Over the course of his career, Donald Sutherland has appeared in more than 150 movies and TV shows. Despite this and the fact that he is 85 years old, he still works extremely hard to pursue his passion for movies.
Of course, he is not the only member of his family to have a successful career in the entertainment industry; his son is also a legitimate Hollywood celebrity.
Few performers have the ability to command the stage without playing the lead. Donald Sutherland, on the other hand, is one who can.
The Canadian actor has more than 60 years of experience in the industry and has worked with some of the world’s biggest actors in both TV shows and movies, playing roles large and small.
However, Donald Sutherland is not the only celebrity in his family. Along with other family members, his son Kiefer Sutherland and granddaughter Sarah Jude Sutherland have established themselves as first-rate actresses.
One of the best actors to originate from Canada is Donald Sutherland. However, he had a difficult upbringing.
Donald experienced polio as a young child and even missed part of the fourth grade due to rheumatic illness. He acknowledged having a child-like obsession with dying.
I was between the ages of six and ten. Sutherland admitted, “I was obsessed with not knowing what occurred after you passed away.
And I spent a whole day trying to figure it out while sitting or kneeling against a wall. But I was unable to, so I merely replied, “Okay.” After then, there was nothing. I’m packing a change of underpants just in case, as Woody Allen puts it. You see, I don’t believe in God.
Even as Donald grew older and developed large ears, his peers continued to refer to him as Dumbo because of his size.
Donald Sutherland had a painful question for his mother to answer when he turned 16.
He told 60 Minutes, “And I went to her and I said, ‘Mom, am I good looking?’” “My mother said, ‘Your face has character, Donald,’ as she turned to face me. I then went and spent at least a day hiding in my room.
Donald Sutherland’s anxiety before starting college was understandable. He continued his education after graduating from Bridgewater High School by attending Victoria University and then the University of Toronto.
At this time in his life, Donald realized what he really wanted to do. He performed in a number of plays while a student, and in the early 1960s, he began to find work in both film and television.
He immediately stood out as having a great acting talent at his first audition.
“The author told me, ‘You did such a great job. We felt you were absolutely fantastic, the producer added. Sutherland recalls, “We all wanted to contact you at once and tell you why we weren’t casting you.
“And he said, ‘No. No. No. We must admit that we have always viewed this man as sort of a guy next door type of guy, which is why we are not casting you. To tell you the truth, we don’t believe you appear to have ever lived next door to anyone. No. But, as you may know, it’s my life’s narrative.
Despite the possibility that someone else would have won the position, Donald Sutherland managed to amass a sizable body of work in the entertainment industry throughout the course of his career.
He initially played two characters in one scene, a soldier and a witch, in Castle of the Living Dead (1964). He appeared in that alongside Christopher Lee, a well-known actor.
After playing a few bit parts in television shows and motion pictures, Donald Sutherland would shortly make his breakthrough. He was married to Lois Hardwick, a child actor from the 1920s, at the time, but in 1966 he met his second wife and landed a significant job.
By chance, his large ears started to draw attention once more. Donald Sutherland, though, was the one who had the final laugh this time.
In the World War II Dirty Dozen, Sutherland’s role as Vernon Pinkley wasn’t supposed to be significant. All of that changed, however, when one of the key actors informed director Bob Aldrich that he would not be participating in a particular scene.
“And Bob Aldrich looked at him like that. You with the enormous ears, you do it, he said after that. He might not have known my name. But you know, I. Sutherland remarked, “It transformed my life.
Hollywood producers had the chance to see Sutherland’s star potential thanks to his part in Dirty Dozen. Shortly after his participation in the movie, Sutherland landed another role that catapulted him to the top of the celebrity food chain.
He appeared in the 1970 film M*A*S*H, which went on to become a massive franchise. The success of the film at the box office is evidence of how much the audience loved it.
In terms of M*A*S*H, it didn’t matter that there wasn’t the same PR apparatus surrounding movies and movie stars as there is now.
Sutherland described his enormous reaction to the movie’s premiere in an interview with Esquire.
On the first day M*A*S*H premiered, he recounted, “I remember going up to the theater in New York around eleven o’clock in the morning.”
As there was no advertising at the time, only one screening in San Francisco two months prior provided the only word of mouth. We arrived at the theater early to check if any tickets would be available. The line wrapped around the block twice.
Sutherland was given a part in Kelly’s Heroes in the same year, 1970. Because of all the unusual parts he was getting, it practically made him an icon in Hollywood.
However, playing strange roles doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. Sutherland adopted new actions in order to play new characters, therefore it was a step in the right direction for him.
The now 85-year-old actor has had a more than 50-year career and continues to excel as an actor today. He has collaborated with some of the biggest stars in cinema over the years.
He co-starred with Jane Fonda in Klute (1971), and he also had a supporting role in Robert Redford’s 1980 film Ordinary People.
He costarred with Helen Mirren as Canadian doctor Norman Bethune in the 1990 movie Bethune: The Making of a Hero. Donald and Helen once again portrayed a married couple in 2017’s The Leisure Seeker.
She is outstanding. Among all the people I’ve worked with, Helen Mirren and Jennifer Lawrence have most astonished me with their brilliance, according to Sutherland.
“Those two are astonishing in their intelligence, wit, and skill. I adore Helen in every way, including the way she acts during interviews or press conferences. Helen is a master at everything she does in her industry.
One could imagine that Donald Sutherland’s home would be covered in Oscars and other significant honors. But in reality, he hasn’t actually won all that many.
Sutherland has received seven Golden Globe nominations and two wins, but he didn’t receive the lovely golden statue until 2018. In the end, he was given a prize that meant far more than just for his work in a particular film.
He received the “Honorary Award” from the Academy for his lifetime of contributions to the movie industry.
We were filming Trust, and Francine Racette, my wife, and I were sitting on the balcony of this tiny hotel room close to the Piazza del Popolo; it was a lovely location. When the phone rang, I answered it and said, “Hello,” realizing that it was the Academy phoning even though I don’t typically take up calls from unknown numbers. Sutherland thought back.
“I’m phoning to congratulate you,” he added. We sat there as he spoke with my wife, at which point she turned to face me and stated, “We need to lose weight.”
Donald Sutherland received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in January 2011.
Donald Sutherland and his second wife Shirley Douglas had twins Rachel and Kiefer Sutherland, who unfortunately departed unexpectedly in April of this year (born in 1966).
Kiefer has established himself as a top actor, and Rachel has participated in a number of TV programs.
However, they didn’t learn much about their father’s activities as they were growing up.
At an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kiefer Sutherland said, “I was too young to go see my father’s movie in the theater. When I turned 20, VHS was a common format, and my father’s buddy had a large collection of his movies. I watched Don’t Look Now, Klute, MASH, Kelly’s Heroes, 1900, and Fellini’s Casanova over the course of three days. It was such a diverse range of characters, and I recall phoning him up and feeling terrible that I had grown up not realizing what a truly unique actor he was. As a young actor, I had never encountered or seen another actor portray such a wide range of roles.
I confessed to him the night before we started shooting, and he admitted the same thing back. “I don’t think I’ve ever been that scared creating a picture,” Kiefer replied.
“That alone was worth the price of admission,” the speaker said, “because it was the most time I’ve been able to spend with my father since I was three.”
Donald Sutherland, who was then married to Shirley Douglas, allegedly had a love affair with Jane Fonda in 1970 while they were co-stars in the suspense film Klute.
“We had not yet begun filming, despite having previously been cast. And one day, Fonda made it crystal apparent that I should accompany her home with a somewhat provocative suggestion. And I simply answered, “OK,”” he continued.
Son Kiefer described the moment when his father had the affair with Fonda in an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine.
He affirms that he had no knowledge. Kiefer Sutherland responded, “No, but he’d probably say, “I fell in love.”
“I realize that. Folks do. It’s also incredibly challenging to assess someone when they are in love because they have this kind of heightened experience where they believe in everything so deeply and passionately.
With almost 150 films and TV shows to his credit, Donald Sutherland continues to be one of Hollywood’s hardest workers.
So when will he retire from his job and just live a tranquil life?
I try not to imagine too much, he said, adding that he does imagine dying.
I can picture myself dead, but when I do, I think about my wife and realize that I never want to be apart from her.