Actor Donald Sutherland appears at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Oct. 13, 2017. Sutherland, the towering Canadian actor whose career spanned "M.A.S.H." to "The Hunger Games," has died at 88.Chris Pizzello/The Associated Press
Donald Sutherland has died, says his son and actor Kiefer Sutherland on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away,” he wrote in a post Thursday afternoon.
The New Brunswick-born actor played offbeat characters like Hawkeye Pierce in Robert Altman’s M.A.S.H., the hippie tank commander in Kelly’s Heroes and the stoned professor in Animal House.
More recently, he starred in the Hunger Games films and the HBO limited series The Undoing. He never retired and worked regularly up until his death.
Actors Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould in Robert Altman's 1970 film M.A.S.H.Bettmann/Getty Images
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“I love to work. I passionately love to work,” Sutherland told 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.”
He had strong East Canadian roots, as he was born in Saint John, N.B., and grew up in Bridgewater, N.S.
He received an honourary Oscar in 2017 and has a memoir coming out in November this year, reflecting on his life of nearly 90 years and his 60-year career in Hollywood. Crown, his publisher, said earlier this year that Sutherland’s Made Up, But Still True will be published Nov. 12.
Obituary: Donald Sutherland was cinema’s Canadian chameleon
Reaction to Sutherland’s death
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sutherland was “truly a great Canadian artist” who will be deeply missed. Trudeau was asked about Sutherland’s passing at a news conference in Westville, N.S., shortly after the news broke.
He recalled meeting the actor when he was much younger and feeling “deeply, deeply starstruck.”
Trudeau said Sutherland was a man with “a strong presence” and “a brilliance in his craft.”
He added his thoughts are with the Sutherland family and all Canadians who are saddened to learn of his death.
“He was a man with a strong presence, a brilliance in his craft and truly a great Canadian artist. He will be deeply missed,” Trudeau said.
Director Ron Howard recalled working with Sutherland decades ago. “One of the most intelligent, interesting & engrossing film actors of all time,” he wrote on X.
Filmmaker Edgar Wright remembered him as an “always fascinating screen presence.”
“So sorry to see you go Donald, but what a legacy you leave behind,” Wright wrote.
Singer Nancy Sinatra posted: “This hurts.”
Actor Helen Mirren, who co-starred with Sutherland in 2017′s The Leisure Seekers, said in a statement: “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.”
Jon Cassar, who directed both Donald and Kiefer Sutherland in 2015′s Forsaken, via X: “We lost a legend, a journeyman actor that created unique and believable characters every time he stepped in front of the camera.”
Author Margaret Atwood wrote on social media that she remembered Sutherland from their time at Victoria College at the University of Toronto.
“He was a great actor even then,” she wrote on X.
With reports by The Canadian Press and Associated Press