Donald Sutherland

1960–1968: Early work and breakthrough

While at LAMDA, Sutherland began appearing in West End productions. He dropped out his first year and moved to Scotland, where he acted at the Perth Repertory Theatre for 18 months from 1960. He appeared as Heracles in Benn Levy's The Rape of the Belt and toured throughout Scotland, including Arbroath, Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy. His roommate was actor Michael Sheard. In the early-to-mid-1960s, Sutherland began to gain small roles in British films and TV, such as a hotel receptionist in The Sentimental Agent episode, "A Very Desirable Plot" (1963). He was featured alongside Christopher Lee in several horror films, such as Castle of the Living Dead (1964) and the anthology film Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965). He also had a supporting role in the Hammer Films production of Die! Die! My Darling! (1965), with Tallulah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers. In the same year, he appeared in the Cold War classic, The Bedford Incident, and in the TV series Gideon's Way, in the 1966 episode "The Millionaire's Daughter". In 1966, Sutherland appeared in the BBC TV play Lee Oswald – Assassin, playing a friend of Lee Harvey Oswald's named Charles Givens (even though Givens himself was an African American). He also appeared in the TV series The Saint.

In 1967, he appeared in "The Superlative Seven", an episode of The Avengers. In 1966, he also made a second, and more substantial appearance in The Saint (S5, E14). The episode, "Escape Route", which was directed by the show's star, Roger Moore, who later recalled Sutherland "asked me if he could show it to some producers as he was up for an important role... they came to view a rough cut and he got The Dirty Dozen". The film, which starred Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes, Robert Ryan and several other popular actors, was the fifth highest-grossing film of 1967 and MGM's highest-grossing film of the year. In 1968, after the breakthrough in the UK-filmed The Dirty Dozen, Sutherland left London for Hollywood.

1970–1979: Stardom and praise

Sutherland then appeared in two war films, playing the lead role as Hawkeye Pierce in the Robert Altman–directed comedy M*A*S*H in 1970; and, again in 1970, as hippie tank commander "Oddball" in Kelly's Heroes alongside Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas and Don Rickles. His health was threatened by spinal meningitis contracted during the filming of the latter film. Sutherland starred with Gene Wilder in the 1970 comedy Start the Revolution Without Me. During the filming of the Academy Award-winning detective thriller Klute (1971), Sutherland had an intimate relationship with co-star Jane Fonda. Also in 1971, Sutherland starred as Christ in the independent anti-war film, Johnny Got His Gun, based on the Dalton Trumbo novel of the same name. Sutherland and Fonda went on to co-produce and star together in the anti–Vietnam War documentary F.T.A. (1972), consisting of a series of sketches performed outside army bases in the Pacific Rim and interviews with U.S. troops who were then on active service. As a follow-up to their appearance in Klute, Sutherland and Fonda performed together in Steelyard Blues (1973), a "freewheeling, Age-of-Aquarius, romp-and-roll caper" from the writer David S. Ward.

Sutherland found himself as a leading man throughout the 1970s in films such as the Venice-based psychological horror film Don't Look Now (1973), co-starring Julie Christie, a role which saw him nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor. He took a leading role in the war film The Eagle Has Landed (1976) acting opposite Michael Caine and Robert Duvall That same year he starred in Federico Fellini's film Federico Fellini's Casanova (1976) playing Giacomo Casanova. A year later, he had parts as a clumsy waiter in the comedy The Kentucky Fried Movie and as a contract killer in the thriller The Disappearance.

Sutherland took the role of a health inspector in the science fiction/horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) alongside Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, and Jeff Goldblum. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote of his performance, "Mr. Sutherland is by turns personable and opaque, affecting in a way that he hasn't been since Klute". He helped launch the internationally popular Canadian television series Witness to Yesterday, with a performance as the Montreal doctor Norman Bethune, a physician and humanitarian, largely talking of Bethune's experiences in revolutionary China. Sutherland also had a role as pot-smoking Professor Dave Jennings in National Lampoon's Animal House in 1978, making himself known to younger fans as a result of the film's popularity. When cast, he was offered either $40,000 upfront or two per cent of the film's gross earnings. Thinking the film would certainly not be a big success, he chose the upfront payment. The film eventually grossed $141.6 million. Also, in 1978 Sutherland starred in the heist comedy film The First Great Train Robbery, alongside Sean Connery. Sutherland's performance as Attila, an Italian fascist in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1976 epic film 1900, received praise from critics such as A. O. Scott of The New York Times for his portrayal of a sadistic, "over-the-top villainy" villain.

1980–2009: Established actor

Sutherland received praise for his role as the conflicted and grieving father in the Robert Redford-directed family drama Ordinary People (1980), alongside Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton. In September 1980, Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Sutherland realizes his best film role in years, playing a fellow who, filled with love for both his wife and his son, is angrily accused by each of fence-sitting, of being weak and indecisive when he's really the only one in the family with some idea of what is wrong." Sutherland was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama. In 1981, he starred in the English spy thriller Eye of the Needle and narrated Anne Wheeler's Canadian docudrama A War Story. He played the role of physician-hero Norman Bethune in Bethune (1977) and Bethune: The Making of a Hero (1990). In 1983, he co-starred with Teri Garr and Tuesday Weld in an adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent. Some of Sutherland's better known roles in the 1980s and 1990s were in the apartheid drama A Dry White Season (1989), alongside Marlon Brando and Susan Sarandon; as a sadistic warden in Lock Up (1989) with Sylvester Stallone; as an incarcerated pyromaniac in the firefighter thriller Backdraft (1991) alongside Kurt Russell and Robert De Niro, as the humanitarian doctor-activist Norman Bethune in 1990's Bethune: The Making of a Hero, and as a snobbish New York City art dealer in Six Degrees of Separation (1993), with Stockard Channing and Will Smith.

In the 1991 Oliver Stone film JFK, he played a mysterious Washington intelligence officer, reputed to have been L. Fletcher Prouty, who spoke of links to the military–industrial complex in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He played psychiatrist and visionary Wilhelm Reich in the video for Kate Bush's 1985 single, "Cloudbusting". In 1992, he played the role of Merrick in the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with Kristy Swanson. In 1994, he played the head of a government agency hunting for aliens who take over people's bodies (a premise similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers) in the film of Robert A. Heinlein's 1951 book The Puppet Masters. In 1994, Sutherland played a software company's scheming CEO in Barry Levinson's drama Disclosure opposite Michael Douglas and Demi Moore, in 1994 he played a KGB officer in the video game Conspiracy, and in 1995 was cast as Maj. Gen. Donald McClintock in Wolfgang Petersen's Outbreak. In 1995, he was also in the HBO film Citizen X, which won him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. He was later cast in 1996 (for only the second time) with his son Kiefer in Joel Schumacher's A Time to Kill. In 1998 he took the role of Bill Bowerman in the sports drama Without Limits for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. Critic Roger Ebert wrote, "Sutherland's performance is the film's treasure... brings a deep patience to Bowerman, who understands that running is a matter of endurance and strategy, as well as heart". Sutherland played the famous American Civil War General P.G.T. Beauregard in the 1999 film The Hunley.

He played an astronaut in Space Cowboys (2000), with co-stars Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, and James Garner. Sutherland was a model for Chris Claremont and John Byrne to create Donald Pierce, the Marvel Comics character whose last name comes from Sutherland's character in the 1970 film M*A*S*H, Hawkeye Pierce. He starred as Adam Czerniaków in the NBC miniseries Uprising (2001). He starred as Clark Clifford in the HBO film Path to War (2002), which again earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. In more recent years, Sutherland was known for his role as Reverend Monroe in the Civil War drama Cold Mountain (2003), Lou Aldryn in the drama thriller Baltic Storm (2003), John Bridger in the remake of The Italian Job (2003), Nathan Templeton in the TV series Commander in Chief (2005–2006), Ogden C. Osbourne in the film Fierce People (2005) with Diane Lane and Anton Yelchin.

Sutherland played the family patriarch, Mr. Bennet, in Pride & Prejudice (2005) directed by Joe Wright starring alongside Keira Knightley. Roisin O'Connor of The Independent wrote that he gives "arguably the most moving scene of the movie, [where] he gives his consent to Elizabeth to marry Mr. Darcy." That same year he starred in the miniseries Human Trafficking (2005) acting opposite Mira Sorvino. For his performance he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. He also played a minor role in Mike Binder's Reign Over Me (2007). Sutherland starred as Tripp Darling in the prime time drama series Dirty Sexy Money for ABC. He played multi-millionaire Nigel Honeycut in the 2008 film Fool's Gold. His distinctive voice was also used in many radio and television commercials, including those for Delta Air Lines, Volvo automobiles, and Simply Orange orange juice.

2010–2023: The Hunger Games and final roles

Sutherland provided voice-overs and narration during the intro of the first semifinal of Eurovision Song Contest 2009, and the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and was also one of the Olympic flag bearers. He was also the narrator of CTV's "I Believe" television ads in the lead-up to the Games. In 2010, he starred alongside an ensemble cast in a TV adaptation of Ken Follett's novel The Pillars of the Earth (2010) acting alongside Ian McShane, Matthew Macfadyen, Rufus Sewell, Hayley Atwell, and Eddie Redmayne. The following year he acted in several films including the crime thriller The Mechanic, the historical epic The Eagle, and the comedy Horrible Bosses. He also played a priest in the 2011 miniseries adaptation of the Herman Melville novel Moby-Dick.

Beginning in 2012, Sutherland portrayed President Coriolanus Snow, the main antagonist of The Hunger Games film franchise, in The Hunger Games (2012), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014), and Part 2 (2015). His role was well-received by fans and critics. In 2012 he played Captain Flint in the British series Treasure Island, an adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson 1883 novel of the same name acting opposite Eddie Izzard and Elijah Wood.

On 26 March 2012, he was a guest on the Opie and Anthony radio show where he mentioned he had been offered the lead roles in Deliverance and Straw Dogs, although turned down both offers because he did not want to appear in violent films at the time. The role in Deliverance went to Jon Voight and the role in Straw Dogs to Dustin Hoffman, and both films enjoyed critical and box office success. After declining these violent roles, he quipped: "And then I played a fascist" in 1900 by Bernardo Bertolucci. Sutherland appeared in the European police procedural Crossing Lines, which premiered on 23 June 2013, on the US NBC network. Sutherland, who played the Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court named Michel Dorn, was one of only two actors to appear in all episodes across three seasons from 2013 to 2015. In 2016, he was a member of the main competition jury of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

On 6 September 2017, it was announced that Sutherland, along with three other recipients, would receive an Honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences "for a lifetime of indelible characters, rendered with unwavering truthfulness". At the ceremony, he was honored by Jennifer Lawrence, Colin Farrell, and Whoopi Goldberg. This was Sutherland's only Academy Award in his then six decade long film career. Sutherland starred opposite Helen Mirren playing an elderly married couple in the comedy-drama The Leisure Seeker (2017) based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Michael Zadoorian. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Sutherland's dignified but memory-robbed English prof often rings true through a veil of gentle humor". That year he also took a supporting role in the romantic comedy Basmati Blues starring Brie Larson.

In 2018, Sutherland portrayed oil tycoon J. Paul Getty in the FX historical drama series Trust. Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Sutherland does a typically excellent job conveying J. Paul Getty's stern disappointment in his feckless progeny". The following year he acted in the James Gray directed science fiction drama Ad Astra and the crime thriller The Burnt Orange Heresy. In 2020, he appeared in the HBO limited series The Undoing (2020) alongside Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman. For his performance he received the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries. Sutherland took the role of Mr. Harrigan in the 2022 Netflix film Mr. Harrigan's Phone written and directed by John Lee Hancock, based on the novella of the same name from the book If It Bleeds by Stephen King. In 2023, he took the role of Isaac C. Parker in the series Lawmen: Bass Reeves on Paramount+.

Marriages and family

Sutherland married three times. His first marriage, to Lois May Hardwick, a head school teacher, lasted from 1959 to 1966. His second marriage, which lasted from 1966 to 1970, was to Shirley Douglas, daughter of Tommy Douglas, the social democratic former premier of Saskatchewan. Sutherland and Douglas had two children, twins Kiefer and Rachel. From 1970 to 1972, he had an affair with Klute co-star Jane Fonda, with whom he had participated in anti-Vietnam war activism.

Sutherland married his long-term partner Francine Racette in the 1990s. The couple had been together since meeting on the set of the Canadian pioneer drama Alien Thunder in the early 1970s. They had three sons – Rossif, Angus, and Roeg – all of whom were named after directors Sutherland had worked with. Kiefer (his son with Douglas) is named after American-born director and writer Warren Kiefer, who, under the assumed name of Lorenzo Sabatini, directed Sutherland in his first feature film, the Italian low-budget horror film Il castello dei morti vivi (Castle of the Living Dead); Roeg is named after director Nicolas Roeg; Rossif is named after French director Frédéric Rossif; and Angus's middle name, Redford, is after Robert Redford.

Politics

Sutherland was an antiwar activist who started the Free Theatre Associates (aka Free The Army) tour with Jane Fonda, Peter Boyle, Howard Hesseman, Elliott Gould, Mike Nichols, Ben Vereen, Dick Gregory, Nina Simone, and other celebrities as an alternative to Bob Hope's USO in Vietnam. Documents declassified in 2017 show that Sutherland was on the National Security Agency watchlist between 1971 and 1973 at the request of the Central Intelligence Agency because of his anti-war activities. Sutherland was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War. He also opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Sutherland became a blogger for the American news website The Huffington Post during the 2008 United States presidential election campaign. In his blogs, he stated his support for Barack Obama.

Although he was proud to be Canadian, was an officer in the Order of Canada, and had no intention of changing his citizenship, Sutherland complained in 2015 that he was not allowed to vote because he was an expatriate for over five years. The Supreme Court of Canada allowed expats to vote in national elections in a decision handed down in 2019.