Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, star of films including The Hunger Games and Don’t Look Now, has died at age 88 following a long illness.
His son, actor Kiefer Sutherland, said: “It is with sadness that I announce that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away. I personally believe that he is one of the most important actors in the history of cinema.”
“Never intimidated by any role, good, bad or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved, and you can never ask for more than that. A life well lived.”
The news sparked an outpouring of support and tributes.
Cary Elwes, co-star of the 2001 TV movie Uprising, said he was “devastated” by Sutherland’s death.
“Our hearts break for you,” he told Kiefer in an Instagram message. “I am so grateful to have known (and) worked with him. I send him our love.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recalled feeling “deeply, deeply star-struck” when he first met Sutherland.
“My thoughts are with Kiefer and the entire Sutherland family, as well as all Canadians who are undoubtedly saddened to learn, as I am at this time,” he said.
“He was a man with a strong presence, brilliant in his craft and truly a great Canadian artist,” he added.
Ron Howard, who directed Sutherland in the 1991 film Backdraft, said he was “one of the most intelligent, interesting (and) captivating movie actors of all time.”
Born in New Brunswick, Canada, Sutherland started as a radio journalist before traveling to London in 1957 to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
He then took on small roles in British film and television.
Sutherland had nearly 200 credits to his credit in a career spanning more than half a century. His first roles were in war films, including 1967’s The Dirty Dozen and 1970’s M*A*S*H.
Jane Fonda was Sutherland’s co-star in Alan J Pakula’s 1971 thriller Klute, about a detective whose search for a missing person is assisted by a high-priced call girl.
They dated for two years.
The 1970s also saw him play an IRA member in The Eagle Has Landed, a weed-smoking college professor in National Lampoon’s Animal House, and the lead role in the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
In the 1980s, Sutherland played the father of a suicidal teenager in the Academy Award-winning Ordinary People.
He moved to television in the 2000s, appearing in series such as Dirty Sexy Money and Commander-in-Chief.
Despite his many roles, he has never been nominated for an Academy Award. He received an honorary Oscar in 2017.
Sutherland was known for his political activism throughout his career and protested the Vietnam War alongside Fonda.
He has also channeled his beliefs into some of his roles, including The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, in which he plays the tyrannical President Snow.
Sutherland told the BBC in 2015 that he hoped the film’s sociopolitical message would help young fans become more aware of the world around them.
He also told the BBC that the biggest change he had noticed in the industry was that actors were making “a lot of money”.
“I don’t think anyone of my generation became an actor to make money. It never occurred to me. I was earning £8 a week here (on stage in London). When I was acting in a play at the Royal Court, I was earning £17 a week, that was 1964,” he said.
At the time, he said he had no plans to retire from acting.
“It’s a passionate business. For actors, retirement is ‘DEATH’.” he said.
Her memoir, Made Up, But Still True, is scheduled to be published in November.
