Hollywood legend Donald Sutherland has died at the age of 88 after “a life well lived”, his son, Kiefer Sutherland announced on Thursday.
Keifer who is also an actor and Emmy Award winner said his father, who died in Miami, Florida after a long illness was “one of the most important actors in the history of film”.
Kiefer Sutherland took to X to pay tribute to 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,” Kiefer wrote.
Donald Sutherland’s agency, CAA, also shared the news. “Acclaimed actor Donald Sutherland died today (Thursday) in Miami, Florida, after a long illness. He was 88 years old,” it said in a statement.
Born in Canada, Sutherland moved to London in 1957 and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
It was in Britain that his career first took off with small roles in West End productions and on the small screen.
His big break in the US came in 1967 when he secured a role in Robert Aldrich’s 1967 World War II drama The Dirty Dozen.
But it was his roles in Kelly’s Heroes and the Korean War Comedy M*A*S*H that catapulted Sutherland to stardom.
Donald Sutherland’s career spanned more than six decades with roles in films ranging from M*A*S*H in 1970 to ‘Don’t Look Now’ alongside Julie Christie in 1973 and ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ and National Lampoon’s ‘Animal House,’ both released in 1978.
His later roles included ‘JFK’ in 1991, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ in 2005, and ‘The Hunger Games’ series from 2012 to 2015.
He also won an Emmy for his supporting role in the hit 1990s mini-series ‘Citizen X.’
Despite notching up around 200 film and TV credits in his lengthy career, he did not win a major award for any of his film roles but was presented with an honorary Oscar in 2017.
Off-screen, Sutherland suffered several severe illnesses, including polio, rheumatic fever, hepatitis, pneumonia, and scarlet fever.
In 1968, he contracted spinal meningitis which left him in a coma.
“They didn’t have the antibiotics, so I went into a coma, and they tell me that for a few seconds, I died,” he once told an interviewer.
“I saw the blue tunnel, and I started going down it. I saw the white light. I dug my feet in. I passionately love to work,” Sutherland told TV interviewer Charlie Rose in 1998.
“I love to feel my hand fit into the glove of some other character. I feel a huge freedom – time stops for me. I’m not as crazy as I used to be, but I’m still a little crazy.”
The actor’s memoir, ‘Made Up, But Still True,’ was scheduled to be published in November.
Sutherland is survived by his wife, Francine Racette, sons Roeg, Rossif, Angus, and Kiefer; daughter Rachel, and four grandchildren.
