LOS ANGELES, June 21 — With his towering height and a brooding expression that veered from menacing to hilarious and heartbroken, Donald Sutherland was Hollywood’s chameleon, equally at home in war, love, horror — or playing for laughs. In a dense filmography spanning six decades, Sutherland stood out for his unusual — even odd — looks and an incredible range of roles, working alongside several of the greatest directors of his time. The Canadian-born actor — who has died at age 88, his son Kiefer said Thursday — had many standout roles, from an army surgeon in wartime comedy M*A*S*H (1970) to a tyrannical leader in The Hunger Games more than 30 years later.
Other memorable characters include a private detective entangled with a call girl in suspense thriller Klute (1971), the mythical seductor in Casanova (1976) and a pot-smoking professor in National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978). “Canada’s greatest export,” Britain’s Daily Telegraph once called him. “One of the most versatile film and television actors of the century,” Variety said.
Sutherland’s inner circle consisted of equally familiar screen faces, from his former partner Jane Fonda to his son Kiefer, himself an actor best known for the drama series 24 . Ugly? No. ‘Unattractive’ Born on July 17, 1935 in New Brunswick, northeastern Canada, Donald Edward McNichol Sutherland was a sickly child, suffering from hepatitis, polio and rheumatic fever.
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