Join us in saying farewell to Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, who acted in a surprising number of historical films.
Not pictured, because I can’t find photos unfortunately:
- ? in Songs of the American Civil War (1965)
- Sim in A Farewell to Arms (1966)
- Cpl. Brown in Court Martial (1966)
- Union Captain in Theatre 625, “On the March to the Sea” (1966)
- Chorus Leader in Oedipus the King (1968)
- ? in Long Road Home (1991)
- John Williams in The Setting Sun (1992)
- Kirov in Red Hot (1993)
Fortinbras, Prince of Norway in Hamlet at Elsinore (1964)
Sgt. Paul, The Witch, & The Old Man in The Castle of the Living Dead (1964)
Vernon L. Pinkley in The Dirty Dozen (1967)
Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H (1970)
Charles & Pierre in Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)
Sergeant Oddball in Kelly’s Heroes (1970)
Christ in Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
Dan Candy in Alien Thunder (1974)
Homer in The Day of the Locust (1975)
Attila Mellanchini in 1900 (1976)
Giacomo Casanova in Casanova (1976)
Liam Devlin in The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
Dave Jennings in National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
Agar in The Great Train Robbery (1978)
Robert Lees in Murder by Decree (1979)
Frank Lansing in Bear Island (1979)
Faber in Eye of the Needle (1981)
Arthur Calgary in Ordeal by Innocence (1984)
Sergeant Major Peasy in Revolution (1985)
Paul Gauguin in Oviri (1986)
John Reese in Apprentice to Murder (1988)
Dr. Norman Bethune in Bethune: The Making of a Hero (1990)
X in JFK (1991)
Henderson in Shadow of the Wolf (1992)
Capt. William Marsden in The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (1994)
Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard in The Hunley (1999)
Adam Czerniakow in Uprising (2001)
Clark Clifford in Path to War (2002)
Reverend Monroe in Cold Mountain (2003)
Captain Walton in Frankenstein (2004)
Mr. Bennet in Pride & Prejudice (2005)
John Bell in An American Haunting (2005)
Hellfrick in Ask the Dust (2006)
Bartholomew in The Pillars of the Earth (2010)
Uncle Aquila in The Eagle (2011)
Father Mapple in Moby Dick (2011)
Flint in Treasure Island (2012)
Cochrane in Dawn Rider (2012)
Reverend Samuel Clayton in Forsaken (2015)
Judge Parker in Lawmen: Bass Reeves (2023)
Which Donald Sutherland historical role is most memorable for you?
Sutherland was the best thing in a lot of bad movies, but looking over his cv proves he held his own in a lot of good ones. Klute might be my own favorite, although it isn’t a costume film. I might go with The Great Train Robbery just for the toppers.
P&P&Pigs isn’t a favorite on this blog, but some of the other bloggers I read are fans of it. I think Sutherland would have been a good Colonel Brandon or a Captain Wentworth if those books had been adapted when he was the right age.
What a storied career! What an actor! RIP. I thought he was an excellent Mr. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. Great MCM choice!
I think we can all agree that REVOLUTION would have made at least 1776% more sense with Mr Sutherland in the role of hairy mountain man actually played by Mr Al Pacino.
For the record my favourite of his Period roles is ‘Oddball’ from KELLY’S HEROES, mostly because it always amuses me to imagine the old veteran sitting somewhere under the California sun during the 1960s, running an eye over the Counterculture and crying “My people finally caught up, baby!”
Oh, hearing he passed makes me a bit sad.
I have’t seen him in many of these roles, but the soft spot I have for him started with his role as Mr. Bennet: the scene at the end when he is talking to Elizabeth about Darcy- “I could not have parted with you for anyone less worthy”- so tender and sweet when I first saw it, and still is.
And, like Space Pioneer above, I think he is so excellent in Klute, very affecting.