“Kiefer Sutherland Honors Father’s Passion for Acting and Life”

Donald Sutherland has passed away at age 88. He was an acclaimed Canadian actor, who charmed audiences with films like MASH, Klute and The Hunger Games.

Kiefer, the actor’s son, announced on social media that the actor died on Thursday. His career spanned the 1960s to the 2020s.

Never be intimidated by a bad, or even a good role. He did what he liked and loved what he was doing, and you can’t ask for anything more,” he wrote in X.

Donald Sutherland, a tall man with deep blue eyes, piercing voice and a mischievous grin, switched seamlessly from character roles to romantic lead roles opposite Jane Fonda and Julie Christie.

His most famous roles include Hawkeye Pierce, a character in Robert Altman’s MASH set in a Korean War military field hospital, and the father who is in despair in Robert Redford’s Oscar-winning directorial début, Ordinary People.

In The Hunger Games, he won over a whole new generation of fans for his portrayal as the despotic leader President Coriolanus Schnee. He actively sought out the role.

In his speech in 2017, Sutherland accepted an honorary Academy Award in recognition of lifetime achievement.

“Legends of film”

Donald McNichol Sutherland, the son of a maths and salesman, was born in St John, New Brunswick, on 17 July 1935. Born in Nova Scotia on Canada’s north coast, Donald McNichol Sutherland studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and performed in school plays in college.

After small parts on British television, he made his Hollywood breakthrough as officer-impersonating psychopath Vernon Pinkley in the 1967 war film, The Dirty Dozen. MASH, released in 1970, made Sutherland a star. He identified with its antiwar message.

Sutherland, who was outspoken about his opposition to the Vietnam War and with whom he shared a relationship, teamed up in 1971 with Jane Fonda (his co-star from Klute) to form the Free Theater Associates. They were banned by the army for their political views and performed at venues near military bases throughout Southeast Asia in 1973.

In 2017, documents declassified showed that Sutherland had been on the National Security Agency Watch List between 1971 and 1973.

Sutherland said to the Los Angeles Times, “I thought that I would be part of a revolutionary movement which was going change the movies and their influence on people.”

Sutherland was a great actor. He played a detective, Klute, with Alan Pakula. In this film, he met Fonda. And he starred alongside Julie Christie in Nicolas Roeg’s psychological horror movie, Don’t Look Now, as a couple grieving.

After his death announcement on Thursday, tributes poured out.

Ron Howard, the director of Backdraft and Sutherland, described him as “one of most intelligent, fascinating, and engrossing actors in film history”.

Helen Mirren described Sutherland as a “legend in film”, a colleague and friend.

Variety quoted her as saying, “He was a brilliant enquiring mind and had great knowledge in a variety of topics.” “He combined a great intellect with a profound sensitivity and a seriousness in his career as an actor,”

Justin Trudeau said that Sutherland was “a man of strong presence and brilliance”. He also described him as a Canadian artist who is truly great.

Sutherland has won two Golden Globes, an Emmy and a BAFTA. He was married 3 times and has 5 children, one of whom is Kiefer. In November, his memoir, Made Up But Still True, will be published.