Celebrity

Donald Sutherland, The Towering Actor Whose Career Spanned ‘M.A.S.H.’ To ‘Hunger Games,’ Dies At 88

Published

5 months ago

2024-06-20

Kiara Grace

NEW YORK — Donald Sutherland, a famous film and television actor whose work ranged from “M.A.S.H.” to “The Hunger Games,” has died. He was 88.

The actor’s son, Kiefer Sutherland, confirmed his father’s death Thursday. No other information was immediately provided.

“I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film,” Kiefer Sutherland stated on X. “Never intimidated by a part, whether good, awful, or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved, and you can’t ask for more.”

The tall and gaunt Canadian actor with a charming or wicked grin was recognized for oddball characters like Hawkeye Pierce in Robert Altman’s “M.A.S.H.,” the hippy tank commander in “Kelly’s Heroes,” and the stoned professor in “Animal House.”

Before starting a long career as a respected character actor, Sutherland exemplified 1970s cinema’s unconventional, anti-establishment style.

Over the years, Sutherland demonstrated his versatility in more conventional but unconventional roles like Robert Redford’s “Ordinary People” and Oliver Stone’s “JFK.” More recently, he appeared in the “Hunger Games” movies. He never retired and worked frequently till his death. “Made Up, But Still True,” a memoir, was scheduled to be released in November.

Sutherland | AP News Image

Donald Sutherland, The Towering Actor Whose Career Spanned ‘M.A.S.H.’ To ‘Hunger Games,’ Dies At 88

“I enjoy working. In 1998, Sutherland told Charlie Rose, “I passionately love to work.” “I adore seeing my hand fit into the glove of another figure. I get a great sense of freedom; time seems to halt. I’m not as crazy as I used to be, but I’m still slightly insane.”

Donald McNichol Sutherland was born in St. John, New Brunswick, the son of a salesperson and a math teacher. He was up in Nova Scotia and was a disc jockey with his radio station by age 14.

“When I was 13 or 14, I really thought everything I felt was wrong and dangerous, and that God was going to kill me for it,” said Sutherland to The New York Times in 1981. “My father always said, ‘Keep your mouth shut, Donnie, and maybe people will think you have character.'”

Sutherland began as an engineering student at the University of Toronto but switched to English and began acting in school plays. While studying in Toronto, he met an aspiring actress named Lois Hardwick. They married in 1959 and divorced seven years later.

Sutherland graduated in 1956 and studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Sutherland began performing in West End shows and on British television. He bounced around after moving to Los Angeles until a series of war films altered his path.

His first American picture was “The Dirty Dozen” (1967), in which he played Vernon Pinkley, an officer mimicking psychotic. In 1970, the World War II drama “Kelly’s Heroes” and “M.A.S.H.,” an acclaimed smash hit, were released, catapulting Sutherland to fame.

“There is more challenge in character roles,” Sutherland told The Washington Post in 1970. “There is longevity. A good character actor can portray a distinct face in each film without boring the audience.”

If Sutherland had gotten his way, Altman would have been sacked from “M.A.S.H.” He and co-star Elliott Gould were dissatisfied with the director’s unconventional, improvisational approach and lobbied to have him changed. But the picture outperformed everyone’s expectations, and Sutherland personally resonated with its anti-war message. Sutherland, actress Jane Fonda, and others created the Free Theater Associates in 1971 after being outspokenly opposed to the Vietnam War. In 1973, they performed in venues near military facilities in Southeast Asia after being banned by the Army for their political ideas.

Sutherland | AP News Image

Donald Sutherland, The Towering Actor Whose Career Spanned ‘M.A.S.H.’ To ‘Hunger Games,’ Dies At 88

Sutherland’s career as a leading man peaked in the 1970s, when he starred in pictures by the greatest directors of the day, even if they didn’t always perform their best work with him. Sutherland, who repeatedly stated that he regarded himself at the service of a director’s vision, collaborated with Federico Fellini (1976’s “Fellini’s Casanova”), Bernardo Bertolucci (1976’s “1900”), Claude Chabrol (1978’s “Blood Relatives”), and John Schlesinger (1975’s “The Day of the Locust”).

One of his most memorable performances was as a detective in Alan Pakula’s “Klute” (1971). He met Fonda while filming “Klute,” they had a three-year relationship that began after his second marriage to actor Shirley Douglas ended. He married Douglas in 1966 and divorced in 1971.

In 1966, Sutherland and Douglas welcomed twins Rachel and Kiefer, named after Warren Kiefer, the writer of Sutherland’s first film, “Castle of the Living Dead.”

In 1974, the actor began living with actress Francine Racette, with whom he remained ever since. They had three children: Roeg, born in 1974 and named after filmmaker Nicolas Roeg (“Don’t Look Now”); Rossif, born in 1978 and named after director Frederick Rossif; and Angus Redford, born in 1979 and named after Robert Redford.

To some astonishment, Redford cast Sutherland as the father in his directorial debut, 1980’s “Ordinary People.” Redford’s drama about a gorgeous suburban family shattered by tragedy received four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

The academy neglected Sutherland for the majority of his career. He was never nominated, but he received an honorary Oscar in 2017. He did, however, win an Emmy in 1995 for the television film “Citizen X” and was nominated for seven Golden Globes (including for his roles in “M.A.S.H.” and “Ordinary People”), winning two — again for “Citizen X” and for the 2003 television film “Path to War.”

Sutherland | AP News Image

Donald Sutherland, The Towering Actor Whose Career Spanned ‘M.A.S.H.’ To ‘Hunger Games,’ Dies At 88

“Ordinary People” also signaled a transition in Sutherland’s career toward more mature and, in some cases, less eccentric characters.

However, his New York stage debut in 1981 was a disaster. He played Humbert Humbert in Edward Albee’s version of Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita,” which received harsh reviews and closed after only a dozen performances.

A slump ensued in the 1980s, owing to flops such as the 1981 satire “Gas” and the 1984 comedy “Crackers.”

Sutherland, however, persisted in his efforts. He has a brief but noteworthy appearance in Oliver Stone’s film “JFK” (1991). He returned to play a grandpa for Redford in his 1993 film “Six Degrees of Separation.” He played Bill Bowerman, a track coach, in the 1998 film Without Limits.

Sutherland has worked more on television over the last decade, most notably in HBO’s “Path to War,” when he played President Lyndon Johnson’s Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford. It was an appropriate, albeit ironic, bookend to a career began by “M.A.S.H.”

SOURCE – (AP)

Celebrity

Jason Kelce Smashes Football Fan’s Phone

Published

3 weeks ago

2024-11-02

Geoff Brown

Jason Kelce Smashes College Football Fan's Phone

Retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce destroyed a Penn State football fan’s phone after the alleged heckler called his brother, Travis Kelce, a fag.

In now-viral footage published on X (previously Twitter) on Saturday, Nov. 2, the retired Philadelphia Eagles great was seen accompanied by football fans outside Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa., for the Penn State-Ohio State game.

As the individual capturing the tape lifted a fist to Jason, 36, and called his name for a fist bump, another man nearby hurled the homophobic slur at the retired Philadelphia Eagles star.

Hey, Kelce. How does it feel that your brother is a queer dating Taylor Swift?” the man questioned, referring to Travis, 34, who has been seeing Swift since 2023. Jason turned around seconds later, snatched the man’s phone, and crushed it to the ground.

“Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason,” the original X user who submitted the video remarked. “Wild scene in State College.”

“Kelce how does it feel that your brother is a f****t for dating Taylor Swift?”

Jason Kelce proceeded to slam this kids phone on the ground.

Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason. Wild scene in State College pic.twitter.com/3PEdZXWhSg

— Chives (@jarrett_daveler) November 2, 2024

Additional footage on X shows Jason smashing the phone on asphalt before picking it up and walking away. The phone’s owner, wearing a Penn State hoodie at the time of the incident, was shown in many videos strolling closely behind Jason and recording him before the conflict occurred.

Another footage published on X, which appears to have been filmed after Jason shattered the man’s phone, showed the hooded Penn State supporter trudging through a mob to pick up his phone off the ground.

“Give me my phone, bro,” he seemed to say to Jason.

The NFL alum seized the gadget first, then stood in front of the man and asked, “Who’s the fag now?” Others appeared to interfere.

The incident occurred while Jason was at Beaver Stadium for an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay. The Ohio State Buckeyes won Saturday’s game 20-13 over the Penn State Nittany Lions.

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Celebrity

Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold

Published

4 weeks ago

2024-10-30

Kiara Grace

Shaun White, the Olympic snowboarding champion, already has an impressive medal tally, but his surprise proposal to Nina Dobrev deserves a gold medal.

On Wednesday, the couple announced their engagement on Instagram. Dobrev posted photographs of the two hugging under an arch of white roses and showing off her five-carat Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring.

“RIP boyfriend, hello fiancé,” Dobrev said in the caption.

However, the photographs only tell half the tale, as Shaun devised an elaborate plan to surprise Dobrev with his proposal.

Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold

According to a Vogue interview published Wednesday, Shaun said he assembled a team of people from the couple’s inner circle and Vogue personnel to trick Dobrev into thinking she had been invited to an intimate dinner party with Anna Wintour.

White claimed that his publicist emailed Dobrev a forged invitation to the event, which was scheduled to take place at the Golden Swan in New York City.

Dobrev accepted the invitation, joking that Shaun made it “look so legitimate.”

He even asked Dobrev’s stylist to outfit her in Chanel for the event.

Dobrev said she recognized what was happening when she entered the venue and saw White standing beneath the flowery arch.

Shaun’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold

“I went into shock,” Dobrev admitted, later adding that White “said all the right things” before she agreed.

According to the publication, after Shaun proposed, the couple partied into the early morning hours with close friends and relatives.

“Best night of my life,” Shaun captioned his Instagram story on Wednesday.

The duo first became romantically involved in 2020, and they have since publicly recorded their relationship, globe vacations, and White’s Olympic farewell on social media.

SOURCE | CNN

Celebrity

Hollywood Actress Teri Garr Passes Away at 79

Published

4 weeks ago

2024-10-30

Geoff Brown

Hollywood Actress Teri Garr Passes Away at 79

Teri Garr, known for her roles in classics like "Young Frankenstein" and "Tootsie," has passed away at 79.

Hollywood actress Teri Garr, known for her roles in classics like “Young Frankenstein” and “Tootsie,” has passed away at 79. She died Tuesday of multiple sclerosis “surrounded by family and friends,” said publicist Heidi Schaeffer.

Admirers took to social media in her honor, with writer-director Paul Feig calling her “truly one of my comedy heroes. I couldn’t have loved her more” and screenwriter Cinco Paul saying: “Never the star, but always shining. She made everything she was in better.”

Throughout her career, the performer, often known as Terri, Terry, or Terry Ann, seemed destined for show business from a young age.

Her father was Eddie Garr, a well-known vaudeville comic, and her mother was Phyllis Lind, one of the original high-kicking Rockettes at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Their daughter began dancing classes at six and was performing with the San Francisco and Los Angeles ballet companies by age fourteen.

She was 16 years old when she joined the road crew of “West Side Story” in Los Angeles, and she began starring in small roles in films as early as 1963.

In an interview from 1988, she described how she landed the role in “West Side Story.” After being rejected at her initial audition, she returned the following day dressed differently and was accepted.

Teri Garr, a comedian

Teri Garr then found steady work as a movie dancer, appearing in the chorus of nine Elvis Presley films, including “Viva Las Vegas,” “Roustabout,” and “Clambake.”

She has also appeared on various television shows, including “Star Trek,” “Dr. Kildare,” and “Batman,” and was a featured dancer on the rock ‘n’ roll music show “Shindig,” the rock concert performance “T.A.M.I.,” and a cast member of “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.”

Her breakthrough role was as Gene Hackman’s girlfriend in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 thriller The Conversation. This led to an interview with Mel Brooks, who offered her the Gene Wilder’s German lab assistant role in Young Frankenstein if she could speak with a German accent.

“Cher had this German woman, Renata, making wigs, so I got the accent from her,” Garr once said.

The film established her as a great comic performer, with New Yorker film writer Pauline Kael calling her “the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on screen.”

Her big smile and off-center appeal helped her land roles in “Oh, God!” with George Burns and John Denver, “Mr. Mom” (as Michael Keaton’s wife), and “Tootsie,” in which she played the girlfriend who loses Dustin Hoffman to Jessica Lange and discovers he has dressed up as a woman to revive his career.

A gift for spontaneous humor

Teri Garr, best known for comedy, has shown in films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Black Stallion, and The Escape Artist that she can also tackle drama.

She had a gift for spontaneous humor, frequently playing David Letterman’s foil during early guest appearances on N.B.C.’s “Late Night With David Letterman”.

Her appearances grew so frequent, and the pair’s good-natured bickering so convincing that rumors of romantic involvement circulated for a while. Years later, Letterman acknowledged those early appearances with helping the program become a success.

During those years, Garr began to experience “a little beeping or ticking” in her right leg. It started in 1983 and expanded to her right arm, but she thought she could handle it. By 1999, her symptoms had gotten so bad that she saw a doctor and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

After disclosing her diagnosis, Garr became a spokesman for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, giving hilarious remarks at events in the United States and Canada.

Source: AP
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