57 Facts About Donald Sutherland

Donald Sutherland portrayed President Snow in The Hunger Games franchise.

Donald Sutherland acted in Uprising, Human Trafficking, Trust, and The Undoing.

Donald Sutherland was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1978, raised to Companion in 2019, inducted into the Canadian Walk of Fame in 2000 and the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011.

Donald Sutherland is the father of Kiefer, Rossif, and Angus Sutherland, all actors.

Donald McNichol Sutherland was born on 17 July 1935 at the Saint John General Hospital in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, the youngest son of Dorothy Isobel and Frederick McLea Sutherland, who worked in sales and ran the local gas, electricity, and bus company.

Donald Sutherland first received education at a one-room schoolhouse in Hampton; Sutherland's family moved back to Saint John when he was six, his father having secured a position in the New Brunswick Power Company as its vice president and general manager.

Donald Sutherland attended the Victoria School in Saint John, and later played hockey for the school.

Donald Sutherland obtained his first part-time job, at the age of 14, as a news correspondent for local radio station CKBW.

At the age of 19, Donald Sutherland spent four months as an exchange student in Finland, where he lived near an iron mine located in Otanmaki, Kainuu.

Donald Sutherland graduated in 1958, with a dual degree in engineering and drama.

Donald Sutherland had at one point been a member of the "UC Follies" comedy troupe in Toronto.

Donald Sutherland changed his mind about becoming an engineer, and left Canada for Britain in 1957, studying at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Donald Sutherland dropped out of his first year and moved to Scotland where he acted at the Perth Repertory Theatre for 18 months from 1960.

Donald Sutherland was featured alongside Christopher Lee in horror films such as Castle of the Living Dead and the anthology film Dr Terror's House of Horrors.

In 1968, after the breakthrough in the UK-filmed The Dirty Dozen, Donald Sutherland left London for Hollywood.

Donald Sutherland's health was threatened by spinal meningitis contracted during the filming of the latter film.

Donald Sutherland starred with Gene Wilder in the 1970 comedy Start the Revolution Without Me.

Donald Sutherland found himself as a leading man throughout the 1970s in films such as the Venice-based psychological horror film Don't Look Now, co-starring Julie Christie, a role which saw him nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor.

Donald Sutherland took a leading role in the war film The Eagle Has Landed acting opposite Michael Caine and Robert Duvall That same year he starred in Federico Fellini's film Federico Fellini's Casanova playing Giacomo Casanova.

Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote of his performance, "Mr Donald Sutherland is by turns personable and opaque, affecting in a way that he hasn't been since Klute".

Donald Sutherland 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.

Donald Sutherland 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.

Also, in 1978 Donald Sutherland starred in the heist comedy film The First Great Train Robbery, alongside Sean Connery.

Donald Sutherland received praise for his role as the conflicted and grieving father in the Robert Redford-directed family drama Ordinary People, alongside Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton.

Donald Sutherland played the role of physician-hero Norman Bethune in Bethune and Bethune: The Making of a Hero.

Donald Sutherland played psychiatrist and visionary Wilhelm Reich in the video for Kate Bush's 1985 single, "Cloudbusting".

In 1994, Donald 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.

Donald Sutherland was later cast in 1996 with his son Kiefer in Joel Schumacher's A Time to Kill.

Donald Sutherland played an astronaut in Space Cowboys, with co-stars Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, and James Garner.

Donald Sutherland starred as Adam Czerniakow in the NBC miniseries Uprising.

In more recent years, Sutherland was known for his role as Reverend Monroe in the Civil War drama Cold Mountain, Lou Aldryn in the drama thriller Baltic Storm, John Bridger in the remake of The Italian Job, Nathan Templeton in the TV series Commander in Chief, Ogden C Osbourne in the film Fierce People with Diane Lane and Anton Yelchin.

Donald Sutherland played a minor role in Mike Binder's Reign Over Me.

Donald Sutherland played multi-millionaire Nigel Honeycut in the 2008 film Fool's Gold.

Donald 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 one of the Olympic flag bearers.

Donald Sutherland was the narrator of CTV's "I Believe" television ads in the lead-up to the Games.

Donald Sutherland played a priest in the 2011 miniseries adaptation of the Herman Melville novel Moby-Dick.

Donald Sutherland appeared in the European police procedural Crossing Lines, which premiered on 23 June 2013, on the US NBC network.

Donald 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.

Donald Sutherland starred opposite Helen Mirren playing an elderly married couple in the comedy-drama The Leisure Seeker based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Michael Zadoorian.

Donald 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.

Donald Sutherland was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on 22 December 1978, and was promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada in 2019.

Donald Sutherland was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in March 2000.

Donald Sutherland had maintained a residence in Georgeville, a village in Quebec, since 1977.

Donald Sutherland had additional houses in other places, including Paris, France.

Donald Sutherland married his long-term partner Francine Racette in the 1990s.

Documents declassified in 2017 show that Donald 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.

Donald Sutherland became a blogger for the American news website The Huffington Post during the 2008 United States presidential election campaign.

Donald Sutherland died under hospice care at the University of Miami hospital on 20 June 2024, aged 88, from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Donald Sutherland brought a level of brilliance to his craft few could match.

US President Joe Biden wrote, "Donald Sutherland was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and one-of-a-kind actor who inspired and entertained the world for decades".

Donald Sutherland was given the Academy Honorary Award during the 90th Academy Awards in 2017.

Donald Sutherland didn't disappear into a role, not exactly; he was too distinctive for that.

Donald Sutherland had a wonderful enquiring brain and a great knowledge of a wide variety of subjects.

Donald Sutherland combined this great intelligence with a deep sensitivity, and with seriousness about his profession as an actor.

Sutherland's BBC obituary says that the "late Donald Sutherland cast a literal and figurative shadow over his industry for almost 50 years".

The Guardians Peter Bradshaw wrote that "Donald Sutherland was an utterly unique actor and irreplaceable star" and "was an aristocrat of screen actors".

Donald Sutherland received the in 2012, and the Companion of the Order of Canada in 2019.