Peter Donat, the Canadian actor who played Agent Fox Mulder’s father in The X-Files and had roles in TV shows, films and onstage, has died. He was 90.
His son, Caleb, said that his father died on Monday from complications of diabetes at his home in Point Reyes Station, California.
Donat also had guest roles on TV shows such as Murder, She Wrote, Hawaii Five-O, Hill Street Blues and The F.B.I. He also appeared in the Francis Ford Coppola films The Godfather Part II and Tucker: The Man and His Dream.
Pierre Collingwood Donat was born on January 20, 1928, in Kentville, Nova Scotia. He changed his first name to Peter while working in the US.
David Duchovny, who played Agent Mulder, told the New York Times that Donat “had an easy gravitas as a performer and seemed to come from that generation that took the art seriously but not too seriously.”
The X-Files originally ran from 1993 to 2002. Fox revived the show in 2016.
Donat was previously married to Emmy-winning actress Michael Learned, who played Olivia Walton on the CBS drama The Waltons.
