Donald Sutherland, who appeared in films including The Hunger Games and Kelly’s Heroes, has died at the age of 88.
His agency, CAA, stated he passed away in Miami “after a long illness”. The Canadian actor won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his performance in the mini-series Citizen X. In 2017, he received an honorary Oscar.
His son, fellow actor Kiefer Sutherland, said “with a heavy heart” that his father had “passed away”. “I personally think [he was] one of the most important actors in the history of film,” Kiefer Sutherland posted on X, adding that he was “never daunted by a role – good, bad, or ugly”. “He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived.”
In The Hunger Games franchise, Donald Sutherland played President Snow alongside Jennifer Lawrence. In Kelly’s Heroes, he starred alongside Telly Savalas and Clint Eastwood as Sergeant Oddball – on a mission to steal gold from the Nazis.
Director and former Happy Days star Ron Howard said he was “blessed” to direct Sutherland in the 1991 movie Backdraft. Sutherland was “one of the most intelligent, interesting, and engrossing film actors of all time,” Howard added, with an “incredible range” and “creative courage”.
“I love to work – I passionately love to work,” Sutherland told US talk show host Charlie Rose in 1998. “I love to feel my hand fit into the glove of some other character. I feel a huge freedom – time stops for me. I’m not as crazy as I used to be, but I’m still a little crazy.”
In The Hunger Games franchise, Donald Sutherland played President Snow alongside Jennifer Lawrence. In Kelly’s Heroes, he starred alongside Telly Savalas and Clint Eastwood as Sergeant Oddball, on a mission to steal gold from the Nazis. His “breakthrough performances” were in the 1967 films The Dirty Dozen and MASH, CAA noted. He also took parts in Robert Redford’s Ordinary People and Oliver Stone’s JFK.
He is survived by his wife Francine Racette, sons Roeg, Rossif, Angus, and Kiefer, daughter Rachel, and four grandchildren. “A private celebration of his life will be held by the family,” CAA said.
Born in St John, New Brunswick, on the east coast of Canada in July 1935, Sutherland was the son of a salesman and a mathematics teacher. He started university in Toronto as an engineering student but switched to English and began acting in college productions. After graduating in 1956, he attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and began to appear in West End plays and on British television. After moving to Los Angeles, his career was boosted by a series of war films. His first American film was The Dirty Dozen (1967), in which he played irreverent soldier Vernon Pinkley. He praised character actors and said there was “more challenge in character roles”. He told the Washington Post in 1970, “There’s longevity. A good character actor can show a different face in every film and not bore the public.”
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