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.

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.

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.”

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)

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