -- and deadly -- measures. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Originally broadcast in Canada, this war drama tells the true story of how over 900 Canadian soldiers bravely sacrificed their lives in an attempt and take the French coastal town of Dieppe back from the Nazis. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Garber, Gary Reineke, (more)
- 1993
Cabot Cove has been chosen as the location for the pre-Broadway staging of a new play starring David North (Peter Donat), a prominent actor who is emerging from a 10-year retirement. No sooner have rehearsals started than a murder occurs, with North's business manager Eric Benderson (Bradford Dillman) as the victim. Needless to say, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) is determined to find out "who done it"--and this time, there are plenty of subtle pop-cultural clues at hand, thanks to the cunning of screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
In this episode, defense attorney Cromwell investigates the case of a woman accused of killing her rich husband. She discovers an underlayer of greed and adultery. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Jessica (Angela Lansbury) travels to Moscow to attend the International Artists and Writers Conference. No sooner has she arrived that someone steals her purse--and when the police catch up with the thief, they find a role of microfilm amongst Jessica's belongings. Immediately, the KGB accuses our heroine of being a spy--which doesn't anger her quite as much as the subsequent murder accusation leveled at an old friend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
In this drama, an American actress must decide whether or not to return to the Hungarian lover who abandoned her 15 years ago. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Viveca Lindfors, Peter Donat, (more)
- 1985
In a standard psycho-killer thriller, Cecile (Nathalie Baye) goes from her home in Canada to New York after her boyfriend is thrown in the slammer there for drug-running -- she still wants to be near him. Unable to stay past her visa's limits, Cecile literally contracts a legal marriage to an American via an agency and starts working in a deli to support herself. It is when her totally wacko "husband" shows up that her life goes from terrible to terrorific. His insanity has already slashed up one wife, and he is ready to continue on with Cecile unless the slow-witted female can figure out what to do. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nathalie Baye, John Shea, (more)
- 1984
Starting out as a story of the immediate perils of three couples intent on finding refuge in the countryside after nuclear war has broken out in the Gulf of Oman, the action and pace of this apparent thriller quickly succumb to roughly-drawn caricatures and the rest of the film takes a tumble. As the couples leave for their house far from the city, they worry about their children who have been delayed because of van trouble -- but their worries are nothing compared to the difficulties in store from the mean survivalist leader (Peter Donat). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Bower, Karlene Crockett, (more)
- 1984
Kiefer Sutherland won the Canadian equivalent of the Academy Award for his performance in Bay Boy. In 1937 Nova Scotia, Donald Campbell (Sutherland) lives with his dirt-poor parents (Liv Ullmann and Peter Donat). His folks hope that Donald will enter the priesthood, but he isn't keen on this. For one thing, he harbors "unnatural" feelings towards a nun; for another, one of the local priests has made sexual advances towards him. Donald prefers to spend his time with pretty sisters Saxon and Dianna (Leah Pinsent and Jane McKinnon) -- but even this becomes untenable when the boy witnesses a homicidal hate crime committed by the girls' father, police constable Tom Coldwell (Alan Scarfe). It is in this intolerable atmosphere that Donald finally comes of age, which is the point to which the film is leading. Weighed down with an unnecessarily complex script, Kiefer Sutherland comes off quite well in Bay Boy; the other performers -- even the estimable Liv Ullmann -- tend to be one-note stereotypes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liv Ullmann, Kiefer Sutherland, (more)
Remember that controversial participation game of the 1980s called "Dungeons and Dragons"? Remember how sociologists warned us that the game was potentially dangerous to those who couldn't altogether separate fantasy from reality. This is the premise of Mazes and Monsters, a made-for-TV film based on the best-seller by Rona Jaffee. Future Oscar-winner Tom Hanks portrays one of four college students who become so deeply involved in a Mazes & Monsters session that the results may turn fatal at any moment. Despite its potential for silly sensationalism, the film is based on a believable premise, and arrives at a logical conclusion. When first aired December 28, 1982, this Canadian-American production was titled Rona Jaffee's Mazes and Monsters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
In this touching drama, an heiress with dyslexia is assisted by a self-taught taxi driver. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1981
This fact-based made-for-television drama tells the story of nurse Joy Ufemal and her invaluable work with those dying of incurable diseases. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Golden Gate revolves around a San Francisco-based newspaper empire run by a family named Kingsley (it could just as well have been "Kane," since the family was based on you-know-what Frisco-based publishing dynasty). Richard Kiley, the cold and commanding Kingsley patriarch, suffers a heart attack. Kiley's long-estranged son Perry King returns to San Francisco to save the newspaper from bankruptcy, and to stave off a hostile takeover by a crooked money man. There's plenty of tense infighting and terse dialogue, courtesy of veteran TV scenarist Stirling Silliphant. Golden Gate may have smelled like a pilot film, but the story was too self-contained to allow for a subsequent series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
In Fun and Games, a professional career woman is harassed by her boss, who then rejects her for promotion. The woman then sues her boss for sexual harassment ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1980
A Martinez guest stars as Antonio Carbo, a compassionate young physician on the threshold of a brilliant career. Unfortunately, Carbo is in danger of losing his license--and his future--when he is accused of mishandling a gunshot victim who died while being transported from an emergency clinic to a hospital. Investigating, Quincy (Jack Klugman) uncovers evidence that the victim was murdered after he was treated at the clinic; the challenge now is to figure out why it happened, and who was responsible. This is the final episode of Quincy, M.E.'s fifth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Mixing a tongue-in-cheek approach with thriller action, this routine caper story features Christopher Plummer as James Hatcher -- a businessman who has just double-crossed both the CIA and the Mafia and has to hide out -- and Richard Harris as Louis Kinney, an unemployed accountant who takes on the job of bodyguard to Hatcher's sister and mother. Eventually, both the CIA and the Mafia catch on to the fact that they have been mutually bilked out of $10 million by Hatcher, but they are further befuddled when Hatcher manages to portray Kinney as a murderer. This, of course, sets Kinney off on a manhunt for Hatcher, who is now most-wanted by just about everybody. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Harris, Christopher Plummer, (more)
- 1979
In this drama, a woman attempts to put together her shattered life after her husband inexplicably commits suicide. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1978
A spinster college teacher falls in love with one of her students. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1977
Delta County USA was the feature-length pilot film for a proposed prime-time serial. The titular county is an old, hidebound Southern community, harboring ever so many dark secrets. The dramatic tension of the film is manifested in the lack of understanding between the older citizens and the young set. Jim Antonio heads the cast as "Jack the Bear," who's smarter than the av-er-age...you know. Delta County USA was initially telecast May 20, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
One of four dramatic miniseries carried by NBC under the blanket title Best Sellers, Captains and the Kings was adapted from a novel by Taylor Caldwell. Covering a time span from 1857 to 1912, this was the saga of the Irish-immigrant Armagh clan, with emphasis on the rags-to-riches career of Joseph Armagh (Richard Jordan). Achieving fame and prominence (if not full-fledged social acceptance) through a Byzantine series of investments in the oil industry, the elder Armagh was obsessed with the notion of having one of his sons become the first Irish-Catholic President of the United States (does this story sound vaguely familiar?). Along the way, Joseph and his offspring indulged in innumerable romantic liaisons, extramarital and otherwise. Featured in the all-star cast is Patty Duke Astin, who won an Emmy award for her portrayal of Bernadette Hennessey Armagh. Captains and the Kings was broadcast from September 30 to November 18, 1976 in seven installments, two of which ran 120 minutes, and the other six lasting 60 minutes -- a total of nine hours' air time in all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
This film relates the efforts of World War II flying ace "Pappy" Boyington to control his highly decorated and unmanageable Pacific theater squadron. The film also acted as the pilot for the television series Baa Baa Black Sheep. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1976
The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, based on newspaper coverage, court testimony and eyewitness accounts, was dramatized for television by J.P. Miller. Cliff DeYoung and Sian star as Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The couple's 2-year-old son Charles Jr. is kidnapped from the family's Hopewell, New Jersey home on March 1, 1932; though the ransom is paid, the child's body is found a few days later. All circumstantial evidence points to German expatriate Bruno Richard Hauptmann (Anthony Hopkins) as the kidnapper/murderer. While never seriously challenging the notion of Hauptmann's guilt, the film raises several questions concerning the fairness of his trial. The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case first aired in a three-hour timeslot on Febrary 26, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
