"I have never planned anything. I have been doing this job for over fifty years. I have been paid to work with some wonderful people and it has been a huge gift, to me."
Donald McNichol Sutherland CC (born 17 July 1935 in Saint John, New Brunswick) is one of the most prolific and acclaimed Canadian actors of all time, with a career spanning more than sixty years.
He is the father of Kiefer Sutherland.
Partial filmography:
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Film roles
- The Castle of the Living Dead (1964) as Sgt. Paul/The Witch/The Old Man
- Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) as Dr. Bob Carroll
- The Bedford Incident (1965) as Hospitalman Nerney
- Promise Her Anything (1966) as Autograph-Seeking Father (uncredited)
- Billion Dollar Brain (1967) as Scientist at Computer
- The Dirty Dozen (1967) as Vernon L. Pinkley
- Oedipus the King (1968) as Chorus Leader
- M*A*S*H (1970) as Capt. "Hawkeye" Pierce
- Start the Revolution Without Me (1970) as Charles/Pierre
- Kelly's Heroes (1970) as Sgt. Oddball
- Johnny Got His Gun (1971) as Christ
- Klute (1971) as John Klute
- Don't Look Now (1973) as John Baxter
- The Day of the Locust (1975) as Homer Simpson
- 1900 (1976) as Attila Mellanchini
- Fellini's Casanova (1976) as Giacomo Casanova
- The Eagle Has Landed (1976) as Liam Devlin
- The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) as The Clumsy Waiter
- Animal House (1978) as Dave Jennings
- The Great Train Robbery (1978) as Agar
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) as Matthew Bennell
- Murder by Decree (1979) as Robert Lees
- Ordinary People (1980) as Calvin Jarrett
- Eye of the Needle (1981) as Faber
- Max Dugan Returns (1983) as Brian Costello
- Ordeal by Innocence (1984) as Arthur Calgary
- Heaven Help Us (1985) as Brother Thadeus
- Revolution (1985) as Sgt. Maj. Peasy
- Lock Up (1989) as Warden Drumgoole
- Backdraft (1991) as Ronald Bartel
- JFK (1991) as X
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) as Merrick
- Six Degrees of Separation (1993) as Flan
- Disclosure (1994) as Bob Garvin
- The Puppet Masters (1994) as Andrew Nivens
- Outbreak (1995) as Gen. Donald McClintock
- A Time to Kill (1996) as Lucien Wilbanks
- The Assignment (1997) as Jack Shaw/Henry Fields
- Fallen (1998) as Lt. Stanton
- Virus (1999) as Capt. Robert Everton
- Instinct (1999) as Ben Hillard
- Space Cowboys (2000) as Jerry O'Neill
- The Art of War (2000) as Douglas Thomas
- Cold Mountain (2003) as Rev. Monroe
- The Italian Job (2003) as John Bridger
- Fierce People (2005) as Ogden C. Osborne
- Pride and Prejudice (2005) as Mr. Bennet
- Lord of War (2005) as Col. Oliver Southern (voice)
- An American Haunting (2006) as John Bell
- Astro Boy (2009) as President Stone (voice)
- Horrible Bosses (2011) as Jack Pellit
- The Hunger Games (2012) as President Snow
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) President Snow
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (2014/2015) as President Snow
- The Best Offer (2013) as Billy Whistler
- Forsaken (2015) as Rev. Samuel Clayton
- Ad Astra (2019) as Thomas Pruitt
- Moonfall (2022) as Holdenfield
- Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022) as Mr. Harrigan
Television roles
- The Saint (2 episodes, 1965–66) as Jim McCleery/John Wood
- The Avengers (1 episode, 1967) as Jessel
- Man in a Suitcase (2 episodes, 1967–68) as Willard/Keith Earle
- The Champions (1 episode, 1969) as David Crayley
- Citizen X (TV movie, 1995) as Col. Mikhail Fetisov
- The Simpsons (1 episode, 1996) as Hollis Hurlbut (voice)
- Path to War (TV movie, 2002) as Clark Clifford
- 'Salem's Lot (2 episodes, 2004) as Richard Straker
- Frankenstein (2 episodes, 2004) as Capt. Walton
- Human Trafficking (4 episodes, 2005) as Meehan
- Sunday Pants (1 episode, 2005) as The Clumsy Waiter (voice)
- Commander in Chief (19 episodes, 2005–06) as Nathan Templeton
- Dirty Sexy Money (23 episodes, 2007–09) as Patrick 'Trip' Darling III
- The Pillars of the Earth (8 episodes, 2010) as Bartholomew
- Moby-Dick (2 episodes, 2011) as Father Mapple
- Treasure Island (2 episodes, 2012) as Flint
- Crossing Lines (34 episodes, 2013–15) as Michael Dorn
- Pirate's Passage (TV movie, 2015) as Capt. Charles Johnson (voice)
- Trust (9 episodes, 2018) as J. Paul Getty
- The Undoing (6 episodes, 2020) as Franklin Reinhardt
- Lawmen: Bass Reeves (8 episodes, 2023) as Judge Parker
Tropes:
- Fake Nationality: Many of his roles are as Fake Americans. He's also played a handful of Fake Brits (The Great Train Robbery, Murder by Decree, Revolution, Pride & Prejudice), Fake Italians (1900, Fellini's Casanova), Fake Irish (The Eagle Has Landed, Virus), Fake Frenchmen (Start the Revolution Without Me, The Wolf at the Door), and a Fake German-Pretending-to-be-British (Eye of the Needle).
- Large and in Charge: He stands at 6'4 and plays a lot of authority figures.
- Named After Somebody Famous: His four sons are all named after directors.
- Kiefer was named after Warren Kiefer, who directed Donald in Castle of the Living Dead.
- Roeg is named after Nicolas Roeg, who directed Donald in Don't Look Now.
- Rossif is named after French documentary director Frédéric Rossif, who — in a subversion — didn't work with Donald.
- Angus' middle name is Redford after Robert Redford, who directed Donald in Ordinary People.
- No Stunt Double: He did this for Don't Look Now and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), and nearly suffered severe injuries for both films. His cameo in The Kentucky Fried Movie also technically qualifies.
- Real-Life Relative: In the 2015 western Forsaken, Kiefer Sutherland plays the protagonist and Donald Sutherland plays his father.
