Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, star of films such as “The Hunger Games” and “Don’t Look Now”, has died at the age of 88 after a long illness.
His son, actor Kiefer Sutherland, said: “My father, Donald Sutherland, died with a heavy heart. I consider him one of the most important actors in the history of cinema.
“He never shied away from a part, no matter how big, small, or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved and no one could ever ask for more. A life well lived.”
Sutherland had nearly 200 credits in a career spanning more than half a century.
The news was met with overwhelming support and tributes.
Actor Rob Lowe, who co-starred with Sutherland in the miniseries Salem’s Lot, called his former colleague “one of our greatest actors
“It was an honor to work with him years ago and I will never forget his charisma and talent,” he wrote on X. /Twitter
Elwes, co-star of the TV movie Uprising, (2001) said Sutherland’s death “devastated” him.
“Our hearts are breaking for you,” she told Kiefer in an Instagram post. “I’m so grateful to have known and worked with him. We send our love.
A “deeply, deeply shocked” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remembered his initial reaction upon meeting Sutherland.
“My thoughts are with Kiefer and everyone. of the Sutherland family, but also all Canadians who will no doubt be saddened as I am now,” he said.
“He was a man with a strong presence who was brilliant at his craft and a truly great Canadian artist,” he stated.
Ron Howard, who directed Sutherland in the 1991 film Backdraft, called him “one of the most intelligent, interesting [and] engaging film actors of all time”.
Sutherland, a Canadian native originally from New Brunswick, started out as a radio news reporter before moving to London in 1957 to attend the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
He then took small roles in British films and television.
His first high-profile roles were in war films, including 1967’s The Dirty Dozen and 1970’s Kelly’s Heroes and M*A*S*H.
Jane Fonda starred as Sutherland in Alan J Pakula’s 1971 thriller Klute, about a detective who is aided by an expensive operator in his search for a missing person.
They dated for two years.
In the 1970s, he also played an IRA member in The Eagle Has Landed, a pot-smoking university professor in National Lampoon’s Animal House, and the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
In the 1980s, Sutherland starred as the father of a suicidal teenager in the Oscar-winning film “Ordinary People.“
She moved to television in the 2000s, appearing in series such as Dirty Sexy Money and Commander in Chief.
Despite many roles, he was never nominated for an Oscar. He was honored with an Academy Award in 2017.
Sutherland was known for his political activism throughout his career, protesting the Vietnam War with Fonda.
He also trusted some of his roles, including The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, where he played the tyrannical President Snow.
Sutherland, a Canadian native originally from New Brunswick, started as a radio news reporter before moving to London in 1957 to attend the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
“We asked the nicest man in the world to play the most corrupt and ruthless dictator we’ve ever seen,” the Hunger Games X account posted after his death.
“Among the numerous iconic characters that shaped Donald Sutherland’s illustrious career, he crafted another one through his extraordinary acting prowess. We are honored to have known and worked with him, and our thoughts are with his family.”
He also told the BBC that the biggest change he had noticed in the industry was that actors were making “a lot of money”.
“I don’t think anyone of my generation became an actor to make money. It never crossed my mind. I knew £8 a week here [on the London stage]. I was earning £17 a week acting in a Royal Court play, that was in 1964,” he said.
At the time he said he had no intention of giving up acting.
“It’s a passionate aspiration. He said that retiring actors are spelled “DEATH”.
His memoir, Done, But Still True, will be published in November.
