Donald Sutherland, legendary actor whose career spanned from 'MASH' to 'Hunger Games,' dies at 88 | Hollywood

NEW YORK — Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, whose sarcastic, charming and absurd presence dominated the screen for more than half a century, from “MASH” to “The Hunger Games,” has died. He was 88.

Sutherland died Thursday in Miami after a long illness, according to a statement from the Creative Artists Agency, which represented him.

Kiefer Sutherland said on X that he believed his father was one of the most important actors in film history: “Never afraid of any role, whether it was good, bad or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved, and nobody can ask for more than that.”

The tall and lanky Sutherland, whose smile could be sweet or devilish, was known for such offbeat characters as Hawkeye Pierce in Robert Altman's “MASH,” the hippie tank commander in “Kelly's Heroes” and the drunken professor in “Animal House.”

“Donald was a giant, not only physically, but in talent as well,” Sutherland's “MASH” co-star Elliott Gould said in a statement to The Associated Press, while many paid tribute to him. “He was also very kind and generous.”

Sutherland epitomized the unpredictable, anti-establishment cinema of the 1970s, before entering a long career as a respected character actor. He never stopped working, starring in nearly 200 films and series.

Over the decades, Sutherland showed his ability in more restrained — but still eccentric — roles in Robert Redford's “Ordinary People” and Oliver Stone's “JFK.” Most recently, he starred in the “Hunger Games” films.

A memoir, “Made Up, But Still True,” is due out in November.

“I love working. I love working passionately,” Sutherland told Charlie Rose in 1998. “I love feeling like my hand fits into another character's glove. I feel a great freedom – time stops for me. I'm not as crazy as I used to be, but I'm still a little crazy.”

Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Donald McNichol Sutherland was the son of a salesman and a math teacher. Raised in Nova Scotia, he was a disc jockey with his own radio station at age 14.

“When I was 13 or 14, I really thought everything I felt was wrong and dangerous, and God would kill me for it,” Sutherland told The New York Times in 1981. “My father always said, 'Keep your mouth shut, Donnie, and maybe people will think you have character.'”

Sutherland began as an engineering student at the University of Toronto, but later took up the English language and began acting in school theatrical productions. While studying he met Lois Hardwick, an aspiring actress. They married in 1959, but divorced seven years later.

After graduating in 1956, Sutherland enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art to study acting. He began acting in West End plays and British television. After moving to Los Angeles, a series of war films changed his direction.

His breakthrough was “The Dirty Dozen”, in which he played Vernon Pinkley, a psychopathic officer impersonating a police officer. 1970 saw the release of the World War II-based “Kelly's Heroes” and “MASH”, the latter a smash hit that catapulted Sutherland to stardom.

“Character roles have greater challenges,” Sutherland told The Washington Post in 1970. “There's longevity. A good character actor can show a different face in every movie and not bore the public.”

Had Sutherland had his way, Altman would have been fired from “MASH.” He was unhappy with the director's unconventional, improvised style. But the film gained more popularity than anyone expected.

Sutherland recognized its anti-war message. Outspoken against the Vietnam War, she founded the Free Theatre Associates in 1971 with actress Jane Fonda and others. After being banned by the military because of her political views, she performed at venues near military bases in Southeast Asia in 1973.

“I thought I'd be part of a revolution that would change movies and its effect on people,” Sutherland told the Los Angeles Times.

His career as a leading man peaked in the 1970s, when he starred in films by the era's top directors – even if he didn't always do his best work with them. Sutherland, who often said he considered himself in service to a director's vision, worked with Federico Fellini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Claude Chabrol and John Schlesinger.

His best-known performance was as a detective in Alan Pakula's “Klute.” During filming he met Fonda, with whom he had a three-year relationship that began at the end of his second marriage to actor Shirley Douglas. She and Douglas divorced in 1971 after having twins: Rachel and Kiefer, named after Warren Kiefer, the writer of Sutherland's first film, “Castle of the Living Dead.”

Nicolas Roeg's psychological horror film “Don't Look Now” was also a great film. Sutherland starred alongside Julie Christie as a grieving couple who move to Venice after the death of their daughter. The film contained a famous, explicit sex scene, which was artfully edited.

Sutherland once said, “Nick and I thought I might die in the process, because we were so committed.” Such was his admiration for the film and for Roeg that he and his next wife, actress Francine Racette, named their first-born child Roeg.

Sutherland married Racette in 1972 and remained with her. She survived Racette. They had two more children: Rossif, named after director Frederic Rossif; and Angus Redford, named after Redford.

Robert Redford's “Ordinary People” was also the story of the death of a child. His directorial debut, in which Sutherland played the father of a family devastated by the tragedy, won four Oscars, including best picture.

Sutherland was never nominated for an Academy Award, but received an honorary Oscar in 2017. He won an Emmy in 1995 for the TV movie “Citizen X” and won two Golden Globes for “Citizen X” and the 2003 TV movie “Path to War.”

However, Sutherland's New York stage debut in 1981 went poorly. He played Humbert Humbert in Edward Albee's adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's “Lolita,” and the reviews were unkind; it closed after a dozen performances. A slump followed in the '80s, with failures such as the 1981 satirical film “Gas” and the 1984 comedy “Crackers.”

But Sutherland kept working steadily and even started doing television work, most memorably on HBO’s “Path to War,” in which he played President Lyndon Johnson’s defense secretary Clark Clifford.

After son Kiefer became a star, Sutherland appeared in several films with him, including the 1996 thriller “A Time to Kill” and 2015’s “Forsaken.” But he turned down the chance to play the father on the hit series “24.”

To younger generations, Sutherland was best known as President Snow in the original 2012 film “The Hunger Games.” Sutherland sought out the role.

“There was maybe one line in the script for playing the president. Maybe two. It didn't matter,” Sutherland told GQ. “I thought it was a very important movie, and I wanted to be a part of it.”

In his final years, the actor constantly wondered if he might actually die on screen.

“I'm really hoping that I die in the movie that I'm doing – but I die, me, Donald – and they get to use my funeral and my coffin,” Sutherland said. “That would be absolutely ideal. I would love that.”

Associated Press writers Andrew Dalton and Kaitlin Huamani contributed from Los Angeles.

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