Donald Sutherland, the beloved actor who starred in a number of films including The Dirty Dozen, MASH, and Klute, Animal House, Ordinary People, Pride & Prejudice, and The Hunger Games franchise, and who received an Emmy for Citizen X, passed away in Miami on Thursday after a protracted illness. He was eighty-eight.
The 2017 Honorary Oscar winner is also the father of experienced CAA Media Finance executive Roeg Sutherland, as well as Emmy-winning actor Kiefer Sutherland from 24 and Designated Survivor. To meet the deadline, CAA confirmed the information.
He developed a dead-serious, wry, and laconic delivery in some of his most well-known roles, including the calm amateur murder investigator John Klute in Jane Fonda’s frightened, erratic call girl Bree Daniels; Hawkeye Pierce in the movie MASH, opposite Elliott Gould’s cut-up Trapper John; and the skeptical John Baxter in Nicolas Reog’s Don’t Look Now, who doesn’t believe wife Laura (Julie Christie) when she claims their recently deceased daughter is reaching out from the afterlife.
One of Sutherland’s earliest examples of a shift of pace was his portrayal of a sadistic fascist in Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1976 epic 1900, in which he joyfully swings a toddler by the heels and slams the boy’s head against a wall.
Donald Sutherland was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, on July 17, 1935. Over the course of more than 60 years, he accumulated about 200 film and television credits, ranging from appearances as a guest on episodes of 1960s shows like Suspense, The Avengers, Court Martial, and The Odd Man to the Paramount+ drama Bass Reeves from last year. In the highly anticipated 1967 World War II drama The Dirty Dozen, directed by Robert Aldrich, he starred as Vernon Pinkley alongside Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, George Kennedy, Telly Savalas, and other Hollywood heavyweights. It remains a landmark American military film, a cinematic success.
In Robert Altman’s 1970 Korean War dramedy MASH, he played Capt. Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce. This was his next major role. In addition to garnering five Oscar nominations—including Best Picture, which went to Ring Lardner Jr. for his razor-sharp screenplay—the alternately terrifying and humorous movie served as the inspiration for the Hawkeye television series that ran on CBS from 1972 to 1983, starring Alda Alda.
Sutherland then starred in another highly anticipated war film, Kelly’s Heroes (1970), costarring with Clint Eastwood, Don Rickles, Savalas, and others as Sgt. Oddball. This paved the way for what was arguably his breakout role in the 1971 Alan J. Pakula crime drama Klute. He played New York Detective John Klute in the film, tasked with tracking down a missing chemical company boss alongside Fonda. For the performance, Fonda received her first Oscar, and Andy and Dave Lewis received a nomination for their original screenplay.
Sutherland’s next major film was Nicolas Roeg’s psychological thriller Don’t Look Now. He then reteamed with Gould for the international spy comedy S*P*Y*S in 1974 and Day of the Locust, a Hollywood production, in 1975. He portrayed accountant Homer Simpson, who harbors feelings for Black’s aspirant actress Faye Greener, in the film costarring William Atherton, Karen Black, and Burgess Meredith.
With his film career in full swing, Sutherland starred in The Eagle Has Landed (1976), a big-name war film starring Michael Caine and Robert Duvall, and later had a small part in The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), a comedy directed by John Landis and written by future Airplane! directors David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker.
Sutherland starred in three different films in 1978: the beloved early 1960s fraternity romp Animal House, which Landis also directed; the heist comedy The Great Train Robbery, which starred Sean Connery and Lesley-Anne Down; and the horror thriller remake Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which starred Brooke Adams and Jeff Goldblum.
In the latter, he played English lit professor Dave Jennings of Faber College in a supporting but important role. In one scene, his sardonic persona teaches his students about John Milton, while in another, he is caught having an affair with one of his students, Katy (Karen Allen). She was a Delta Chi fraternity member and Boon’s girlfriend (Peter Riegert). The cast included John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Bruce McGill, Kevin Bacon, Tom Hulce, the winner of the Amadeus Oscar, and John Vernon.
Sutherland’s portrayal in the miniseries Citizen X earned him an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe, and a Golden Globe for the television film Path to War. The Undoing, Trust, Dirty Sexy Money, and The Pillars of the Earth are just a few of his numerous television credits.
Sutherland is survived by his sons Roeg, Rossif, Angus, and Kiefer; his daughter Rachel; and four grandchildren. His wife, Francine Racette, also survives him. The family is planning a private celebration of life.