1
Credit: LionsgateWe have some very sad news coming out of Hollywood today. According to multiple reports, Donald Sutherland, who appeared in multiple hit films and television shows, including the wildly popular Hunger Games franchise, has died. He was 88 years old. His agent at CAA confirmed his death. His agency also revealed that the actor’s death came after battling a long illness, but we do not know what that illness was.
Shortly after news of Sutherland’s death became public, his son, actor Kiefer Sutherland, shared a heartfelt note on X, remembering his special relationship with his father.
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. 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.
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. 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… pic.twitter.com/3EdJB03KKT
— Kiefer Sutherland (@RealKiefer) June 20, 2024
Donald McNichol Sutherland was born on July 17, 1935, at the Saint John General Hospital in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. His mother, Dorothy, was a stay-at-home mother, while his father owned and operated the local gas, electric, and bus company. When he was younger, he suffered several illnesses, including rheumatic fever, hepatitis, and polio. However, he never let that slow him down, and when he was just 14 years old, he got a part-time job as a correspondent at the local radio station, CKBW.
While it seems crazy to think of anyone else as President Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games, Sutherland was not originally offered the role. It was one that he admitted he had to chase and ask for. In a 2014 interview with GQ, he said that he read the script and fell in love with the iconic villain and his complicated past.
“I wasn’t offered it. 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.”
“I hadn’t read the books. To be truthful, I was unaware of them. But they showed my letter to the director, Gary Ross, and he thought it’d be a good idea if I did it. He wrote those wonderfully poetic scenes in the rose garden, and they formed the mind and wit of Coriolanus Snow.”
Our thoughts are with Sutherland’s family and friends.
This post originally appeared on Disney Dining.