Veteran actor Donald Sutherland dies at age 88

Son Kiefer shares news of father's loss with 'heavy heart'

Donald Sutherland's screen career spanned more than 50 years. AFP

Donald Sutherland, the enigmatic actor whose long career included films including The Dirty Dozen and The Hunger Games, has died, his son said on Thursday. He was 88.

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

The elder Sutherland had a distinctive look – and piercing eyes – that brought a depth and mystery to the huge range of roles he played over more than half a century on the big screen.

One of Canada's most famous sons, he played dashing leading men as well as anti-heroes and villains, most recently making a name among a new generation of fans as the evil President Snow in The Hunger Games franchise.

“I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film. Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly," Kiefer Sutherland wrote.

"He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived."

Reaction to the Emmy and Golden Globe winner's death was swift, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau praising his unique talents.

“I had the opportunity when I was much younger to meet Donald Sutherland, and even as a young man who hadn't had a full exposure to the depth of brilliance of Donald Sutherland, I was deeply, deeply star-struck,” Mr Trudeau told a media conference.

“He was a man with a strong presence, a brilliance in his craft, and truly, truly, a great Canadian artist, and he will be deeply missed.”

US President Joe Biden also shared his condolences in a post on X, sending thoughts to Sutherland's loved ones.

"Donald Sutherland was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and one-of-a-kind actor who inspired and entertained the world for decades," Mr Biden said.

After what he termed a “meandering” start to his acting career, Donald Sutherland came to prominence in Robert Aldrich's The Dirty Dozen, where 12 convicts are given the task of what appears to be a suicide mission in occupied France.

Starring alongside luminaries such as Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin and Telly Savalas, Sutherland's impish charms caught the attention of producers of M*A*S*H.

Although set in the Korean War, the 1970 film was widely seen as a sophisticated satire on the Vietnam War.

His casting opposite Elliott Gould turned Sutherland into a household name in 1970s America, and opened the door to a durable career that would see him work with some of the biggest names in show business.

They included Jane Fonda, with whom he starred in 1971's Klute, in which he played a detective who falls for the call girl he is supposed to be protecting.

Fonda won an Oscar for her performance, which she credited to her intense feelings for Sutherland, with whom she was in a relationship at the time.

Their off-screen chemistry brought Sutherland into her pacifist orbit, and he became active in anti-Vietnam War circles.

The pair put together a travelling revue, which irked the US government and landed them both under FBI surveillance.