{{short description|American actor}} {{about||the English cricketer|Peter Donald (cricketer)}} {{Infobox person |name= Peter Donald |image= Allensalleyset.jpg |image_size= 300px |caption= Allen's Alley cast (l to r): Fred Allen, Kenny Delmar, Minerva Pious, Peter Donald, Parker Fennelly |birth_date= {{Birth date|1918|6|6|mf=y}} |birth_place= Bristol, England |death_date= {{death date and age|1979|4|20|1918|6|6|mf=y}} |death_place= Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. |occupation= Actor }}

'''Peter Donald''' (June 6, 1918 – April 20, 1979) was a British-born actor who worked in American radio and television. He has been called "one of radio's great dialecticians."<ref name=rs2>Cox, Jim (2007). ''Radio Speakers: Narrators, News Junkies, Sports Jockeys, Tattletales, Tipsters, Toastmasters and Coffee Klatch Couples Who Verbalized the Jargon of the Aural Ether from the 1920s to the 1980s – A Biographical Dictionary''. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-6086-1}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=GLcuEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 pp. 79–80.]</ref>

==Early years== Donald was born in Bristol, England, in 1918.<ref name=wsg>{{cite news|title=Radio Chart Listening Post|newspaper=Williamsport Sun-Gazette |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3871797/williamsport_sungazette/|agency=Williamsport Sun-Gazette|date=February 2, 1946|location=Pennsylvania, Williamsport|page=11|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = December 22, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> His father (a comedian) and mother (a singer)<ref name=wrh>{{cite news|title=Peter Donald To Pinch-Hit For McNeill|newspaper=The Winona Republican-Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3873329/the_winona_republicanherald/|agency=The Winona Republican-Herald|date=June 14, 1952|location=Minnesota, Winona|page=5|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = December 22, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> were performers in Vaudeville.<ref name=nsj/> He graduated from the Professional Children's School in New York in 1936.<ref name=rs2/>

==Radio== Donald first appeared on radio in 1927, playing Tiny Tim in a production of ''A Christmas Carol''.<ref name=wsg/> At age 11, he was the announcer for ''Uncle Olie and His Kne-Mel Gang'' on CBS.<ref name=nsj>{{cite news|title=Stock Company Technique Is Being Revived by Radio|newspaper=Lincoln Nebraska State Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3870341/the_nebraska_state_journal/|agency=The Nebraska State Journal|date=June 20, 1943|location=Nebraska, Lincoln|page=32|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = December 22, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> He became an announcer on CBS in 1931.<ref name=wsg/>

He portrayed Ajax Cassidy on Fred Allen's radio show, the Irishman who continually complained that he was "not long for this world."

In addition to his long run on "Allen's Alley," Donald was a regular on ''Radio Reader's Digest'', ''Stage Door Canteen'', and ''We, the People''.<ref name=nsj/> He was also the host during the 1940s on ''County Fair''<ref name=wsg/> and read the jokes for radio's joke-telling panel program, ''Can You Top This?''<ref name="dunningota">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi5wPDBiGfMC&dq=%22Can+You+Top+This+joke-swapping+panel%22+%22Peter+Donald+joke-teller+for+the+audience%22&pg=PA134 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |section=Can You Top This? |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |pages=134–135 |edition=Revised |access-date=2019-11-01}}</ref> In 1952, Donald served as host of ''Don McNeill's Breakfast Club'' for six weeks while McNeill was away.<ref name=wrh/>

Donald had a transcribed program on WINS radio in New York City in 1947. Stanback sponsored the show, which included the Three Flames instrumental group. The same recording was broadcast at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time and at 10 p.m. E. T.<ref>{{cite news |title=The News of Radio: Alan Ladd to Do Adventure Series on WOR — Percy Faith Signs New 4-Year Pact |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1947/12/11/archives/alan-ladd-to-do-adventure-series-on-wor-percy-faith-signs-new-4year.html |access-date=May 12, 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=December 11, 1947 |page=66 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Stage== Donald appeared on Broadway in ''Bitter Sweet'' (1929–1930)<ref>{{cite web|title=Peter Donald|url=http://www.playbillvault.com/Person/Detail/95210/Peter-Donald|website=Playbill Vault|accessdate=23 December 2015}}</ref> and ''Give Me Yesterday'' (1931).<ref>{{cite web|title=Peter Donald|url=http://www.playbillvault.com/Person/Detail/95209/Peter-Donald|website=Playbill Vault|accessdate=23 December 2015}}</ref>

==Television== Donald was the host of two early television series, ''The Ad-Libbers'' (1951) and ''Masquerade Party'' (1954–1956), and he made numerous TV guest appearances as a comedian (''The Colgate Comedy Hour'', ''The NBC Comedy Hour'') and panelist (''Pantomime Quiz'', ''What's My Line?'', ''To Tell the Truth''). His TV appearances as an actor included ''Prize Performance'' (1950) and ''ABC Showcase'' (1950). He appeared on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' in 1962, and one of his last TV appearances was on the daytime panel show ''Get the Message'' in 1964.

In the early 1950s, he lived in Manhattan on the south side of 58th Street between 7th Avenue and Broadway.

He hosted the ''Texaco Star Theater'' on the NBC television network on September 14, 1948. At the show's closing he announced that Milton Berle would commence hosting on the next week's show & Berle momentarily appears. In addition to Donald's delightful stories, the show's highlight is Sid Caesar's tour de force performance of his WWII bombing parody skit from the 1946 film ''Tars and Spars''.

==Writing== Donald wrote "plays, satirical sketches, and song lyrics."<ref name=wrh/>

==Recognition== His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 6665 Hollywood Boulevard. (Another source says that the star, in the Television category, is at 6661 Hollywood Boulevard and that it was dedicated February 8, 1960.<ref>{{cite web|title=Peter Donald|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/peter-donald|website=Hollywood Walk of Fame|accessdate=22 December 2015}}</ref>)

==Personal life== Donald was married to Jo Janis, an actress in radio.<ref name=wsg/>

He was "identified with the cause of underprivileged children and ... devoted much of his spare time to curbing of juvenile delinquency."<ref>{{cite news|title=Peter Donald Chairman|newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3873283/the_brooklyn_daily_eagle/|agency=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=May 3, 1951|location=New York, Brooklyn|page=5|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = December 22, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb name|232035}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080219015102/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,804117-5,00.html "Radio: The World's Worst Juggler," ''Time'', April 7, 1947.]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Donald, Peter}} Category:1918 births Category:1979 deaths Category:British expatriate male actors in the United States Category:Male actors from Bristol