Donald Sutherland - Biography

Last Editor: mytotalzoo2				Donald Sutherland Biography -   Name : Donald Sutherland Date of birth : 17 July 1935 Place of birth : Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada Birth name : Donald McNichol Sutherland Height : 6' 4

Donald Sutherland Trivia -

Grew up in the town of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia where he also graduated from high school. His first part-time job was as a news correspondent for local radio station, CKBW. Graduated from University of Toronto Was a member of "UC Follies" comedy troupe in Toronto. Radio interview with Michael Enright on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's "This Morning" [29 February 2000] Turned down starring in The Sweet Hereafter (1997) because the salary was too low. His role eventually went to Ian Holm. Dubbed (uncredited) the part taken by English actor William Devlin in The Shuttered Room (1967). In addition to an on-screen bit part as a computer scientist in Billion Dollar Brain (1967), he also provided the mechanical voice for the eponymous "brain". Has three sons with Racette, Roeg Sutherland (b. 1974), Rossif Sutherland (b. 1978) and Angus Redford Sutherland (b. 1979). He was featured in the computer game Conspiracy (digitized video and sound). Both Sutherland and Alan Alda, who took up the role of Hawkeye in the TV version of "M*A*S*H" (1972) suffered from polio as children. Starred in the remake of The Italian Job (1969), which starred Michael Caine. Sutherland and Caine appeared together in Hamlet (1964/III) (TV). Former son-in-law of Tommy Douglas In 2003, twice played a character who dies who was the father of a young woman, in Cold Mountain (2003) and The Italian Job (2003). Father, with Douglas, of Kiefer Sutherland and Rachel Sutherland. Even though he receives top billing in The Day of the Locust (1975), he doesn't appear in the film for the first 42 minutes. Appears throughout MASH (1970) wearing glasses and a fishing bucket hat. This look was later mirrored by his son, Kiefer Sutherland, in Article 99 (1992). By the time he was 14, he had become a radio DJ. Appeared in The Day of the Locust (1975) as a character named Homer Simpson, and then later made a guest appearance on "The Simpsons" (1989). He and MASH (1970) co-star Elliott Gould both own apartments in the same Manhattan high-rise luxury building. Being very tall, Sutherland has long since had a habit of slouching over so he could meet other actors eye to eye. As with son Kiefer Sutherland, named after director Warren Kiefer, he named his other son, Roeg Sutherland, Kiefer's half-brother, after Don't Look Now (1973) director Nicolas Roeg. He was originally cast as Franklyn Madson in Dead Again (1991), but was eventually replaced by Derek Jacobi. Has two roles in common with Alan Alda. Sutherland played Flan in Six Degrees of Separation (1993), the role Alda played in an audiobook publication. Sutherland also played Hawkeye Pierce in MASH (1970), the role Alda played in "M*A*S*H" (1972). Made two guest appearances on "The Saint" (1962), playing two different characters. Is an Officer of the Order of Canada Had a near death experience in 1979 when he was ill with meningitis. Doctors told him he had died for a time and he claims to have had an out of body experience. Grandfather of Sarah Jude Sutherland, daughter of Kiefer Sutherland and Camelia Kath. Currently stars on the TV series "Commander in Chief" (2005) with Leslie Hope; during the first season of "24" (2001), Hope played the wife of his son, Kiefer Sutherland. Played together with his son Kiefer Sutherland in two movies: "Max Dugan Returns" from 1983 and "A time to kill" 1996 where they play enemies He and Alan Alda both play Republicans with Presidential aspirations on television. Alda appears on The West Wing, Sutherland on Commander in Cheif. Between 1958 & 1960 he went to England and studied acting at the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA)

Donald Sutherland Detailed Biography -

Sutherland was born in Saint John, New Brunswick and grew up in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, the grandson of a Protestant minister. Sutherland got his first part time job aged 14 as a news correspondent for his local radio station CKBW Radio in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. He then studied at Victoria College, University of Toronto (where he was expelled from residence for throwing a sink out of a window) eventually graduating with a double major in engineering and drama. He had at one point been a member of "UC Follies" comedy troupe in Toronto. He changed his mind about becoming an engineer and subsequently left Canada for England to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. In the early 1960s he began to get small parts in British film and TV, in the mid 1960s getting notable roles in horror films with Christopher Lee such as Castle of the Living Dead (1964), and Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965). His first great successes came with the three war films The Dirty Dozen in 1967 with Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson, in 1970 as the lead Capt. 'Hawkeye' Pierce in Robert Altman's M*A*S*H and as tank commander Sgt. Oddball in Kelly's Heroes with Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas. Sutherland formed an intimate friendship with the actress Jane Fonda during the filming of the Academy award winning detective thriller Klute (1971), Sutherland later remarked that they had had a physical relationship on and off screen (to critic Mark Cousins in 2001). Sutherland and Fonda went on to co-produce and star together in the anti Vietnam war film F.T.A. (1972) consisting of a series of sketches performed outside army bases in the Pacific Rim and interviews with the American troops who were then on active service. Sutherland found himself in demand as a leading man throughout the 1970s in films such as the Venice based psychological horror Don't Look Now (1973), the war film The Eagle Has Landed (1976), and as the ever optimistic health inspector in the sci-fi horror Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) alongside Brooke Adams and Jeff Goldblum. He also made acclaimed performances in the 1976 Bernardo Bertolucci Italian fascism epic (318 minute) 1900 and for his role as the torn father in the Academy award winning family drama Ordinary People (1980) alongside Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton. He played the part of fellow countryman, Canadian Norman Bethune, a physician, humanitarian and hero in China with whom he identified, in two separate biographical films in 1977 and 1990. Through the 1980s and 1990s his films were perhaps less noteworthy than those in the 70s, exceptions being the South African apartheid drama A Dry White Season (1989) alongside Marlon Brando and Susan Sarandon, the fire fighter thriller Backdraft (1991) alongside Kurt Russell and De Niro, and as the snobbish NYC art dealer in Six Degrees of Separation (1993) with Stockard Channing and Will Smith. In the Oliver Stone film JFK, Sutherland played a mysterious Washington intelligence officer who spoke of links to the military-industrial complex in relation to Kennedy's assassination. Recently he has been noted for his role as the Reverend Monroe in the civil war drama Cold Mountain (2003), in the re-make of The Italian Job (2003), and in Pride and Prejudice (2005) starring alongside Keira Knightley. Sutherland's distinctive voice has been used in many radio and television commercials, including those for Volvo automobiles. He was married to the actress Shirley Douglas from 1966-1970, daughter of Canadian democratic socialist statesman Tommy Douglas by whom he has a daughter Rachel and a son Kiefer Sutherland (a prominent actor and director, best known for his role in the TV series 24). He was previously married to Lois Hardwick (1959-1966) (divorced), and briefly had a relationship with the actress Jane Fonda during the early 1970s. He met his current wife, the French-Canadian actress Francine Racette on the set of the Canadian pioneer drama Alien Thunder (1974) (she was later to star in the classic war drama Au revoir les enfants (1987). Together they have three sons (all named after directors who they worked with) Roeg b.1974, Rossif b.1978 (appeared in the 2003 film based on the Michael Crichton novel Timeline and the 2005 film Red Doors), and Angus Redford b.1979. Sutherland was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1978.