Post by petrolino on Oct 11, 2019 23:58:36 GMT
Donald Sutherland (born 17 July 1935, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada)
Donald Sutherland was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, the son of Dorothy Isobel (née McNichol) and Frederick McLea Sutherland, who worked in sales and ran the local gas, electricity and bus company. He's of Scottish, German and English ancestry. Sutherland spent his teenage years in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, where he worked part-time as a news correspondent for local radio station CKBW. Having graduated from Bridgewater High School, he enrolled at Victoria University, an affiliated college of the University of Toronto, where he graduated with a double major in engineering and drama.
Sutherland was a member of the "UC Follies" comedy troupe in Toronto (he later joined forces with the performers of 'SCTV' for several creative projects). During his early career in the arts, he'd frequently return home to Canada to make films, including Bob Clark's celebrated mystery 'Murder By Decree' (1979).
Donald Sutherland & Shirley Douglas
Donald Sutherland & Genevieve Bujold in Quebecois filmmaker Paul Almond's drama 'The Act Of The Heart' (1970)
Francine Racette & Donald Sutherland in Quebecois filmmaker Claude Fournier's Saskatchewan-set western 'Alien Thunder' (1974)
Donald Sutherland moved to the United Kingdom in 1957. He studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He enjoyed a prolonged period as a performer at the Perth Repertory Theatre in Scotland, where he was able to connect with his Scottish roots.
Sutherland was never able to shake totally free of his ties to the U K arts scene and he's frequently returned to the British Isles to make films. In the 1960s, he appeared in Freddie Francis' horror anthology 'Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors' (1965), Ken Russell's espionage thriller 'Billion Dollar Brain' (1967), Philip Saville's Greek tragedy 'Oedipus The King' (1967) and Michael Sarne's experimental drama 'Joanna' (1968). He also acted in David Greene's films 'The Shuttered Room' (1967) and 'Sebastian' (1968), the latter of which was co-produced by Michael Powell.
In the 1970s, Sutherland really came into his own as an international performer, becoming one of cinema's most sought-after leading men. The surrealists found themselves drawn to his irreverent personality, Hollywood's hottest performers joined him socially and fringe artists sent him letters. As his career gathered pace, he found himself being approached by filmmakers from France, Spain, Italy and Portugal. Some projects he took on, which kept him busy throughout the decade.
Donald Sutherland & Elliott Gould strike a pose for Robert Altman's military satire 'M*A*S*H' (1970)
Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould & Alan Arkin prepare to interpret Jules Feiffer's 'Little Murders' (1971)
Jane Fonda & Donald Sutherland in Alan Pakula's conspiracy thriller 'Klute' (1971)
Donald Sutherland portrays Christ in Dalton Trumbo's 'Johnny Got His Gun' (1971), with uncredited writing contributions from intended director Luis Bunuel
Ewa Aulin, Gene Wilder, Donald Sutherland & Helen Fraser in Bud Yorkin's historical romp 'Start The Revolution Without Me' (1970)
Donald Sutherland in Paul Mazursky's realist fantasy 'Alex In Wonderland' (1970)
Donald Sutherland & Julie Christie in Nicolas Roeg's eerie horror 'Don't Look Now' (1973), based upon an original story by Daphne Du Maurier
Elliott Gould & Donald Sutherland frolic on the set of Irvin Kershner's spy spoof S*P*Y*S' (1974)
Donald Sutherland & Gerard Depardieu relax on the set of Bernardo Bertolucci's historical epic '1900' (1976)
Donald Sutherland in Federico Fellini's period fantasy 'Casanova' (1976)
Donald Sutherland & Michael Caine in John Sturges' war drama 'The Eagle Has Landed' (1976), based on a story by Jack Higgins
John Belushi with John Landis, stuntman on 'Kelly's Heroes' (1970) who directed Donald Sutherland in 'The Kentucky Fried Movie' (1977) & 'National Lampoon's Animal House' (1978)
Donald Sutherland & Aude Landry in Claude Chabrol's crime mosaic 'Blood Relatives' (1978), directed during his time in Canada
Brooke Adams & Donald Sutherland in Philip Kaufman's horror remake 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' (1978)
Paul Mazursky, Donald Sutherland & Brooke Adams in Noel Black's character piece 'A Man, A Woman & A Bank' (1979)
In the 1980s & 1990s, Sutherland continued to entertain unusual premises, resulting in decades of intelligent film work ...
Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Sutherland & Timothy Hutton paper over the cracks in Robert Redford's domestic drama 'Ordinary People' (1980)
Mare Winningham & Donald Sutherland in Richard Pearce's science-fiction fable 'Threshold' (1981)
Donald Sutherland in Richard Marquand's chilly thriller 'Eye Of The Needle' (1981)
Donald Sutherland, Sean Penn, Trinidad Silva, Wallace Shawn & Jack Warden in Louis Malle's heist movie 'Crackers' (1985)
Donald Sutherland disciplines Andrew McCarthy in Michael Dinner's controversial catholic drama 'Heaven Help Us' (1985)
Donald Sutherland portrays painter Paul Gauguin in Henning Carlsen's challenging biopic 'The Wolf At The Door' (1987)
Donald Sutherland in Fred Walton's creepy catholic mystery 'The Rosary Murders' (1987)
Donald Sutherland tames Beastie Boy Adam Horowitz in Hugh Hudson's character study 'Lost Angels' (1989), having appeared for Hudson in historic flop 'Revolution' (1985)
Zakes Mokae & Donald Sutherland in Euzhan Palcy's historical drama 'A Dry White Season' (1989)
Sylvester Stallone is tormented by Donald Sutherland in John Flynn's brutal prison drama 'Lock Up' (1989)
Kevin Costner observes an acting masterclass from Donald Sutherland up close and personal in Oliver Stone's conspiracy thriller 'JFK' (1991)
Donald Sutherland boils in Ron Howard's technically dazzling firefighter tribute 'Backdraft' (1991)
Donald Sutherland mentors Kristy Swanson in feminist filmmaker Fran Rubel Kuzui's comic book creation 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' (1992), based upon characters created by Joss Whedon
Lolita Davidovich saves the last dance for Donald Sutherland in Percy Adlon's fantasy 'Younger And Younger' (1993)
Stockard Channing & Donald Sutherland enter a world of domination in Fred Schepisi's sophisticated grifter satire 'Six Degrees Of Separation' (1993), based upon a play by John Guare
Donald Sutherland invokes the spirit of sci-fi grand master Robert Heinlein in Stuart Orme's 'The Puppet Masters' (1994)
Boss time with Rosemary Forysth, Dylan Baker and Donald Sutherland in Barry Levinson's psycho thriller 'Disclosure' (1994)
Morgan Freeman & Donald Sutherland play military personnel in Wolfgang Petersen's disaster picture 'Outbreak' (1995)
Donald Sutherland & Denzel Washington in Gregory Hoblit's fantasy horror 'Fallen' (1998)
Diseased dirt merchant Donald Sutherland spreads his germs in John Bruno's deep sea disaster 'Virus' (1999)
Interview with Donald Sutherland Parts 1 & 2
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Donald Sutherland continues to contribute his talents to films at a fair pace. For his work on the blockbuster 'Hunger Games' series, he's received 2 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Villain. This year, he's appearing in the sequel 'Backdraft 2' (2019) and Giuseppe Capotondi's crime picture 'The Burnt Orange Heresy' (2019) which is based upon a novel by crime writer Charles Willeford.
"He takes a cushion and clutches it over his stomach. I fill the silence by musing on a recent biography of the late, influential film critic Pauline Kael and how it might help explain her poisonous review of The Day of the Locust back in 1975. (“There’s nothing specifically wrong with Donald Sutherland’s performance,” she wrote. “It’s just awful.”)
“Wait, wait, wait – finish your sentence,” he tells me when I digress. I regroup and start again, venturing that all Kael’s pet hates could be explained by the fact that she was only 4ft 11in. Sutherland perks up. “I did an interview with her once, but I didn’t know who she was. At the Sherry-Netherland Hotel in New York. The journalist who came in afterwards said, ‘How did you like speaking with Pauline Kael?’ I said, ‘You mean that little old lady who was just here?’ At which point, the man started to laugh, and laugh, and laugh.” He pauses ruefully. “I paid a heavy price.” Sutherland’s conversational speciality, I gradually induce, is the well-honed anecdote, studded with random but precise details, then expertly capped with a sotto voce punchline.
“The same thing happened when I made Novecento with Bernardo [Bertolucci],” he continues. “I knew his contract was to deliver a two-and-a-half-hour movie. But the cut I saw was at least four hours long.
“It’s OK,” he said. “I’m going to show it to Pauline Kael. She’s going to love it, and they’re going to have to release it.” He pauses – more ironically this time. “She hated it.”
Now he’s warming up and the mere mention of The Dirty Dozen is like a Proustian madeleine. “I remember being with Lee Marvin at the Pair of Shoes casino in London. I couldn’t have been sitting at the table; I didn’t have any money. I would have been standing. And John Cassavetes was there. Telly for sure [Savalas]. And Charlie [Bronson]. If my memory serves me correctly, Lee was playing all seven slots on a blackjack table. Whenever he asked for water – because he wasn’t drinking at the time – they’d bring him vodka and he didn’t ‘notice’ the difference.” Sutherland assumes a drunk face and lowers his voice. “He did not win.”
The sofa cushion has by now been cast aside and we’re officially doing the greatest hits. “That was my big break, The Dirty Dozen. I was bottom of the cast. It was the day before shooting and the director Bob Aldrich was addressing the cast. Telly, Charlie – my god, the cast we had – Robert Ryan, Ernie Borgnine. They were all sitting there. And Clint Walker sticks up his hand and says, ‘Mr Aldrich, as a representative of the Native American people, I don’t think it’s appropriate to do this stupid scene where I have to pretend to be a general.’ Aldrich turns and points to me and says, ‘You — with the big ears. You do it.’ ” He sighs. “It changed my life.”
“Wait, wait, wait – finish your sentence,” he tells me when I digress. I regroup and start again, venturing that all Kael’s pet hates could be explained by the fact that she was only 4ft 11in. Sutherland perks up. “I did an interview with her once, but I didn’t know who she was. At the Sherry-Netherland Hotel in New York. The journalist who came in afterwards said, ‘How did you like speaking with Pauline Kael?’ I said, ‘You mean that little old lady who was just here?’ At which point, the man started to laugh, and laugh, and laugh.” He pauses ruefully. “I paid a heavy price.” Sutherland’s conversational speciality, I gradually induce, is the well-honed anecdote, studded with random but precise details, then expertly capped with a sotto voce punchline.
“The same thing happened when I made Novecento with Bernardo [Bertolucci],” he continues. “I knew his contract was to deliver a two-and-a-half-hour movie. But the cut I saw was at least four hours long.
“It’s OK,” he said. “I’m going to show it to Pauline Kael. She’s going to love it, and they’re going to have to release it.” He pauses – more ironically this time. “She hated it.”
Now he’s warming up and the mere mention of The Dirty Dozen is like a Proustian madeleine. “I remember being with Lee Marvin at the Pair of Shoes casino in London. I couldn’t have been sitting at the table; I didn’t have any money. I would have been standing. And John Cassavetes was there. Telly for sure [Savalas]. And Charlie [Bronson]. If my memory serves me correctly, Lee was playing all seven slots on a blackjack table. Whenever he asked for water – because he wasn’t drinking at the time – they’d bring him vodka and he didn’t ‘notice’ the difference.” Sutherland assumes a drunk face and lowers his voice. “He did not win.”
The sofa cushion has by now been cast aside and we’re officially doing the greatest hits. “That was my big break, The Dirty Dozen. I was bottom of the cast. It was the day before shooting and the director Bob Aldrich was addressing the cast. Telly, Charlie – my god, the cast we had – Robert Ryan, Ernie Borgnine. They were all sitting there. And Clint Walker sticks up his hand and says, ‘Mr Aldrich, as a representative of the Native American people, I don’t think it’s appropriate to do this stupid scene where I have to pretend to be a general.’ Aldrich turns and points to me and says, ‘You — with the big ears. You do it.’ ” He sighs. “It changed my life.”
- Sean Macauley, The Telegraph
"In an op-ed published Tuesday, veteran actor Donald Sutherland bemoaned his ineligibility to vote in his native Canada.
“If you don’t live here all the time you can’t vote,” the 80-year-old star wrote in The Globe and Mail. “Americans who live abroad can vote. They can vote because they’re citizens! Citizens! But I can’t. Because why? Because I’m not a citizen? Because what happens to Canada doesn’t matter to me?”
Canadian citizens who live more than five years abroad have not been allowed to vote in federal elections since 1993. The restriction was struck down as unconstitutional by an Ontario Superior Court judge last year but then upheld earlier this month by the Ontario Court of Appeal. Sutherland was born in New Brunswick, raised in Nova Scotia and attended the University of Toronto. He spent his early career in the UK and moved to the U.S. in the late ’60s. Sutherland and his wife of 43 years, Quebec actress Francine Racette (whom he met on the Saskatchewan set of Alien Thunder), keep a home in Georgeville, Que., about 140 km southeast of Montreal.
“We are Canadians. We each hold one passport. A Canadian passport. That’s it,” Sutherland explained. “I’m not dual anything. I’m Canadian.”
“If you don’t live here all the time you can’t vote,” the 80-year-old star wrote in The Globe and Mail. “Americans who live abroad can vote. They can vote because they’re citizens! Citizens! But I can’t. Because why? Because I’m not a citizen? Because what happens to Canada doesn’t matter to me?”
Canadian citizens who live more than five years abroad have not been allowed to vote in federal elections since 1993. The restriction was struck down as unconstitutional by an Ontario Superior Court judge last year but then upheld earlier this month by the Ontario Court of Appeal. Sutherland was born in New Brunswick, raised in Nova Scotia and attended the University of Toronto. He spent his early career in the UK and moved to the U.S. in the late ’60s. Sutherland and his wife of 43 years, Quebec actress Francine Racette (whom he met on the Saskatchewan set of Alien Thunder), keep a home in Georgeville, Que., about 140 km southeast of Montreal.
“We are Canadians. We each hold one passport. A Canadian passport. That’s it,” Sutherland explained. “I’m not dual anything. I’m Canadian.”
- John R. Kennedy, Global News
Donald Sutherland & Alexis Dziena
Donald Sutherland is an Emmy, Golden Globe and Genie Award winner. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on 18 December, 1978, and promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada in 2019. He was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2000 and honoured with the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. A friend of France who now resides in Quebec, Sutherland was made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2012. In 2017, Sutherland received an Honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Standing 6'4" tall, he has been called one of Canada's greatest actors.