Donald Sutherland (1935-2024)

[MichaelB]

Donald Sutherland.

[flyonthewall2983]

Outtakes from his 60 Minutes piece, showing his relationship to the camera that made so much of his work effective. Even in lesser appreciated work he stuck out for sure.

[domino harvey]

Donald Sutherland.

Insane that he never was nominated for a competitive Oscar. I was also raised on his narration for the TLC series Great Books, but of course who wouldn’t want Sutherland to talk them through classics of literature

Also a Top 5 Best Simpsons guest star

[beamish14]

Not just a great actor, but someone who truly cared about problems in the world, and wasn’t afraid to risk his career for standing up for what’s right. I love how he went after former Canadian PM Stephen Harper some years back for attempting to prevent Canadians living abroad from voting in federal elections

[Drucker]

A few years ago on Twitter I saw a video clip of him getting booed by children at the Kids Choice Awards from a generation that mostly knew him from Hunger Games. Does anyone have that clip? The only one I can find now is a different one from the Teens Choice Awards.

[therewillbeblus]

So many great roles and performances, though my first recall is always his lone Little Murders scene (for which he should have been nominated)

[TechnicolorAcid]

Fantastic actor who gave one of my favorite performances in Don’t Look Now and by pure chance I was listening to Cloudbusting by Kate Bush literally yesterday and the music video just so happened to star Sutherland which is very much worth a watch.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pllRW9wETzw

[Fiery Angel]

the "Cloudbusting" video was the first thing I thought of today when I heard the sad news

[colinr0380]

Insane that he never was nominated for a competitive Oscar.

Especially since it feels that everyone else got nominated for their work in Ordinary People, including the film itself winning Best Picture!

I think the first films I saw him in as a kid was the partner in crime with Sean Connery in Michael Crichton's film The First Great Train Robbery. And then of course getting traumatised in my teens by his unforgettable sign off in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (spoiler) (I think that final zoom in is what caused my so far lifelong suspicion of moustaches!)

So many great performances and work for interesting directors. Along with Altman's MASH he's also good amongst the wider ensemble cast of The Dirty Dozen (and Clint Eastwood's Space Cowboys); turns up in a Ken Russell film (the Ipcress File sequel Billion Dollar Brain); and worked with Chabrol in the Canadian-set Blood Relatives. Some weirder things I want to highlight is that he played the proto-Giles character later played by Anthony Head in the TV series back in the 1992 film version of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and he also turns up amongst the inexplicably filled with character actor voice cast (including Steve Buscemi, James Woods and Jean Simmons!) of that Square Enix CGI film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (plus he's in the 2009 Astro Boy film!)

In terms of horror films, I'd really love for The Rosary Murders to get rediscovered (I'm a big fan of Fred Walton and we really need someone (like Arrow) to bring out a boxset of his films including this and the great Kathleen Quinlan TV movie Trapped). The Puppet Masters from 1994 is a fun alien invasion film that really plays on Sutherland's Body Snatchers infamy. And whilst I am not the biggest fan of 1999 sci-fi horror film Virus (mostly because it brutalises Jamie Lee Curtis's character to the extent that it ends up just not being that much fun to watch!) that does feature a memorably unhinged Sutherland performance! And he's again part of the big ensemble cast of the Denzel Washington film about a body hopping serial killer Fallen (which again plays on the Body Snatcher-style paranoia about who is currently the vessel for the spirit)

Though its a tough call for his best role between MASH, Don't Look Now, Six Degrees of Separation (again part of an ensemble. And that's the one Criterion should go for!) and his appearance in Kentucky Fried Movie!

[Mr. Deltoid]

His role in Klute is perhaps one of the most impassive performances ever, but absolutely essential. R.I.P The Don.

[charal]

I just watched ALEX IN WONDERLAND last night.

[domino harvey]

I’ll rep a Sutherland film I feel like I’m the only one to like, FTA, a documentary on the alt-USO entertainment show he and Jane Fonda led during Vietnam (Fuck The Army). Kino put it out on Blu, add it to your next sale order!

[bdsweeney]

While equally renowned for his villains, it's his ability to convey such humanity and (I'm struggling for the correct word here) domesticity where he played a husband, a father, a partner that replay most strongly in my mind. Truely sad news, I will miss his screen presence enormously.

[domino harvey]

For non-Americans (I’m not sure if these ever aired anywhere but the states), here’s a collection of all of Sutherland’s unforgettably smooth orange juice commercials

[bdsweeney]

For non-Americans (I’m not sure if these ever aired anywhere but the states), here’s a collection of all of Sutherland’s unforgettably smooth orange juice commercials

"Good morning, oranges."

[thirtyframesasecond]

A terrific actor who always made his mark in everything he starred in. Before his film fame he was a reliable actor in all sorts of British cult TV like The Champions and The Avengers. I also liked the fact his kids are all named after directors he'd worked with.

[flyonthewall2983]

I thought he was bone-chilling in Backdraft, I can’t think of many movies I saw where he was the villain but as a side character in that one scene where his character is up for parole and Robert De Niro as the fire investigator taunts him is maybe the best scene in the whole movie for me.

He did two movies with Clint Eastwood, it’s kind of a shame he never got to be an antagonist to him, it would have made for an interesting dynamic if that kind of deeply dark performance was up against Dirty Harry.