Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actor, activist, and all-around badass Donald Sutherland has passed away at the age of 88.
Born in Saint John, New Brunswick on July 17, 1935, Donald McNichol Sutherland attended Victoria University in Toronto. After earning degrees in engineering and theater, Sutherland left for London, where he studied at the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. While in the UK, Sutherland found work in theater and television. In 1964, he made his feature film debut in Castle of the Living Dead, which starred the legendary Christopher Lee and was directed by Warren Kiefer (he would later name his eldest son after the latter). After his breakthrough role, as the twelfth member of The Dirty Dozen (the fifth-most-popular film of 1967), Sutherland headed for Hollywood.
Over the next five decades, Sutherland would amass two hundred credits in film and television. Here is a selection of his most iconic roles, along with a few of my personal favorites.
- The Dirty Dozen
The original script called for Clint Walker’s character Samson Posey to impersonate a general, but Walker felt the scene was demeaning to his Native American character. Director Robert Aldrich chose Sutherland to replace Walker in the sequence – and a star was born.
- M*A*S*H
One of two war films Sutherland made in 1970 (the other was Kelly’s Heroes), M*A*S*H cemented his star status. His role as Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce earned the actor his first of nine Golden Globe nominations (he and co-star Elliott Gould both lost to Scrooge‘s Albert Finney).
- Klute
Though Jane Fonda received the lion’s share of the acclaim for Klute – as well as that year’s Best Actress Oscar – don’t overlook Sutherland’s turn as the title detective (or his chemistry with Fonda, with whom he had a two-year affair).
- Don’t Look Now
For his unnerving, atmospheric meditation on grief and guilt, director Nicholas Roeg knew from the start he wanted to cast Donald Sutherland. A landmark in gothic horror, Don’t Look Now is one of many films that should have earned Sutherland an Academy Award nomination; his lack of a competitive nomination is one of the biggest oversights in Oscar history (he received an honorary award in 2017).
- National Lampoon’s Animal House
For his role as pot-smoking prof Dave Jennings, Sutherland had the choice of $40,000 OR 2% of the film’s profits. Assuming Animal House would tank at the box office, he took the $40K. The film has grossed over $141 million worldwide; if he’d accepted the 2%, Sutherland would have earned about $3 million.
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers
One of the most highly-rated entries in Sutherland’s filmography, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a sci-fi horror masterpiece (with one of the greatest twist endings of all time) and one of Sutherland’s most indelible performances.
- Ordinary People
We could argue all day about whether Ordinary People was the actual best picture of 1980 (it wasn’t), but there’s no denying the emotional power of this gut-punch of a movie. Once more, Sutherland’s subtler efforts failed to impress the Academy, which instead nominated his two male co-stars, Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton (who ultimately took home the Best Supporting Actor prize).
- Max Dugan Returns
Max Dugan Returns, also starring Marsha Mason and Jason Robards, was the feature debut for Matthew Broderick and Sutherland’s 16-year-old son Kiefer. Donald and Kiefer would appear onscreen together twice more, in 1996’s A Time to Kill and 2015’s Forsaken, in which the lookalikes finally portrayed father and son.
- “Cloudbusting”
The music video for “Cloudbusting”, the second single from Kate Bush’s 1985 sonic masterpiece Hounds of Love, stars Sutherland as Austrian psychiatrist and researcher Wilhelm Reich (more on him here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich) and Bush as his young son Peter. Due to an issue obtaining a last-minute work visa for Sutherland, he offered to appear in the video for free.
- JFK
In a sprawling cast that includes greats like Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Sissy Spacek, Joe Pesci, Jack Lemmon, and Walter Matthau, Sutherland manages to give one of JFK‘s most memorable performances. As Mr. X, inspired by L. Fletcher Prouty (who served as Chief of Special Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the Kennedy administration), Sutherland has a small but key role. Once again, Sutherland was overlooked in favor of one of his showier co-stars (in this case, Jones) come awards season.
- Pride & Prejudice
In 2005, Sutherland took on the role of the wry, cynical patriarch of the Bennet family. As usual, he knocked it out of the park.
- The Hunger Games franchise
It’s a testament to Sutherland’s talent that he could give even a murderous, fascist dictator a sense of humanity. Sutherland, who had a history of left-wing activism, sought out the part, hoping it would radicalize the movie’s young viewers. After Sutherland secured the role, President Snow was given additional dialogue to fully exploit the actor’s prodigious talents.
Peanut Butter and Julie 