R.I.P. – Beloved Actor Donald Sutherland Passes Away at Age 88
“For over a half century, the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor, who received an honorary Oscar in 2017, memorably played villains, antiheroes, romantic leads and mentor figures.”
Celebrated film actor Donald Sutherland has died at the age of 88 after a prolonged illness. Younger audiences know him as Coriolanus Snow, the authoritarian ruler in the Hunger Games film adaptations, but his career spanned six decades.
It is sometimes said that there are no more movie stars, but Sutherland was definitely one of them.
His son, the actor Kiefer Sutherland, announced the news on Twitter/X:
With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away. I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film. 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… pic.twitter.com/3EdJB03KKT
— Kiefer Sutherland (@RealKiefer) June 20, 2024
More from Variety:
Donald Sutherland, Star of ‘MASH,’ ‘Klute’ and ‘Hunger Games,’ Dies at 88
Donald Sutherland, the tall, lean and long-faced Canadian actor who became a countercultural icon with such films as “The Dirty Dozen,” “MASH,” “Klute” and “Don’t Look Now,” and who subsequently enjoyed a prolific and wide-ranging career in films including “Ordinary People,” “Without Limits” and the “Hunger Games” films, died Thursday in Miami after a long illness, CAA confirmed. He was 88.
For over a half century, the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor, who received an honorary Oscar in 2017, memorably played villains, antiheroes, romantic leads and mentor figures. His profile increased in the past decade with his supporting role as the evil President Snow in “The Hunger Games” franchise…
After what Sutherland called “a meandering little career,” including roles in low-budget horror pics like 1963’s “Castle of the Living Dead” and 1965’s “Die! Die! My Darling!,” he landed a part as one of the bottom six in 1967’s “The Dirty Dozen.”
Sutherland told the Guardian in 2005 that he originally had one line in the film, until Clint Walker refused to play a scene requiring him to impersonate a general. According to Sutherland, director Robert Aldrich, who didn’t know his name, suddenly turned to him and said, “You! With the big ears! You do it!”
With such a long career, many people will have a favorite Sutherland role. For me, it is his portrayal of the pot-smoking Professor Jennings in National Lampoon’s Animal House in 1978.
Jennings : Teaching is just a way to pay the bills until I finish my novel.
Boon : How long you been workin' on it?
Jennings : Four and a half years.
Pinto : It must be very good.
Jennings : It's a piece of shit. pic.twitter.com/OfFr9nO29T— Mike LaChance (@MikeLaChance33) June 20, 2024
Also in 1978, Sutherland played a public health official in a remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers alongside Leonard Nimoy and a young Jeff Goldblum.
He was also excellent in the mysterious role of ‘X’ in the 1991 Oliver Stone film JFK.
Here’s a short retrospective from Entertainment Tonight.
Rest in peace, sir. Thank you for the movies.
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Comments
He worked right up to the end. He will be missed!
Please no negative waves.
First saw him in M*A*S*H. I think he may have made Altman’s career.
He was “finestkind.”
his politics weren’t great but he was in a lot of good movies and had great parts.
I recall vividly his treasonous antics with Tokyo Jane Fonda, spitting in the face of our POWs being tortured in Vietnam.
I guess a grown man wearing makeup and doing a bunch of retakes on films is more important than supporting our fighting boys.
Vile, yes. Treasonous? No. Sutherland was a Canadian citizen…until his death, I believe.
Great point. Treasonous for Jane and vile for him. The clear language of the constitution supports you, but what does clear language count for anymore? There isn’t much case law because it is seldom prosecuted. To do so would put the entire political class in mortal peril.
welll
that might qualify him
That’s pretty terrible, I didn’t remember, Fonda definitely a traitor, and yet, he loved playing in military moves, Mash, clearly the anti anti war Dr.
But to go full out abusing our soldiers? Didn’t know
Thank God true patriots and heroes like you are there fighting on the front lines.
The front lines will be at your front door soon….
Uh huh.
Whenever I hear his name i think of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.
I think of him as MASH’s “Pro from Dover”.
Yes, that was one of the few movies that actually terrified me as a child.
Of course, it was a metaphor — that’s even more terrifying because it’s real.
A young Donald Sutherland in The Dirty Dozen (1967) — terrific scene, if brief:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=525PM43mrG8&pp=ygUTRGlydHkgZG96ZW4gcGlua2xleQ%3D%3D
(Evidently, given the cultural zeitgeist at the time, the Pentagon used The Dirty Dozen and The Devil Brigade (Wm Holden, Cliff Robertson) for recruitment/morale etc. Whatever. Sutherland was quite good in this imho)
RIP
Yeah he was great in Animal House. The scene of his I remember most is when Boone stops by Katy’s place one morning, looks in the screen door and sees the Professor reach up to grab something out of a cabinet (making coffee, if I remember right) and his bare @ss pops out from under his shirt.
Kelly’s Heros was my favorite:
“Why don’t you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don’t you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don’t you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?”
Haha! Negative waves with the down vote! 😂
I gave you another, as an homage.
As a war movie buff he was a favorite of mine
He was great as the Irish rogue in league with the Nazis in their plot to kidnap Winston Churchill, in The Eagle Has Landed, plus wooing a young Jenny Agutter.
Prayers and love for those he left behind. He was a talented actor and I sincerely enjoyed his work. There was no better choice to pay President Snow in the Hunger Games movie.
What a great actor! I loved many of his movies from Animal House to the Hunger Games. He was even a Kate Bush music video “Cloudbusting,” if you haven’t seen it and your a fan, you should check it out. : )
Sutherland was a memorable presence in every role that he played. Tank commander, Oddball, from the WWII action-caper, “Kelly’s Heroes,” is a stand-out performance.
No negative waves, baby!
we like to play our music loud when we go into battle
it calms us down
rest in peace
you oddball
credit to him for being prescient about trying to prevent the
nazi invasion into new york
they looked at him weirdly
but he turned out to be correct
🙂
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