FILE – Donald Sutherland appears at the Oscars in Los Angeles on March 4, 2018. Sutherland, the towering Canadian actor whose career spanned “M.A.S.H.” to “The Hunger Games,” has died at 88.
| Photo Credit: JORDAN STRAUSS
Famous fans, colleagues, and family pay tribute to actor Donald Sutherland, the star of MASH*, Klute, and The Hunger Games, who died Thursday at age 88.
“Donald was a giant, not only physically but as a talent. He was also enormously kind and generous. … It’s never easy losing the caliber of a human being and actor like Donald Sutherland, but this one really profoundly hurts because Donald was like my brother, and a big part of my own career,” said Sutherland’s MASH* co-star Elliott Gould, in a statement to The Associated Press.
Actor and Sutherland’s son, Kiefer Sutherland took to X to announced the news of his father’s passing. “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.”
“I was blessed to direct him in #Backdraft. One of the most intelligent, interesting & engrossing film actors of all time. Incredible range, creative courage & dedication to serving the story & the audience with supreme excellence.” wrote American director and film producer Ron Howard on X.
“Donald Sutherland was one of the smartest actors I ever worked with. He had a wonderful enquiring brain, and a great knowledge on a wide variety of subjects. He combined this great intelligence with a deep sensitivity, and with a seriousness about his profession as an actor. This all made him into the legend of film that he became,” said actor Helen Mirren, who co-starred with Sutherland in 2017’s The Leisure Seekers, in a statement.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid tribute to Sutherland on X, calling him “a remarkable, legendary actor and a great Canadian.”
“Donald was a brilliant actor and a complex man who shared quite a few adventures with me, such as the FTA Show, an anti-Vietnam war tour that performed for 60,000 active duty soldiers, sailors, and marines in Hawaii, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Japan in 1971. I am heartbroken,” wrote Jane Fonda, who was Sutherland’s co-star in the 1971 film Klute, on Instagram.
“No words. He was too important,” said former New York Times film critic Janet Maslin, on X.
Director Edgar Wright wrote on Instagram, “He starred in two of my very favourite and most influential films — Don’t Look Now and the 1978 Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers. But that is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of his legendary filmography. He was a funny, laconic, but also intense and dramatic presence in so many memorable movies.”
“It was my honor to work with him many years ago, and I will never forget his charisma and ability. If you want a master class in acting, watch him in Ordinary People.” wrote actor Rob Lowe, who appeared with Sutherland in the 2004 miniseries Salem’s Lot, via X.
“aww man. farewell, Donald Sutherland,” wrote actor Elijah Wood on X.
“We lost a legend, a journeyman actor that created unique and believable characters every time he stepped in front of the camera,” said Jon Cassar, who directed both Donald and Kiefer Sutherland in 2015’s Forsaken, via X.
