R.I.P. Donald Sutherland: ‘Don’t Look Now’ And ‘Klute’ Star Dead At 88

Donald Sutherland, the prolific actor best known for his roles in Klute and The Hunger Games series, died on Thursday (June 20). He was 88.

His son, actor Kiefer Sutherland, confirmed the news in a statement shared on social media.

“With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away. I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film,” he wrote.

Kiefer added, “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.”

Deadline reports the actor passed away in Miami after a long, unspecified illness.

Born in 1935, Donald made his feature debut in Castle of the Living Dead. He also met his second wife Shirley Douglas on set, and the pair later had two children: Keifer and Rachel Sutherland.

Best known for his work opposite Jane Fonda in Klute, the actor also starred in Don’t Look Now, The Avengers, and more. He made his name appearing in star-studded war movies early on in his career in the ’60s and ’70s, with notable performances in The Dirty Dozen, MASH, and Kelly’s Heroes.

But Klute proved to be his big break; while Fonda earned her first Oscar for the film, Sutherland was not even nominated. Despite his prolific career spanning 200 credits across television and film, the actor did not receive a single Oscar throughout his career until he was awarded an honorary Academy Award in 2017.

However, he later won an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for his performance in Citizen X.

Donald and Keifer later got the opportunity to work together in the 2016 Western film Forsaken, in which they played a father and son on screen for the very first time.

“Working with him is something I have wanted to do for 30 years,” Kiefer said at the time, per People. He revealed that he did not grow up watching his father’s films, until he one day sat down and watched as many as he possibly could in a single weekend: “I remember feeling really bad as a son that I wasn’t aware of not only how prolific my father was as an actor but what he had really contributed to the art of cinema.”

Some younger fans may also recognize Donald for his role as the villainous President Snow in the popular Hunger Games franchise.

“I wasn’t offered it,” he told GQ in 2014. “I like to read scripts, and it captured my passion. I wrote them a letter. The role of the president had maybe a line in the script. Maybe two. Didn’t make any difference. I thought it was an incredibly important film, and I wanted to be a part of it. I thought it could wake up an electorate that had been dormant since the ’70s.”

Despite having never read the books, he starred in all four films.

Most recently, Sutherland starred in the Paramount+ mini series Lawmen: Bass Reeves.

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