Donovan worked in his native England, but is best known to audiences for his roles in Australian soap opera including Neighbours as patriarch Doug Willis and in Home and Away as Al Simpson.
Donovan, who was born in Staines-upon-Thames, Middlesex (now in northwest Surrey) England, United Kingdom, has been a staple of Australian television since the early 1960s, when he had minor roles in episodes of the court-room drama series Consider Your Verdict, several ABC drama plays, and the children's series The Magic Boomerang.
After moving back to the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s he had guest roles in series including The Champions, Man in a Suitcase, and The Prisoner.
Between 1981 and 1984, he had minor roles in Australian television programs, and acted in the film The Man from Snowy River in 1982, playing Henry Craig.
He also played in the Sydney Theatre Company production of Kander as slick, but dishonest lawyer Billy Flynn and Ebb's Chicago.