Though an entire generation will forever know Donald Sutherland as the ruthless President Snow from The Hunger Games franchise, this prolific Canadian actor’s reputation was forged many decades earlier in classics such as Klute, M*A*S*H and Don’t Look Now.
Sutherland died Thursday in Miami after a long illness. He was 88.
Son and 24 star Kiefer, named after one of the first directors Sutherland worked for on the 1964 British horror film, Castle of the Living Dead, confirmed his father’s death on social media.
“I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film,” Keifer posted.
“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.”
Those roles came thick and fast after his big break in 1967, playing Pvt. Vernon Pinkley opposite Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson in Robert Aldrich’s star-studded World War II film, The Dirty Dozen.
Sutherland parlayed that scene-stealing turn into more hit war films – Kelly’s Heroes and, most notably, M*A*S*H, playing the character of “Hawkeye” Pierce, who would later be realised for TV by Alan Alda.
With nearly 200 credits in film and TV to his name, it’s hard to imagine acting wasn’t his first choice as a career.
Born in July 1935 in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, Sutherland worked as a radio news reporter in his youth, before graduating from the University of Toronto with a degree in engineering.
But a desire to pursue acting saw him leave his native Canada and try his luck in the UK, where he started securing bit roles in several BBC productions before landing Dirty Dozen.
Unlike some of the action stars of that movie, Sutherland was a more nuanced performer and throughout his career refused to be typecast, oscillating between lover, to oddball to sadistic villain with ease.
The 1970s established his status as a leading man, in movies such as the Academy Award-winning detective thriller, Klute, playing a detective who falls in love with a high-priced New York City call girl (Jane Fonda).
Both politically active, Fonda and Sutherland dated for a couple of years following Klute, but it fizzled out.
In total, Sutherland was married three time, first to Lois May Hardwick, from 1959 to 1966, then to fellow Canadian actor Shirley Douglas in 1966 (with whom he had twins, Keifer and Rachel), and finally, in 1972, to French actor Francine Racette, who remained his wife until his death.
The couple had three sons – Rossif, Angus Redford, and Roeg – who, like Keifer, were all named after directors Sutherland had worked with.
This speaks to the deep love the actor had for his craft, and he sought out opportunities to work with cinema’s great auteurs, such as Federico Fellini (Casanova), Bernardo Bertolucci (1900), Robert Redford (Ordinary People) and Oliver Stone (JFK).
He also had memorable performances in cult movies, such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers – immortalised by the internet in meme form – Animal House and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
![THE EAGLE HAS LANDED [US 1977] DONALD SUTHERLAND, ROBERT DUVALL, SVEN-BERTIL TAUBE AND MICHAEL CAINE Date: 1977 Rights Managed](https://images.perthnow.com.au/publication/C-15092928/f5b5330b8d5d13a08a10291287608dac4eda5675.jpg)
As Hunger Games antagonist Coriolanus Snow, Sutherland was at his brilliant best, with that imposing 1.92m frame and piercing blue-eyed stare making the character one of the greatest movie villains of the 20 years.
But, conspicuously, Sutherland never won an Oscar, even as others involved in his projects did, although he was awarded an honorary Academy Award in 2017.
A chameleon of an actor, who changed continuously throughout a career notable for quantity and quality, Donald Sutherland will be remembered as a genuine legend of the screen.
TOP FIVE ROLES
1. Ordinary People (1980)
2. Klute (1971)
3. Don’t Look Now (1973)
4. MA.S.H (1970)
5. The Dirty Dozen (1967)