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” Do n’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 professional notably played criminals, antiheroes, romantic leads and coach figures. His status increased in the past century with his supporting position as the evil , President Snow , in” The Hunger Games” company.
Most recently, he appeared as , Judge Parker , on the series” Lawmen:  , Bass Reeves” and in the” Swimming With Sharks” series in 2022. His other current recurring jobs include the line” Undoing” and” Trust”, in which he played , J. Paul Getty, and features” Advertising Atlas” and” The Burnt- Orange Heresy”.
Sutherland , won a supporting professional Emmy for , HBO ‘s ,” Man X” in 1995 and was also nominated in 2006 for the Life movie” People Trafficking”.
After what Sutherland called” a flowing little job”, including roles in reduced- resources horror pics like 1963’s” Castle of the Living Dead” and 1965’s” Die! Die! My Sweetheart”!, he landed a component as one of the lower six in 1967’s” The Dirty Dozen”.
Sutherland told the Guardian in 2005 that he actually had one range in the movie, until , Clint Walker , refused to play a picture requiring him to deceive a standard. According to Sutherland, director , Robert Aldrich, who did n’t know his name, suddenly turned to him and said,” You! With the huge ear! You do it”!
The intelligent- alecky part was a great fit for Sutherland, whose wolfish side smile and childlike charm caught the attention of producer , Ingo Preminger, who cast him as the anti- autocratic surgeon Capt. ” Hawkeye” Pierce in 1970’s comedy smash hit “MASH”.
“MASH” turned Sutherland, and carbon- star , Elliott Gould, who played Capt. ” Trapper” John, into big stars. But the custom- bound stars had difficulty adjusting to director , Robert Altman ‘s , improvised and often chaotic strategy. According to Sutherland, Altman tried to fire him during the shot, but Preminger held company.
In a 1976 , Playboy , meeting, Altman gave a unique perspective, recalling that Sutherland loved his directing style. ” His spontaneity was profound”, Altman said. ” He’s a hell of an actor”.
Sutherland even co- starred with Gould in 1971’s inspired , Alan Arkin- owned black funny” Little Murders” and again in director , Irvin Kershner ‘s , 1974 misfire “SPYS”.
In the 1970 WWII actioner” Kelly’s Heroes”, Sutherland joined , Clint Eastwood, portraying Sgt. Oddball, an absurdly conceived but scene- stealing proto- hippie tank commander. ( Sutherland reteamed with Eastwood in 2000’s” Space Cowboys”, this time playing a former hotshot pilot. )
With 1971’s” Klute”, a thriller/character study directed by , Alan J. Pakula , and co- starring , Jane Fonda, Sutherland emerged as a credible romantic leading man. A troubled detective is being protected from a sadistic killer by a call girl ( Fonda ).
Fonda later gave Sutherland credit for her Oscar- winning best actress performance, because of” all the intense feelings I was experiencing” with him.
The two were having a love affair at the time, and the relationship stoked Sutherland’s antiwar politics. He got involved with Vietnam Veterans Against the War and, along with , Peter Boyle , and , Howard Hesseman, Fonda and Sutherland put together a traveling revue called FTA ( Free the Army, popularly known as F*@k the Army ). The FBI scoured both Sutherland and Fonda after the Pentagon unsuccessfully attempted to prevent troops from attending the shows.
In , Nicholas Roeg ‘s , influential 1973 psychological horror film” Do n’t Look Now”, Sutherland’s intriguing passivity and pared- down acting style helped highlight , Julie Christie ‘s , performance. They portray a grieving married couple who flee , England , to , Venice , after the death of their little girl.
An integral explicit sex scene between them, edited in a fragmented manner, became controversial in the movie. As the sequence goes along, Roeg intercut their post-coital dressing to go out for dinner. The scene became and continues to be one of the most memorable ever filmed even in a sex-obsessed era.
At the height of his success, Sutherland began to make eccentric career choices. He turned down , John Boorman , for” Deliverance” and chose , Paul Mazursky ‘s ,” Alex in Wonderland” ( 1970 ) over Peckinpah’s” Straw Dogs”. He acted with Fonda again in” Steelyard Blues” ( 1973 ) and played Christ in , Dalton Trumbo ‘s ,” Johnny Got His Gun” ( 1971 ). Both fizzled at the box office.
Sutherland received mixed notices for his role as a hick in , John Schlesinger ‘s ,” Day of the Locust” ( 1975 ), played the title character in 1976’s arty bomb” Fellini’s Casanova” and a psychopathic fascist in Bertolucci’s” 1900″ ( 1977 ). He had a memorable cameo in 1978 hit” National Lampoon ‘s , Animal House”, playing a professor who is discovered having an affair with a student ( Karen Allen ). Instead of offering a percentage of the profits, he accepted a small upfront fee for his work. The actor estimated the choice cost him$ 14 million.
Sutherland rebounded with 1980’s” Ordinary People”, convincing director , Robert Redford , to cast him as the grieving father trying to hold his family together after his older son’s accidental death. Redford had initially offered him the role of Judd Hirsch, the psychiatrist who later became known as the psychiatrist.
In the 1981 WWII thriller “Eye of the Needle,” Sutherland gave one of his final romantic lead roles on screen, this time as a stranded German agent who falls for a lone married woman ( Kate Nelligan ).
Another career peak came in 1998, when Sutherland convinced director- writer , Robert Towne , to cast him as coach and Nike co- founder , Bill Bowerman , in” Without Limits”, about U. of , Oregon , runner , Steve Prefontaine , ( Billy Crudup ). He was also memorable in 2005’s” Pride and Prejudice” as , Keira Knightley ‘s , father.
Sutherland made a lasting impression in smaller roles, such as Mister X, a high- placed Pentagon official who claims to know why JFK was murdered, in 1991 ‘s , Oliver Stone- helmed” JFK”.
Remarkably, Sutherland was never nominated for an Oscar, though his work in such films as” Ordinary People” and” Without Limits” is often cited by critics as among the finest of their respective decades.
Other noteworthy roles include , President Snow , in” The Hunger Games” ( 2012 ) and its sequels, a safecracker in” The Italian Job” ( 2003 ), the father in” Six Degrees of Separation” ( 1993 ), a stylish safecracker in” The Great Train Robbery” ( 1978 ), and the lead in , Philip Kaufman ‘s , 1978 remake of” Invasion of the Body Snatchers”.
Sutherland and Kiefer had other acting roles in” A Time to Kill” from 1996. He turned down an offer to play the father of Kiefer’s character,  , Jack Bauer, in” 24″, his son’s successful TV series. The two appeared together in the 2014 Western” Forsaken”.
In 2014 the actor also starred with , Brie Larson , in the , India- set musical comedy” Basmati Blues”, written and directed by , Dan Baron.
Sutherland’s TV work includes” The Superlative Seven” episode of” The Avengers” ( 1967 ) and two episodes of” The Saint” ( 1965, 1966 ). He starred as Patrick” Tripp” Darling III in” Dirty Sexy Money” ( 2007- 09 ) and as , Nathan Templeton , in” Commander in Chief” ( 2005- 06 ). His TV miniseries work includes 2010’s” The Pillars of the Earth”, based on , Ken Follett ‘s , epic novel.
In one of his best TV roles, Sutherland portrayed , Clark Clifford , in , John Frankenheimer ‘s ,” Path to War” ( 2002 ). In 1995, he won a supporting actor Emmy for” Citizen X” ( HBO ).
Born in , St. John, Canada, he studied at the , London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art , before getting roles in British TV shows and films such as” The Avengers” and” The Saint”. ” The Saint” star and director , Roger Moore , recommended him to the producers of” The Dirty Dozen”, and after the success of that film he moved to , Hollywood.
The family will hold a private celebration of life.
Sutherland is survived by his wife , Francine Racette, sons Roeg, Rossif, Angus, and Kiefer, daughter Rachel, and four grandchildren.
© 2024 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, Distributed by , Tribune Content Agency, LLC
