- One of his sons, former actor Lucas Donat, born to him and then-wife Michael Learned, appeared as a teenager in Damien: Omen II (1978). He went on to become the co-founder and CEO of Donat/Wald Co., an advertising agency responsible for the highly-successful eHarmony commercials. In 1984 he married Traci Wald, the daughter of singer Helen Reddy and stepdaughter of Jeff Wald.
- Nephew of actor Robert Donat.
- Father of 3 sons: Chris, Caleb and Lucas Donat.
- He was considered for the role of Tom Hagen in The Godfather (1972) before Robert Duvall was cast. He was eventually cast as Questadt in The Godfather Part II (1974).
- Appeared in three films with Michael Douglas: The China Syndrome (1979), The War of the Roses (1989) and The Game (1997).
- Brother of actor Richard Donat.
- Naturalized U.S. citizen.
- Father-in-law of Traci Wald Donat.
- Survived by his wife Marijke, sons Caleb, Christopher, and Lucas, two stepdaughters Barbara Park Shapiro and Marina Park Sutton a stepson Malcolm Park, 11 grandchildren, and his brother Ricard who is also an actor.
- Cousin of actor John Donat.
- He was awarded the 1981 Drama-Logue Award for Outstanding Performance for the play, "A Lesson from Aloes" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
- Appears in The Godfather Part II (1974), in which Robert De Niro won an Oscar for taking over Marlon Brando's Oscar-winning role. This made them the first and, to date, only pair of actors to both win an Oscar for the same part. They were neither the first nor last pair of actors to share such a nomination, however. Another notable pair: Peter's uncle Robert Donat won the Oscar for Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), while Peter O'Toole was nominated for the remake in 1969. Richard Dreyfuss was nominated for a similar role in Mr. Holland's Opus (1995). Peter himself has played Cyrano de Bergerac, a role what won an Oscar for José Ferrer and a nomination for Gérard Depardieu.
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