Donald Sutherland dead: Legendary Canadian actor dies at 88

Known for his easily identifiable baritone, Donald Sutherland starred in a multitude of recognizable and memorable films.

Donald Sutherland, the gravelly-voiced Canadian actor who graced both TV and movie screens, passed away Thursday in Miami from a long illness. He was 88.

Known for his easily identifiable baritone, Sutherland starred in a multitude of recognizable and memorable films, including 1980’s Ordinary People, 1991’s JFK, 1998’s Without Limits and the Hunger Games franchise. He also played the lovable Hawkeye in the movie version of M*A*S*H*. He did a lot of TV work as well, appearing on shows like Lawmen: Bass Reeves, The Simpsons, Dirty Sexy Money and Commander in Chief, among many others.

His career in the industry spanned nearly seven decades, a truly remarkable feat for a Canadian actor.

Born Donald McNichol Sutherland on July 17, 1935 in Saint John, N.B., the future thespian was a rather sickly child. He battled and overcame multiple bouts of illness, surviving polio, rheumatic fever and hepatitis. According to Biography, the first word he learned to say was “neck” because that’s where he felt his pain. As a result of the polio, one of his legs was permanently shorter than the other.

Armed with a perfect broadcast voice, Sutherland landed his first job (at the age of 14) as a news correspondent at a local radio station. That didn’t really lead anywhere, however, and he went on to get a degree in Engineering and Drama from the University of Toronto. Eventually, the “drama” side won him over and he left Canada for the U.K. in 1957 to pursue studies at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

From there, he spent a year-and-a-half at the Perth Repertory Theatre in Scotland, after which he started to win roles on British TV shows and movies.

“My first offer ever for a film was in 1962,” Sutherland said to GQ magazine. “I auditioned for the producer, the writer, the director. And I came home and said to my first wife, ‘I thought it went OK.’ You never want to say you did well before you know anything. The next morning they were all on the phone saying how wonderful the audition had been. And then the producer said, ‘We loved you so much, we wanted to explain why we weren’t casting you. We’ve always thought of this as a guy-next-door sort of character and we don’t think you look like you’ve ever lived next-door to anybody.’”

After a semi-breakthrough in the U.K. production of The Dirty Dozen, Sutherland made his way to Hollywood in 1968.