LAST UPDATE | 20 Jun 2024

CANADIAN ACTOR DONALD Sutherland, who starred in Kelly’s Heroes and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, has died at the age of 88.

In a statement, his agent CAA said: “Acclaimed actor Donald Sutherland died today in Miami, Florida, after a long illness. He was 88 years old.”

His son, actor Kiefer Sutherland, confirmed the news in a statement shared on social media. 

“With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away,” he wrote.

With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away. I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film. Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more… pic.twitter.com/3EdJB03KKT

— Kiefer Sutherland (@RealKiefer) June 20, 2024

“I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film. Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly.

“He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has remembered Sutherland as a “truly a great Canadian artist”. 

Speaking at a news conference after learning of his death, Trudeau said: “I had the opportunity when I was much younger to meet Donald Sutherland and even as a young man who hadn’t had a full exposure to the depth of brilliance of Donald Sutherland, I was deeply, deeply starstruck.

“He was a man with a strong presence, a brilliance in his craft, and truly a great Canadian artist and he will be deeply missed.

“My thoughts go out to Kiefer and the entire Sutherland family, as well as all Canadians who are no doubt saddened to learn as I am right now.”

British actress Helen Mirren, who appeared alongside Sutherland in 2017’s The Leisure Seeker, following their 1990 drama Bethune: The Making Of A Hero, said he was “one of the smartest actors I ever worked with”. 

“He combined this great intelligence with a deep sensitivity, and with a seriousness about his profession as an actor,” Mirren said.

“This all made him into the legend of film that he became. He was my colleague and became my friend. I will miss his presence in this world.”

Oscar-winning US actor Michael Douglas, who starred in 1994 film Disclosure alongside Sutherland and Demi Moore, shared a picture of the pair together on Instagram.

“What a lovely, talented, and curious man. RIP Donald Sutherland,” he wrote.

Donald Sutherland’s breakout role was as Hawkeye Pierce, the wisecracking surgeon in the satirical war film M*A*S*H in 1970.

He went on to star in a variety of roles, including in the psychological horror Don’t Look Now (1973), war thriller The Eagle Has Landed (1976) and the comedy Animal House (1978).

He also played mysterious Mr X in Oliver Stone’s JFK (1991), slayer trainer Merrick Jamison-Smythe in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) and Mr Bennet in the 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Sutherland won a Golden Globe for the television movie Path To War (2002) and another gong along with an Emmy Award for the the mini-series Citizen X (1995).

In 2017, he received an Academy Honorary Award for his acting.

His most recent roles included The Hunger Games film franchise as dictator president Coriolanus Snow, and as a judge in the 2023 TV show Lawmen: Bass Reeves.

With reporting by Press Association