Donald Sutherland Born: Jul 17, 1934 in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada Occupation: Actor, Writer, Active: '60s-2000s Major Genres: Drama, Language & Literature Career Highlights: Six Degrees of Separation, Ordinary People, Don't Look Now First Major Screen Credit: The Bedford Incident (1965)
| Filmography | | NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE 1978 | | HEAVEN HELP US 1985 | | DIRTY DOZEN, THE 1967 | | KELLY'S HEROES 1970 | | JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN 1971 | | KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE, THE 1977 | | REVOLUTION 1985 | | EYE OF THE NEEDLE 1981 | | LOST ANGELS 1989 | | JFK 1991 | | LOCK UP 1989 | | INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS 1978 | | KLUTE 1971 | | WOLF AT THE DOOR 1986 | | BEAR ISLAND 1980 | | ROSARY MURDERS, THE 1987 | | APPRENTICE TO MURDER 1987 | | TROUBLE WITH SPIES, THE 1984 | | ORDINARY PEOPLE 1980 | | SHADOW OF THE WOLF 1992 | | MASH 1970 | | DISAPPEARANCE, THE 1977 | | QUICKSAND 1992 | | BACKDRAFT 1991 | | BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER 1992 | | RAILWAY STATION MAN, THE 1992 | | DR. BETHUNE 1993 | | SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION 1993 | | DISCLOSURE 1994 | | OUTBREAK 1994 | | RED HOT 1993 | | TIME TO KILL, A 1996 | | ASSIGNMENT, THE 1997 | | FALLEN 1997 | | WITHOUT LIMITS 1998 | | FREE MONEY 1999 | | HUNLEY, THE 1999 | | NATURAL ENEMY 1997 | | HOLLOW POINT 1995 | | FIRST GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, THE 1979 | | SPACE COWBOYS 2000 | | ART OF WAR, THE 2000 | | YOUNGER & YOUNGER 1995 | | PANIC 2000 | | FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN 2001 | | BIG SHOT'S FUNERAL 2002 | | BIG SHOT'S FUNERAL 2003 | | FELLINI: I'M A BORN LIAR 2003 | | PRIDE & PREJUDICE 2005 | | PATH TO WAR 2003 | | ASK THE DUST 2006 | | AMERICAN GUN 2006 | | AMERICAN HAUNTING, AN 2006 | | HUMAN TRAFFIKING 2006 | | AURORA BOREALIS 2006 | | FIERCE PEOPLE 2007 | | FOOL'S GOLD 2008 | | DIRTY SEXY MONEY: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON 2008 | | ASTRO BOY 2009 | | PUFFBALL 2008 |
|
65 Videos for Donald Sutherland
Photos
There are currently no photos.
Biography:
Certainly one of the most distinctive looking men ever to be granted the title of movie star, Donald Sutherland is an actor defined as much by his almost caricature-like features as his considerable talent. Tall, lanky and bearing perhaps the most enjoyably sinister face this side of Vincent Price, Sutherland made a name for himself in some of the most influential films of the 1970s and early '80s.
A native of Canada, Sutherland was born in New Brunswick on July 27, 1934. Raised in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, he took an early interest in the entertainment industry, becoming a radio DJ by the time he was fourteen. While an engineering student at the University of Toronto, he discovered his love for acting and duly decided to pursue theatrical training. An attempt to enroll at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art was thwarted, however, because of his size (6'4) and idiosyncratic looks. Not one to give up, Sutherland began doing British repertory theatre and getting acting stints on television series like The Saint.
In 1964 the actor got his first big break, making his screen debut in the Italian horror film Il Castello dei Morti Vivi (The Castle of the Living Dead). His dual role as a young soldier and an old hag was enough to convince various casting directors of a certain kind of versatility, and Sutherland was soon appearing in a number of remarkably schlocky films, including Dr. Terror's House of Horrors and Die! Die! Darling! (both 1965). A move into more respectable fare came in 1967, when Robert Aldrich cast him as a retarded killer in the highly successful The Dirty Dozen. By the early '70s, Sutherland had become something of a bonafide star, thanks to lead roles in films like Start the Revolution without Me and Robert Altman's MASH (both 1970). It was his role as Army surgeon Hawkeye Pierce in the latter film that gave the actor particular respect and credibility, and the following year he enhanced his reputation with a portrayal of the titular private detective in Alan J. Pakula's Klute.
It was during this period that Sutherland became something of an idol for a younger, counter culture audience, due to both the kind of roles he took and his own anti-war stance. Offscreen, he spent a great deal of time protesting the Vietnam War, and, with the participation of fellow protestor and Klute co-star Jane Fonda, made the anti-war documentary F.T.A. in 1972. He also continued his mainstream Hollywood work, enjoying success with films like Don't Look Now (1973), The Day of the Locust (1975), and Fellini's Casanova (1976). In 1978, he won a permanent place in the hearts and minds of slackers everywhere with his portrayal of a pot-smoking, metaphysics-spouting college professor in National Lampoon's Animal House.
After a starring role in the critically acclaimed Ordinary People (1980), Sutherland entered a relatively unremarkable phase of his career, appearing in one forgettable film after another. This phase continued for much of the decade, and didn't begin to change until 1989, when the actor won raves for his starring role in A Dry White Season and his title role in Bethune: The Making of a Hero. He spent the 1990s doing steady work in films of widely varying quality, appearing as the informant who cried conspiracy in JFK (1991), a Van Helsing-type figure in Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992), a wealthy New Yorker who gets taken in by con artist Will Smith in Six Degrees of Separation (1993), and a general in the virus thriller Outbreak (1995). In 1998, the actor did some of his best work in years (in addition to the made-for-TV Citizen X (1995), for which he won an Emmy and a Golden Globe) when he starred as a track coach in Without Limits, Robert Towne's biopic of runner Steve Prefontaine. In 2000, Sutherland enjoyed further critical and commerical success with Space Cowboys, an adventure drama that teamed the actor alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Clint Eastwood, and James Garner as geriatric astronauts who get another chance to blast into orbit.
Sutherland didn't pause as the new millennium began, continuing to contribute to several projects a year. He won a Golden Globe for his performance in the 2003 Vietnam era HBO film Path to War, and over the next few years appeared in high-profile films such as The Italian Job, Cold Mountain, and Pride and Prejudice, while continuing to spend time on smaller projects, like 2005's Aurora Borealis. The next year, Sutherland appeared with Mira Sorvino in the TV movie Human Trafficking, which tackled the frightening subject matter of modern day sexual slave trade. He also joined the cast of the new ABC series Commander in Chief, starring Geena Davis as the American vice president who assumes the role of commander in chief when the president dies. Sutherland's role as one of the old boys who is none too pleased to see a woman in the Oval Office earned him a Golden Globe nomination in 2006, as did his performance in Human Trafficking.
In 2006, Sutherland worked with Collin Farrell and Salma Hayek in one of screenwriter Robert Towne's rare ventures into film direction with Ask the Dust. Sutherland has also earned a different sort of recognition for his real-life role as the father of actor and sometimes tabloid fodder Kiefer Sutherland. The elder Sutherland named his son after producer Warren Kiefer, who gave him his first big break by casting him in Il Castello dei Morti Vivi. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide.
|
|
