Longtime actor Donald Sutherland, known for his iconic roles in M*A*S*H, Klute, and The Hunger Games, died this past Thursday in Miami after a battle with a long-term illness. He was 88 at the time of his passing.
“With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away,” wrote Kiefer Sutherland, son of Donald Sutherland, in an Instagram post on Thursday. “I personally think [he was] one of the most important actors in the history of film. Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly”, Kiefer added, along with emphasizing that his father “loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived”.
As an actor, Donald Sutherland was a Hollywood fixture in a wide range of roles, accumulating nearly two hundred film and television credits in the span of his sixty-year career. Known for his intensity and distinctiveness on screen, Sutherland’s first big break came in 1967, when he was cast as one of The Dirty Dozen in the iconic action film.
Sutherland then went on to star as the quick-witted doctor Hawkeye Pierce in the movie version of M*A*S*H, as well as in the Oscar-nominated Klute alongside Jane Fonda. Sutherland also starred in the critically acclaimed horror film Don’t Look Now, as well as in various small but important character roles in films such as Oliver Stone’s JFK, the Oscar winner for Best Picture of 1981 Ordinary People, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Backdraft and The Italian Job. In the final stage of his acting career, Sutherland made himself known to younger audiences as the treacherous President Snow in The Hunger Games trilogy.
Sutherland leaves behind an impressive legacy, one that will never be forgotten.
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