Memorable “Casanova” by Fellini, the Canadian Donald Sutherland has led a career as prolific as it is eclectic, totaling some 200 roles in films and series with a predilection for troubled and facetious characters.
At the rate of one film per year since his debut in the 1970s, Donald Sutherland rarely acts twice under the direction of the same director whose most prestigious names he has collected
This 1m93 giant, whose death at age 88 was announced Thursday by his son Kiefer Sutherland, was hailed as “one of the most versatile film and television actors of the century” by Variety magazine.
Considered one of the most famous Canadian actors abroad, he was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2017.
Chameleon actor, initially devoted to villain roles (fascist brute in “1900”; sadistic prison director in “High Security”), he is capable of moving from comedy (“MASH”) to historical drama (“The Pillars of the Earth”) or even the bloody epic (“Hunger Games”).
At the rate of one film per year since his beginnings in the 70s, he rarely plays twice under the direction of the same director whose most prestigious names he has collected: Bernardo Bertolucci (“1900”), Robert Redford (“People Like Any Other”, 1980), Federico Fellini (“Casanova”), Clint Eastwood (“Space Cowboy”) and Oliver Stone (“JFK”).
Growing old is like having a new job but one that you wouldn’t have chosen
Born July 17, 1935 in Saint John (New Brunswick, eastern Canada), Donald Sutherland had a childhood marked by serious health problems (hepatitis, poliomyelitis, rheumatic fever). He became a DJ at the age of 14 for a Nova Scotia radio station.
A graduate in theater and engineering from the University of Toronto, he opted for theater and at the age of 22, left for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.
In the mid-1960s, he appeared in cult British series like “The Saint” and “Bowler Hat and Leather Boots”. Then he made his cinema debut in Italian horror films like “Castle of the Living Dead” (1964).
In 1967, he played his first major role given to him by Robert Aldrich in “The Dirty Twelve” with Charles Bronson. His slender silhouette, his absent air and his enigmatic smiles ensure his charisma and singularity.
Alan Pakula’s thriller “Klute” really launched him in 1971. He played a private detective in search of a perverse killer who threatens a call girl, Jane Fonda. With the latter, for a time his partner, they led several actions against the Vietnam War and they filmed the pacifist documentary “FTA”.
Whether he wears a bob and tinted glasses in the anti-militarist farce “MASH” (1970), a full mustache in the horror film “Invasion of the Defilers” (1979), the actor likes to make up his face. His appearance, with long hair, in “Johnny Goes to War” (1971) is no exception to the rule, since he plays no less than Jesus Christ.
Nicknamed “big daddy” at school, Donald Sutherland hardly has a Hollywood physique. “My nose leaves me skeptical, I hate my ears, I have a prominent jaw, bulging eyes, a horse grin,” he confided to the Canadian press.
However, in 1977, he played Fellini’s erotomaniac and baroque “Casanova”, which detected a disturbing sensuality in him. “Every day, he shaved the top of my head and my eyebrows, put on my fake nose. I was like his dog on a leash, he took me for walks and I loved it,” he told Libération. “I could have ended my career there.”
Old age brings him new roles such as that of President Snow, the cruel dictator of Panem, tormentor of Jennifer Lawrence in “The Hunger Games”.
At the star awarded to him at age 75 on Hollywood’s “Boulevard of Glory”, he said it was better than a tombstone.
“Growing old,” he confided to Esquire magazine, “is like having a new job but one you wouldn’t have chosen.”
Donald Sutherland had five children, three of whom were with Quebec actress Francine Racette, his third wife since 1972. He is notably the father of Kiefer Sutherland, the Jack Bauer of the spy series “24 Heures Chrono”.
