In Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film The 39 Steps, which actor plays Richard Hannay?

Robert Donat plays Richard Hannay in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film The 39 Steps.

The film adapts John Buchan’s 1915 adventure novel The Thirty-Nine Steps, but Hitchcock significantly reshaped the story. Donat’s Hannay is an ordinary Canadian visitor in London who becomes entangled in espionage after a mysterious woman is murdered in his flat.

The narrative follows Hannay as he travels through Britain while trying to evade both the police and the foreign agents pursuing him. Its combination of mistaken identity, rapid travel, romance, and dry humour became a model for later Hitchcock thrillers.

Made at Gaumont British Picture Corporation, The 39 Steps is often regarded as one of Hitchcock’s key British films. Robert Donat was an established stage and screen actor, while Madeleine Carroll played Pamela, the woman who becomes involved in Hannay’s escape. The film is not a direct scene-by-scene translation of Buchan’s novel.