The Canadian actor Donald Sutherland has passed away, 88 years old.
"He loved what he did and did what he loved, more can no one ask for", writes son Kiefer on social media.
Sutherland got his breakthrough in films like "12 condemned men" (1967) and "Mash" (1970) and is in later years known as the evil president in "The Hunger Games" films.
In between, he has played everything from Casanova in "Fellini's Casanova", via private detective in the thriller "Klute – a smart snout" to grieving father in the Oscar-winning "A family like any other". He has been praised for his great breadth and has received several awards, including two Golden Globes.
"Heavy heart"
"It is with a heavy heart that I announce that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away", writes son and colleague Kiefer Sutherland on X, and adds:
"Personally, I see him as one of the most significant actors in film history. No role intimidated him, neither good, evil nor ugly."
During the 1960s, Sutherland struggled with roles in several low-budget films before he got the chance in "12 condemned men". He has himself told that he initially only had one single line in the film, but that he by chance got a more prominent role when a colleague refused to take on a scene.
Politically active
Director Robert Aldrich, who had at least authoritarian traits, turned to me - who, like the others, was shaggy-haired - and said "You with the big ears! You'll take it!" He didn't even know what I was called, said Sutherland in an interview with The Guardian 2005.
But it was in the acclaimed war film "Mash" that Sutherland got his real breakthrough. The film is set during the Korean War but came to be seen as a satire over the ongoing Vietnam War.
Sutherland sympathised with the film's anti-war message and together with Jane Fonda – with whom he started a relationship when they played opposite each other in "Klute" – engaged in the movement against the Vietnam War. During a period, the couple was put on the authorities' surveillance list due to their activism.
