Donald Sutherland, who appeared in films including The Hunger Games and Kelly’s Heroes, has died at the age of 88.
His agency CAA said he died in Miami after a long illness.
The Canadian actor won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his performance in the miniseries “Citizen X,” and an honorary Oscar in 2017.
His son and fellow actor Kiefer Sutherland, known for his role in the TV series “24,” said it was with a “heavy heart” that his father “passed away.”
“I personally consider him one of the most important actors in the history of cinema,” Kiefer Sutherland wrote.
“He loved what he did and he was doing what he loved. You could never ask for more.”
Director and former Happy Days star Ron Howard said he was “lucky” to direct Sutherland in the 1991 film Backdraft.
Sutherland is “one of the most intelligent, interesting and compelling movie actors of all time,” Howard said, with “incredible range” and “creative courage.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at work – “I love to work with passion,” Sutherland told US talk show host Charlie Rose in 1998.
“I love to feel how my hand fits into another character’s glove. I feel a great sense of freedom – time stands still for me. I’m not as crazy as I used to be, but I’m still a little crazy.”
Sutherland’s breakthrough came in 1967 with the films The Dirty Dozen and MASH, his agency said.
Sutherland also had roles in Robert Redford’s Just Another Day and Oliver Stone’s JFK, and played President Snow opposite Jennifer Lawrence in the Hunger Games series, as Sergeant Oddball – who is tasked with stealing money from the Nazis.
He is survived by his wife Francine Racette, sons Roeg, Rossif, Angus and Kiefer, daughter Rachel, and four grandchildren.
His agency announced that his family will hold a private celebration of his life.
Sutherland was born in July 1935 in Saint John, New Brunswick, on the east coast of Canada, the son of a salesman and a mathematics teacher.
He began his studies in Toronto as an engineering student, but then switched to English and began acting in university productions.
After graduating in 1956, he attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and began appearing in West End plays and on British television.
He moved to Los Angeles, where his career was boosted by a series of war films, playing the irreverent soldier Vernon Pinkley in his first American film, The Dirty Dozen.
In a 1970 interview with The Washington Post, Sutherland praised character actors, saying: “A good character actor has a different side to him in every movie, and he keeps the audience engaged.”
