Donald Esme C Calthrop (11 April 1888 – 15 July 1940) was an English stage and film actor. He starred as the title character in the hit musical The Boy in 1917. He then appeared in 63 films between 1916 and 1940, including five films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

He was born in London and died in Eton, Berkshire from a heart attack while he was filming Major Barbara. According to Ronald Neame in his autobiography, some shots in the final film had a stand-in playing Calthrop (from the back) and a bit of dialog was recorded using an unnamed person who impersonated Calthrop's voice.

He was the nephew of Dion Boucicault. He was educated at St Paul's School and made his first stage appearance when eighteen years old at the Comedy Theatre, London. His first film was The Gay Lord Quex.

Biography

Il commence sa carrière dès 1906 et joue au cinéma à partir de 1916. Il se spécialise rapidement dans les rôles de méchants, où il se taille un franc succès. Alfred Hitchcock l'utilisera à quatre reprises, comme en 1929 dans le film Blackmail.
Il apparait dans le film à sketches Elstree Calling (1930), resté inédit en France.

Donald Calthrop a aussi tourné dans loose Ends (1930), Rome Express (1932), I Was a Spy (1933), Scrooge (1935), Dreaming Lips (1937) et La Commandante Barbara (1941), son dernier film.