Following the death of beloved actor Donald Sutherland, fellow entertainment legend Jane Fonda has revealed how his passing has left her “heartbroken”.
Sutherland, whose illustrious film career spanned over seven decades, died on Thursday, June 20 at the age of 88.
In a poignant post to social media, Fonda reflected on the passing of Sutherland who she described as both “brilliant” and “complex”.
“I am stunned to hear that Donald Sutherland has died,” she began.
“He was my fascinating co-star in Klute and we loved working together. In this photo we are on the Klute set with director Alan Pakula.
“Donald was a brilliant actor and a complex man who shared quite a few adventures with me, such as the FTA Show, an anti-Vietnam war tour that performed for 60,000 active duty soldiers, sailors, and marines in Hawaii, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Japan in 1971.
“I am heartbroken.”
Sutherland was born on July 17, 1935, in Canada’s New Brunswick province and began his career in entertainment with performances in school productions in college, before moving to the United Kingdom to develop his craft. After later moving to the United States, Sutherland achieved his first big break with a prominent role in the war film The Dirty Dozen (1967).
Sutherland’s fame rose with starring roles in films such as M*A*S*H (1970), and Kelly’s Heroes (1970).
He went on to secure a series of supporting and leading roles in films such as Start the Revolution Without Me (1970), Klute (1971), The Day of the Locust (1975), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), 1900 (1976), Animal House (1978), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Ordinary People (1980), Backdraft (1991), JFK (1991), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Without Limits (1998), The Italian Job (2003), and Pride & Prejudice (2005).
More recently, Sutherland portrayed President Snow in the popular The Hunger Games franchise.
Sutherland also achieved success on the small screen with his portrayal of Colonel Mikhail Fetisov in Citizen X (1995) for which he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.
He played Adam Czerniaków in Uprising (2001), and Clark Clifford in Path to War (2002) earning the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.
As the entertainment world learnt of its loss, fans, colleagues and public figures alike took to social media in droves to pay tribute and honour Sutherland’s impressive legacy.
-with BANG.