Donald Sutherland death, net worth, eye patch, filmography

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<a href="/biography/donald-sutherland">Donald Edward McNichol Sutherland</a> was born on July 17, 1935, in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. He is the <a href="/biography/donald-sutherland">son</a> of Dorothy Isobel and Frederick McLea Sutherland, who worked in sales and managed local utilities including gas, power, and transportation services. Sutherland spent much of his youth in Nova Scotia. At the age of 14, he began working part-time as a news correspondent for the local radio station CKBW in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.

<h2>Early Education and Shift to the Arts</h2>

Sutherland studied at Victoria College, University of Toronto, where he initially pursued a double major in engineering and drama. During his university years, he became an active member of the “UC Follies” comedy troupe. Despite his early interest in becoming an engineer, he changed his career path and decided to pursue acting. In 1957, he left Canada for the United Kingdom to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).

<h2>Early Acting Roles in British Film and Television</h2>

After leaving LAMDA, Sutherland spent approximately 18 months performing with the Perth Repertory Theatre in Scotland. In the early to mid-1960s, he began securing minor roles in British film and television. He performed alongside <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lee">Christopher Lee</a> in horror films such as Castle of the Living Dead (1964) and Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965). That same year, he also appeared in the Cold War film The Bedford Incident and in the television series The Saint, in the 1965 episode titled "The Happy Suicide."

In 1966, he had a supporting role in the BBC television play Lee Oswald – Assassin, portraying <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_J._Givens">Charles Givens</a>, an acquaintance of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Harvey_Oswald">Lee Harvey Oswald</a>.

<h2>Breakthrough and 1970s Film Success</h2>

Sutherland gained wider recognition in the 1970s, beginning with his role in the Academy Award-winning thriller Klute (1971), in which he starred opposite <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Fonda">Jane Fonda</a>. During the production, Sutherland and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Fonda">Fonda</a> developed a personal relationship. The pair went on to co-produce and star in the anti-Vietnam War documentary F.T.A. (1972), which featured satirical sketches performed near military bases across the Pacific, along with interviews with American soldiers then on active duty.

Later that year, the two actors also co-starred in Steelyard Blues (1972), a countercultural, comedic drama penned by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_S._Ward">David S. Ward</a>. Sutherland's career thrived throughout the decade with prominent roles in films like the psychological thriller Don't Look Now (1973), the war drama The Eagle Has Landed (1976), and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Fellini">Federico Fellini</a>’s romantic epic Casanova (1976). He also featured in the mystery spy thriller Eye of the Needle and starred as a persistent health inspector in the science fiction horror remake Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978).

In 1975, Sutherland appeared alongside <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Black">Karen Black</a> in The Day of the Locust, in which he played the central role of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Simpson">Homer Simpson</a>, based on the novel by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathanael_West">Nathanael West</a>.

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<h2>Regret and Missed Opportunities</h2>

On March 26, 2012, Sutherland appeared on the Opie and Anthony radio show to promote the release of the first Hunger Games film, in which he portrayed President Snow. During the interview, he revealed that, for his role in Animal House, he declined an offer by Universal Studios to receive 2% of the film’s gross earnings and instead opted for a flat one-day fee. That decision earned him $50,000, while the 2% stake would ultimately have totaled around $2.8 million.

Sutherland also shared that he had been offered leading roles in the films Deliverance and Straw Dogs but turned them down due to discomfort with the violent content of those scripts at that stage in his career.

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