Peter Donaldson

Peter Thomas Donaldson (29 October 1953 – 8 January 2011) was a Canadian actor. He attended plays at the Stratford Festival during his youth, which fueled his enthusiasm for acting. He also later studied with Uta Hagen, Stella Adler and Olympia Dukakis in New York. He subsequently spent 24 seasons at the festival. Highlights of his career included his 2004 performance in Timon of Athens, as well as roles in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Seagull, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He received a Genie award for this performance when it was filmed by David Wellington in 1996 for the film adaptation Long Day's Journey into Night. In the late 1990s, he also co-starred in the Atom Egoyan film The Sweet Hereafter

In 2009, Donaldson was diagnosed with lung cancer, and while undergoing treatment continued to rehearse and perform as an actor. He would often have chemotherapy in the morning and work in the evenings. Writer George F. Walker said, "He had such great energy – he never made you feel like he needed special treatment". The director of the Stratford Festival, Antoni Cimolino, described Donaldson as "the finest actor's actor. He was deeply admired for the conviction he brought to his work and the unsparing truth of his portrayals. He was versatile and able to give outstanding performances in modern plays, musicals and classics. But his home was Shakespeare."