Canadian acting legend Donald Sutherland, whose career spanned more than seven decades, has died.Posting on Twitter (“X”), his son Kiefer said it was “with a heavy heart” to announce the passing of his father at the age of 88.The critically acclaimed Sutherland has been cited as one of the best actors to have never been nominated for an Academy Award, although several films he appeared in went on to win Oscars, including Ordinary People and crime thriller Klute in 1971..“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," he said. "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.".Sutherland, star of films including The Hunger Games and Animal House, died after what was described as a long illness..Sutherland also starred in films like The Dirty Dozen and Don’t Look Now. His breakout role was as Hawkeye Pierce, a surgeon in the original film version of MASH in the 1970s. The irony is that he was also a noted anti-war activist who drew the interest of the FBI and the CIA over his opposition to the Vietnam war.For over a half century, the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor memorably played villains, antiheroes, romantic leads and mentor figures.He had a memorable cameo in the 1978 hit film Animal House, playing a professor who is discovered having an affair with a student (Karen Allen). He took a small upfront fee for his work instead of an offered percentage of the profits, a choice that cost him an estimated USD$14 million..Another irony is that he suffered from several potentially life-threatening ailments as a child, including polio, rheumatic fever and hepatitis. In the 1970s, he contracted meningitis on a movie set in the former Yugoslavia and almost died.“I saw the blue tunnel, and I started going down it. I saw the white light. I dug my feet in,” he recalled in a 2012 interview. “It was incredibly tempting. You just go, 'Aw, s**t man, why not?’”.Sutherland was born 17 July 1935, in Saint John, New Brunswick of Scottish, German and English ancestry. He obtained is first job at age 14 as a news correspondent for local radio station CKBW.One of his first major appearances was in 1966’s The Saint featuring Roger Moore And over the years appeared in films as diverse as Invasion of the Body snatchers to The Eagle Has Landed and Oliver Stone’s JFK. He was one of the flagbearers in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.Sutherland was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1978. At one point in the 1960s he was married to Shirley Douglas, daughter of the late Tommy Douglas, with whom he has twins — Kiefer and Rachel.
