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We have some very sad news coming out of Hollywood today. According to multiple reports, acclaimed actor Donald Sutherland, who appeared in multiple hit films and television shows, including the wildly popular Hunger Games franchise, has died. He was 88 years old. His agent at CAA confirmed his death. His agency also revealed that the actor’s death came after battling a long illness, but we do not know what that illness was.
Credit: Screenshot, ‘The Hunger Games’,Lionsgate
Shortly after news of Sutherland’s death became public, his son, actor Kiefer Sutherland, shared a heartfelt note on X, remembering his special relationship with his father.
With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away. I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film. Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived.
With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away. I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film. Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more… pic.twitter.com/3EdJB03KKT
— Kiefer Sutherland (@RealKiefer) June 20, 2024
Donald McNichol Sutherland was born on July 17, 1935, at the Saint John General Hospital in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. How mother, Dorothy, was a stay-at-home mother, while his father owned and operated the local gas, electric, and bus company.
When he was younger, he suffered several illnesses, including rheumatic fever, hepatitis, and polio. However, he never let that slow him down, and when he was just 14 years old, he got a part-time job as a correspondent at the local radio station, CKBW.
Credit: Screenshot, ‘The Hunger Games’, Lionsgate
Sutherland began acting in his late twenties and has appeared in nearly 200 films and television shows in the decades since. He is most well-known for his roles as Vernon Pinkley in The Dirty Dozen (1967), Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H (1970), Dave Jennings in National Lampoon’s Animal House, and Merrick in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). Most recently, he portrayed Judge Parker in the hit Paramount+ show Lawmen: Bass Reeves.
He also appeared alongside his son, Designated Survivor star Kiefer Sutherland, in the 1996 film A Time to Kill and the 2014 Western film, Forsaken. He was offered to play the role of Kiefer’s father in his son’s hit show 24, but ultimately turned down the role.
Credit: Screenshot, ‘Lawmen Bass Reeves’, Paramount+
While it seems crazy to think of anyone else as President Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games, Sutherland was not originally offered the role. It was one that he admitted he had to chase and ask for. In a 2014 interview with GQ, he said that he read the script and fell in love with the iconic villain and his complicated past.
“I wasn’t offered it. I like to read scripts, and it captured my passion. I wrote them a letter. The role of the president had maybe a line in the script. Maybe two. Didn’t make any difference. I thought it was an incredibly important film, and I wanted to be a part of it. I thought it could wake up an electorate that had been dormant since the ’70s.”
“I hadn’t read the books. To be truthful, I was unaware of them. But they showed my letter to the director, Gary Ross, and he thought it’d be a good idea if I did it. He wrote those wonderfully poetic scenes in the rose garden, and they formed the mind and wit of Coriolanus Snow.”
Credit: Screenshot,’The Hunger Games’, Lionsgate
Related: Multiple Characters Recast in Upcoming ‘The Hunger Games’ Film Amid Netflix’s Ongoing Suspension
Throughout his storied career, Sutherland won a number of awards, including Emmys, Golden Globes, and a Critics Choice Award. However, he never won a coveted Academy Award. Then, in 2017, the Academy presented him with an honorary Oscar for his incredible contribution to the movie industry.
Donald Sutherland is survived by his wife, actress Francine Racette; his four sons, actors Kiefer Sutherland, Rossif Sutherland, Angus Sutherland, and Roeg Sutherland, a CAA executive; daughter Rachel, a veteran Hollywood post-production supervisor; and four grandchildren.
We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Donald Sutherland.
