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| 1935-2024 |
Acting is not about being someone different. It's finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.
--Donald Sutherland
MASH (1970)
Klute (1971)
Don't Look Now (1973)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Ordinary People (1980)
JFK (1991)
Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
The Hunger Games (2012)
A great actor!
ReplyDeleteMitchell, I chose the comment that I did because Sutherland in fact DID seem to play a lot of different characters, but made them uniquely his own. In other words, I can't imagine anyone else playing those characters.
DeleteSutherland's Hawkeye is certainly not Alan Alda's Hawkeye (and Alda, another great actor, was wise not to attempt an imitation.)
A long and distinguished career. One of Canada's greatest actors. RIP
ReplyDeleteDebra, I see that your post office put him on a stamp last year.
DeleteYes, and Donald Sutherland publicized his Quebec address so Canadians could send him postcards with his own stamp on it. He was deluged! I tried to buy a booklet of his stamps but they were in such demand that it was impossible. Canada Post just recently re-released them and I'm sure they've all been snapped up again as well.
DeletePinkley: [impersonating a General] Where are you from, son?
ReplyDeleteSoldier: Madison City, Missouri, sir!
Pinkley: Never heard of it.
Hi, Kirk!
This one hurts, good buddy. Me thinks the quintessential body snatcher, The Reaper, pulled the plug on the wrong Donald.
I truly admired Donald Sutherland both as an actor and a person. The Dirty Dozen is one of my favorite movies. I have watched it at least a dozen times over the years and Sutherland's oddball Pinkley character is the role I first thought about yesterday when I learned of his death. Sutherland was sensational in his breakthrough starring role in M*A*S*H. He delivered a touching, honest, realistic performance opposite equally brilliant MTM in Ordinary People, another favorite film of mine, as the father and husband trying to hold his dysfunctional family together. Mrs. Shady #1 and I saw Klute when it first hit theaters. I have watched Animal House at least a dozen times over the years. I saw the Body Snatchers remake around the time of its release. Mrs. Shady #2 and I have watched JFK at least three times by now, and are always enthralled by Sutherland's compelling speech in the Oliver Stone film.
As son Kiefer noted, Donald Sutherland was one of the most important actors of the 20th century. He left behind an impressive body of work. Thank you for paying tribute to this great man and for posting some of his most memorable performances.
Shady, when Ordinary People came out there was much praise for Mary Tyler Moore's acting, and she certainly deserved that praise, as did Timothy Hutton in his breakout role, but I felt that Sutherland's understated performance as the perplexed father trying to hold his family together in fact held the movie as a whole together. As for his character in JFK, it was Deep Throat with a human (and non-shadowy) face.
DeleteA wonderful actor. RIP Donald.
ReplyDeleteAnanka, I've always liked Sutherland and always looked forward to seeing him in a movie, but I had forgotten just how good he was until I compiled all these clips.
DeleteMy husband read that he was adored by all who knew him. :D His character in "Kelly's Heroes" has to be my most favorite of all. Rest his soul.
ReplyDeleteDarla, his character was pretty funny in Kelly's Heroes (Don Rickles plays straight man to him at one point), but then what hippie in a World War II setting wouldn't be?
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