(OurNationNews.com) Veteran Hollywood actor Donald Sutherland has passed away after battling a long illness. He was 88 years old.
The Creative Artists Agency, the firm that represents the actor, confirmed his passing.
Known for his smile that could either be endearing or diabolical, Sutherland filled no shortage of iconic roles, such as Hawkeye Pierce from “M.A.S.H.”; the eccentric tank commander Sergeant Oddball in “Kelly’s Heroes”; the intelligent but sarcastic Mr. Bennet in the film adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice”; civil rights lawyer Lucien Wilbanks in “A Time to Kill”; and President Snow in the young adult hit dystopian film series “The Hunger Games.” His IMDB credits list at least 200 films where he starred or voiced, as well as two writing credits and three producer credits.
Sutherland embraced his penchant for playing the eccentric, saying in an interview some years ago that he loved the freedom of playing different characters.
“I’m not as crazy as I used to be, but I’m still a little crazy,” Sutherland said.
Born Donald McNichol Sutherland in the city of St. John in New Brunswick, Canada, the actor was the son of a salesman and a math teacher. He grew up in Nova Scotia, and at the age of 14 was already playing music as a disk jockey. He initially took engineering in college at the University of Toronto, but changed majors to English. From there, he began participating in theatre productions in school. It was also then where he met his first wife, Lois Hardwick, whom he divorced seven years after they were married. Sutherland graduated in 1956, then moved on to study acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He first worked at London’s West End, eventually moving to Los Angeles and got his big Hollywood break playing various characters in war movies.
Tributes for the late star poured in on social media.
“Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly,” actor Kiefer Sutherland said of this father in a short tribute posted on Twitter / X. “He loved what he did and did what he loved.”
Elliott Gould, Sutherland’s co-star in M.A.S.H., praised the latter’s “giant” talent, and his enormous generosity and kindness.
A memoir of Sutherland is also set to come out later this year, entitled, “Made Up, But Still True.”
Copyright 2024, OurNationNews.com
