Donald Sutherland, “M*A*S*H” and “Hunger Games” actor, dies at 88

The Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor is father to Kiefer Sutherland.

Donald Sutherland, the Canadian actor whose career spans seven decades and includes revered films as Klute, M*A*S*H, Ordinary People, Pride and Prejudice, and The Hunger Games, has died. He was 88.

His son, fellow actor Kiefer Sutherland, 57, revealed the news in an emotional Thursday social media post.

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

Representatives for Sutherland did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly’s request for comment.

Sutherland was also remembered by his former costar, Helen Mirren, who starred opposite him in the 2017 comedy, The Leisure Seeker.

“Donald Sutherland was one of the smartest actors I ever worked with. He had a wonderful enquiring brain, and a great knowledge on a wide variety of subjects," Mirren said in a statement shared with EW. "He combined this great intelligence with a deep sensitivity, and with a seriousness about his profession as an actor. This all made him into the legend of film that he became."

She added, "He was my colleague and became my friend. I will miss his presence in this world.”

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Born July 17, 1935, in Saint John Canada, Sutherland survived a series of childhood diseases that included infantile paralysis, rheumatoid fever, and spinal meningitis. In college, Sutherland double majored in engineering and drama before fully embracing his interest in acting. He left Canada for Britain in 1957 to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Sutherland began his career with unnamed roles in British television before landing small parts in low-budget horror films, including 1964’s Castle of the Living Dead and 1965’s Dr. Terror's House of Horrors. His breakout role was in Robert Aldritch’s The Dirty Dozen, where he starred alongside Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, Clint Walker and more. Sutherland told The Guardian in 2005 that he originally had a single line in the movie — “Number two, sir!” — until Walker refused to participate in a scene that required him to impersonate a general.

"The director Robert Aldrich, who had a huge authoritarian streak, turned to me — we'd all had our heads shaved — and said, 'You! With the big ears! You do it!,’” Sutherland recalled. “He didn't even know my name!"

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Sutherland achieved further success as Hawkeye Pierce in Robert Altman’s 1970 war comedy, M*A*S*H. The film marked a Hollywood breakthrough for both Sutherland and his co-star, Elliott Gould.

Sutherland went on to star in such acclaimed films as Klute, Don't Look Now, Fellini's Casanova, Animal House, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Ordinary People, JFK, Six Degrees of Separation, The Italian Job and Pride & Prejudice. In recent years, he played the Hunger Games franchise antagonist President Coriolanus Snow, who torments Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen across the franchise's original four films.

While Sutherland was never nominated for a competitive Oscar, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored him with an honorary statuette at the 2017 Governors Awards. Sutherland earned both an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his role in the detective drama, Citizen X, and an additional Golden Globe for the HBO series, Path to War.

Sutherland is survived by his wife Francine Racette, sons Roeg, Rossif, Angus, and Kiefer, daughter Rachel, and four grandchildren.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.