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Donald Sutherland, celebrated actor from ‘M*A*S*H,’ ‘Hunger Games,’ dies at 88, son Kiefer announces

(NEXSTAR) – Donald Sutherland, the prolific actor who starred in such films as “M*A*S*H,” “Ordinary People” and “The Hunger Games,” has died at the age of 88, son Kiefer Sutherland revealed Thursday.

“With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away,” Kiefer Sutherland 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.”

American actor Donald Sutherland receives the Donostia award during 67th San Sebastian Film Festival on September 26, 2019 in San Sebastian, Spain. (Photo by Manuel Romano/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Sutherland, originally from Canada, rose to fame with a string of well-received roles in movies such as “The Dirty Dozen,” “M*A*S*H,’ and “Klute.” His resume in the 1970s also included appearances in cult films including “Don’t Look Now,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “National Lampoon’s Animal House.”

Over the decades, Sutherland showed his range in more buttoned-down — but still eccentric — parts in Robert Redford’s “Ordinary People” and Oliver Stone’s “JFK.”

More recently, he starred in the “Hunger Games” films and the HBO limited series “The Undoing,” the latter of which earned him a Critics Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor.


Sutherland had also earned an Emmy for his role in the miniseries “Citizen X.” He was bestowed an honorary Oscar in 2017 for his body of work.

“I love to work. I passionately love to work,” Sutherland told Charlie Rose in 1998. “I love to feel my hand fit into the glove of some other character. I feel a huge freedom — time stops for me. I’m not as crazy as I used to be, but I’m still a little crazy.”

Sutherland is survived by his five children and wife Francine Racette, Variety reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.