Donald Sutherland, Star of Mash, Hunger Games and JFK, Dies at 88

Donald Sutherland, Star of Mash, Hunger Games and JFK, Dies at 88

Comedian Donald Sutherland died on June 20, 2024 at the age of 88. His son, actor Kiefer Sutherland, spread the sad news about this on the social network.

“It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my father, Donald Sutherland. I personally believe that he is one of the most important actors in the history of cinema. He was never afraid of a role, good, bad or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved. And you can never ask for more than that.

revealed Mash

Donald Sutherland first distinguished himself as a disc jockey for local Canadian radio stations and then worked in theater at the University of Toronto. At the instigation of local critic Herb Whittaker, he traveled to England, where he took courses at the London Academy of Dramatic Art. The actor made his debut on the big screen in 1963 in the Italian series called Castle of the Living Dead.

After this initial start, he landed a minor role in the war film Aux posts de combat (1965), to say the least, but in 1967, when Robert Aldrich hired him to play one of the Twelve Bastards, he landed his first role. the main role.

However, the public discovered him in 1970 with Mash, where he played an extroverted doctor. His career was initially marked by eccentric and unusual performances.

Composition actor

With the role of Inspector Klutt (1971), in which he was opposite Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland established himself in the dramatic register. A pacifist activist, he collaborates with the same Jane Fonda Written and directed by FTA (1972), America’s commitment to Vietnam is reflected.

Very prolific, the actor collects compositions of all genres: the architect in Ne vous voir pas (1973), the remarkable pathos in the film “The Day of the Flail” (1975), the fascist in 1900 (1976), the interpreter of Fellini’s Casanova, the spy in “Eagle Flight”. Away or even as a mutant hunter in The Invasion of the Profanateurs (1978), he even spent time under the direction of Claude Chabrol (Les Liens du Sang, 1978).

We occasionally see him playing intelligent men, such as the African history professor who fights against apartheid in The White and Dry Season, but it is the roles of odious and extreme men that are most recurring in his career.

Thus, he is a corrupt and immoral prison director, an alert disturbing and scheming soldier or even a treacherous false political adviser.

Comfortable in all genres

Donald Sutherland marks certain films with lightning passages. His performances as a deranged arsonist in Backdraft and as a mysterious and high-ranking witness in JFK reflect the strength of his composition and his charisma.

In 2000, he reunited with Clint Eastwood thirty years later for Brave Space Cowboys. Very eclectic, he has recently moved from action films (The Italian Heist, 2002) to historical drama (Return to Cold Mountain, 2003) through costume films (Pride and Prejudice, 2004).

Also active on the small screen, Donald Sutherland plays the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the great business patriarch Patrick “Trip” Darling III in Dirty Sex Money or even Michelle Dorn, a member of the International Criminal Court in Crossing. lines.

At the same time, the actor does not forget about the cinema and thus shows himself in a number of feature films, including the adventure film L’Amour de l’or (2008), the action film Le Flingeur (2011), the comedy How to Kill. your boss as well as four films related to the lucrative teenage Hunger Games franchise, in which he plays the tyrannical President Snow.

Still at work

In his 80s, Donald Sutherland has always been active in front of the camera, as evidenced by his performances in Ice, The Undoing and Trust (in which he plays billionaire J. Paul Getty). But he didn’t give up cinema, appearing in Basmati Blues, Measure of a Man, The Leisure Seeker and James Gray’s Ad Astra.

More recently, Donald Sutherland has been seen in the TV series Swimming With Sharks and Bas Reeves, and in the films Moonfall and Mr. Harrigan’s Telephone. His last film role will be Judge Wren in Miranda’s Victim, which will soon be released on the big screen.


Source: Allocine

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