Donald Sutherland is one of the most prolific and versatile of motion picture actors, with an astonishing resume of well over one hundred and thirty films, including such classics as Robert Aldrich’s “The Dirty Dozen;” Robert Altman’s “M*A*S*H;” John Schlesinger’s “The Day of the Locust;” Robert Redford’s “Ordinary People;” Bernardo Bertolucci’s “1900;” Philip Kaufman’s “Invasion of the Body Snatcher;” Nicolas Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now” with Julie Christie; Alan Pakula’s “Klute” with Jane Fonda; Federico Fellini’s “Fellini’s Casanova” and in Brian Hutton’s “Kelly’s Heroes” with Clint Eastwood, who later directed him in “Space Cowboys.”
Sutherland has appeared as Nicole Kidman’s father in Anthony Minghella’s “Cold Mountain,” as Charlize Theron’s father in F. Gary Gray’s “The Italian Job,” and as ‘Mr. Bennett,’ Keira Knightley’s father, in “Pride and Prejudice.” For the latter he received a Chicago Film Critics nomination.
Recently he starred in the highly-successful long form adaptation of Ken Follett’s best-seller, “The Pillars of the Earth;” in the Roman epic adventure, “The Eagle,” opposite Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell for director Kevin Macdonald; in Simon West’s “The Mechanic” with Jason Statham and Ben Foster; in Seth Gordon’s “Horrible Bosses” as Colin Farrell’s father; in Mary McGuckian’s “Man on the Train” with U2’s Larry Mullen, Jr.; and in a new film adaptation of “Moby Dick,” with William Hurt, Ethan Hawke and Gillian Anderson.
Sutherland’s other films include Paul Mazursky’s “Alex in Wonderland;” Dalton Trumbo’s “Johnny Got His Gun;” Bud Yorkin’s “Start the Revolutions Without Me;” John Sturges’ “The Eagle Has Landed;” Herbert Ross’ “Max Dugan Returns;” Louis Malle’s “Crackers;” Phillip Borsos’ “Bethune;” Oliver Stone’s “JFK;” Ron Howard’s “Backdraft;” Richard Marquand’s “Eye of the Needle;” Euzhan Palcy’s “A Dry White Season,” with Marlon Brando; Richard Pearce’s “Threshold,” for which he won the 1983 Genie Award as Best Actor; Fred Schepisi’s film adaptation of John Guare’s “Six Degrees of Separation;” Robert Towne’s “Without Limits;” and John Landis’ “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” in which he made a memorable cameo appearance. He has starred as the voice of ‘General Stone’ in the animated feature of the manga classic, “Astro Boy;” in Andy Tennant’s “Fool’s Gold;” in Griffin Dunne’s “Fierce People” with Diane Lane; in Robert Towne’s “Ask the Dust” with Salma Hayek and Colin Farrell; in “American Gun” with Forrest Whitaker; in “Am American Haunting” with Sissy Spacek; in “Land of the Blind” with Ralph Fiennes and in “Aurora Borealis” with Louise Fletcher and Juliette Lewis. He is part of a sterling ensemble of on-camera readers in the biographical feature on the life of Dalton Trumbo, “Trumbo.”
In television, Sutherland won both Emmy® and Golden Globe® awards as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the HBO film “Citizen X” and he won a Golden Globe® for his portrayal of Clark Clifford, advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson, in the HBO historical drama “Path To War,” directed by the late John Frankenheimer.
Sutherland co-starred with Peter Krause in the ABC-TV series “Dirty Sexy Money.” For his performance as the family patriarch, ‘Tripp Darling,’ he was nominated for a 2007 Golden Globe® as Best Supporting Actor. Prior to that, he co-starred with Geena Davis in the ABC drama series “Commander-In-Chief,” and was nominated for a Golden Globe® as Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of House Speaker, Nathan Templeton. At the same time, he was nominated for a Golden Globe® as Best Actor for his performance opposite Mira Sorvino in Lifetime Television’s much-lauded miniseries, “Human Trafficking.”
On stage, Sutherland starred with Justin Kirk and Julianna Margulies in a sold-out, critically acclaimed, Lincoln Center engagement of Jon Robin Baitz’s “Ten Unknowns.” For that performance he received an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Best Actor. He also starred in the London, Toronto and Los Angeles productions of “Enigmatic Variations,” an English language translation (by his son Roeg Sutherland) of Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s French play.
Donald Sutherland was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada in 1978 and an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres in France five years later.
Biography/Filmography courtesy of Lionsgate and The Hunger Games
