Sutherland was born July 17, 1935 in New Brunswick, Canada, later moving to Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. Throughout his childhood he battled a number of serious illnesses including polio, rheumatic fever and spinal meningitis.
He left Canada to pursue an interest in acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and soon found work in TV and low-budget films.
He got a Hollywood breakthrough in the classic war film The Dirty Dozen, whose ensemble cast includes Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Ernest Borgnine and Jim Brown. It was the fifth highest grossing film of 1967.
After leaving London for Hollywood, Sutherland landed one of his most iconic roles in the 1970 anti-war comedy-drama MASH, originating the role of “Hawkeye” Pierce. MASH was one of the most successful films of the decade and is regarded as a classic.
Throughout the ’70s, Sutherland was a Hollywood leading man: his films include in the Oscar-winning Klute opposite Jane Fonda, the psychological horror Don’t Look Now, and the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He also appeared in the hit comedy Animal House.
In 1980, he starred in Robert Redford’s Ordinary People, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Other major films include Backdraft, JFK, Six Degrees of Separation, The Italian Job and Pride and Prejudice.
Sutherland also had success on TV, winning an Emmy Award for the 1995 film Citizen X, and a Golden Globe for the television film Path to War.
A younger generation of moviegoers was introduced to Sutherland through The Hunger Games, the hit dystopian blockbuster series: Sutherland starred as the villainous President Coriolanus Snow.
Though he surprisingly never received an Oscar nomination, he received an Academy Honorary Award in 2017, “for a lifetime of indelible characters, rendered with unwavering truthfulness.” He also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011, and on the Canadian Walk of Fame in 2000.
Sutherland was married three times; he was married to actress Francine Racette for 52 years until his death. He was previously married to Lois May Hardwick and Shirley Douglas, and also had an affair with his Klute co-star Jane Fonda.
He had five children — including most famously his son Kiefer Sutherland, the actor best known for playing Jack Bauer in 24.
”I was too young to go watch my father’s films in the cinema,” Kiefer Sutherland told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. “By the time I hit 20, VHS was available and a friend of my fathers had a lot of his films. In three days I watched Don’t Look Know, Klute, M*A*S*H, Kelly’s Heroes, 1900 and Fellini’s Casanova.”
“It was such a wide spectrum of characters, and I remember calling him up and I felt really badly that I grew up not knowing what a profoundly special actor he was, I felt horribly guilty of that. As a young actor, I had never known or seen another actor who’ve done characters so diverse either.”
Rest in peace to the iconic actor Donald Sutherland who lent his talents to so many great, classic movies — you will be missed 💔😢
I GOT A CALL FROM MY MOTHER AND HER FIRST WORDS WERE, “PLEASE, SAVE ME FROM YOUR SON!”
The phone call was a jolt, a cold splash of dread that ripped through the quiet of my afternoon. My mother’s voice, usually a warm, familiar melody, was a panicked whisper, a desperate plea. “Please, come save me from him!” she cried, the line abruptly going dead.
My son, Michael, had volunteered to spend the summer with her, a surprising turn of events. He’d always been a city kid, resistant to the quiet charm of my mother’s small-town life. But this year, he’d insisted, offering to take care of her, to give her caregiver a break.
My mother, fiercely independent despite her disability, refused to leave her house or move into assisted living. Michael’s offer seemed like a win-win, a chance for him to prove his newfound maturity, a break for me.
The first week had been idyllic. Michael was cheerful on the phone, regaling me with stories of fishing trips and local festivals. But a nagging unease had crept in when he consistently deflected my requests to speak with my mother, claiming she was busy or asleep.
Now, this phone call, a desperate cry for help, confirmed my worst fears. I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed my keys, my heart pounding against my ribs, and sped towards my mother’s town.
The drive was a blur, a frantic race against time. The familiar landmarks of my childhood blurred past, each mile a torturous delay. As I pulled into my mother’s street, a sense of dread settled over me. The house, usually a beacon of warmth and light, stood dark and silent, its paint peeling, its once vibrant garden overgrown and neglected.
I parked the car and rushed to the front door, my hand trembling as I turned the knob. The door creaked open, revealing a scene that made my blood run cold.
The house was a disaster. Furniture was overturned, dust motes danced in the single beam of moonlight filtering through a grimy window, and a strange, acrid smell hung in the air.
“Mom?” I called out, my voice echoing through the silent house. “Michael?”
I moved through the living room, my footsteps muffled by the thick layer of dust on the floor. The kitchen was a scene of chaos, dishes piled high in the sink, food rotting on the counter.
Then, I saw her. My mother was slumped in her wheelchair, her head resting on the armrest, her body still.
“Mom!” I cried, rushing to her side. I gently shook her shoulder, and her eyes fluttered open.
“Oh, darling,” she whispered, her voice weak. “He’s gone. He took everything.”
“Who, Mom? Michael?”
She nodded, her eyes filled with fear. “He changed, darling. He… he wasn’t the boy I knew. He became obsessed with… with things. He kept asking about your father’s old coin collection, and your grandmother’s jewelry.”
I helped her sit up, and she continued, “He said he needed to ‘make things right’ and that we were holding him back. He stopped letting the caregiver in, and he wouldn’t let me call you. He said he was taking care of me, but he was just… waiting.”
“Waiting for what, Mom?”
“I don’t know, darling. I woke up this morning, and he was gone. He took the coins, the jewelry, even my old locket. He left me here, alone, in the dark.”
I looked around the ravaged house, the empty spaces where precious heirlooms once sat, and a wave of anger washed over me. Michael, my son, had betrayed my trust, had abandoned his grandmother, had stolen from her.
I called the police, my voice trembling with rage. As I recounted the events of the past few weeks, a sense of disbelief settled over me. How could my son, the boy I had raised with love and care, have turned into this?
The police searched the house, documenting the damage, taking my mother’s statement. They promised to investigate, to find Michael, to bring him to justice.
As I sat beside my mother, holding her frail hand, I knew that the summer had taken a dark turn, a turn that would forever change our lives. I didn’t know what had happened to my son, or what had driven him to this act of betrayal. But I knew that I would find him, and I would make him answer for what he had done.
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