Donald Sutherland was an acclaimed, award-winning actor known for such classics as “The Dirty Dozen,” “M*A*S*H, “Ordinary People,” “JFK,” “The Hunger Games” and many others.
· Died: June 20, 2024 (Who else died on June 20?)
· Details of death: Died in Miami after a long illness at the age of 88.
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Donald Sutherland’s legacy
Among Canadian-born Donald Sutherland’s earliest films was 1967’s “The Dirty Dozen,” leading to bigger roles such as Hawkeye Pierce in “M*A*S*H,” Sgt. Oddball in “Kelly’s Heroes” (1970), and John Klute in “Klute” (1971). He was BAFTA nominated for roles in “Steelyard Blues” (1973) and “Don’t Look Now” (1973), and he received a Saturn Award nomination for his role in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1978), where he delivered one of cinema’s most memorable screams (which decades later became a popular internet meme). He was funny as a pot-smoking professor in “National Lampoon’s Animal House” (1978) and moving as a father trying to hold his family together in “Ordinary People.”
As the ‘90s began, Sutherland played a small but pivotal role in “JFK,” and he continued making notable appearances throughout the decade in movies including “Backdraft” (1991), “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1992), “Six Degrees of Separation” (1993), “Outbreak” (1995), and “A Time to Kill” (1996). He played an astronaut in “Space Cowboys” (2000) and the family patriarch in “Pride and Prejudice” (2005). As corrupt President Coriolanus Snow in “The Hunger Games” series, he won a Teen Choice Award for Best Villain in the second of four installments and was nominated again for the third.
Sutherland won a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy Award for “Citizen X” (1995), another Golden Globe for “Path to War” (2002), and an honorary Academy Award in 2017, but he never won or was nominated for a competitive Academy Award, leading some to call him one of the best actors never nominated for an Oscar. His accolades continued well into his career, however, with a Golden Globe nomination in 2020 for his work in the TV miniseries “The Undoing.” In 2023, Canada Post issued a stamp in his honor. He is also on the Canadian Walk of Fame and Hollywood Walk of Fame. A noted left-wing anti-war activist, Sutherland was the father of actors Kiefer Sutherland, Rossif Sutherland, and Angus Sutherland.
Donald Sutherland’s advice for young actors:
“Work as hard as you can, you know, get a job – work, work harder, try and be as truthful as you possibly can, read, read a lot, learn, memorize things, enjoy your artistry, study dancing, be a circus performer, learn how to juggle, so many things, but mostly you have to observe.” —from a 2019 interview with Reuters
Tributes to Donald Sutherland
Full obituary: The New York Times
