Zel
12-10-01, 12:54 PM
"His career as an engineer may not have taken off because of his penchant for acting but that hasn't stopped Donald from crafting a career of phenomenal stature. Born Donald McNichol Sutherland on July 17 1935, he was destined to greatness. With a name like that how could he not be? He attended the University of Toronto and had a double major in Engineering and Drama. It is obvious which won out, and to further his talent he attended the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. One of his first films, Castle of the Living Dead, in 1964, was written by Warren Kiefer, (namesake to Donald's son). He moved quickly in a number of directions and his versatility was apparent early in his film career. Donald appeared in the WWII film The Dirty Dozen in 1967, and as a chorus leader in Oedipus the King in 1968. The fact that he could pull off the two successfully is the key to understanding the depth of Sutherland's ability.
Donald's infamous role of Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the film M*A*S*H occurred in 1970. He won rave reviews for his performance and it was this film that made him a star. With this ranking came the opportunity to appear in a variety of films that would not have been available to him in the past. Films like Klute, costarring Jane Fonda in 1971, The Day of the Locust in 1975 and 1900 in the same year.
Donald was not just a Movie star his reach also spanned the world of television with the CBC production of Bethune in 1977. His versatility cropped up again when he went on to make Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Animal House in 1978. When 1980 came around Donald was in Ordinary People, a drama starring Mary Tyler Moore that brought his dramatic acting persona to the forefront of Hollywood. His role in the film found his fans and his critics raving about his performance. Donald's grasp on success being secure he made an average of two films a year throughout the eighties and won a Genie for his performance in Threshold in 1983. Donald put his talent to the test playing a pyromaniac in Backdraft. His ability to get under the skin of his characters is eerily apparent in this role. A role in Oliver Stone's JFK widened his breath of work in 1991, and was a standout within the ensemble cast he worked with. A cinematic version of the Broadway play Six Degrees of Separation was without doubt one of his shining hours. He won rave reviews for the 1993 performance, along with his costars Stockard Channing and Will Smith. He won an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in Citizen X in 1994-1995.
Donald next played Lucien Wilbanks, an alcoholic Southern lawyer with a few tricks up his sleeve in A Time to Kill, which was adapted from the John Grisham novel and made in 1996. In 1998 he played the coach of American phenom runner Steve Prefontaine. Without Limits was one of two movies released about the athlete. Space Cowboys was Donald's Y2K project and the animated Final Fantasy was released in 2001. In early November, 2000 he was honoured with a Governor-General's Performing Arts Award.
The reach of Donald's career can be seen in the most bizarre of places. Of course one needs to only look at son Kiefer to see his father. Other young actors in Hollywood seem to have observed a thing or two from Donald too. His penchant for changing scenery from script to script seems to keep his work fresh and interesting. By not getting stuck in one type of film he has prolonged his career and at the same time kept himself interested too. A strong foundation seems to have been the key to Donald's longevity. Which leaves one asking did Donald become an engineer who acts or an actor who dabbles in engineering?"
written by Siobhan Rossiter
Films:
The World Ten Times Over (1963) Hamlet (TV-64) Castle of the Living Dead (64) Die! Die! My Darling (65) The Bedford Incident (65) Dr.Terror's House of Horrors (65) Fanatic (65) Promise Her Anything (66) Billion Dollar Brain (67) The Dirty Dozen (67) The Sunshine Patriot (TV-68) The Split (68) Sebastien (68) Joanna (68) Interlude (68) Oedipus the King (68) Start the Revolution Without Me (70) Alex in Wonderland (70) Act of the Heart (70) M*A*S*H (70) Kelly's Heroes (70) Johnny Got His Gun (71) Little Murders (71) Klute (71) F.T.A. (72) Lady Ice (73) Alien Thunder (73) Steelyard Blues (73) Don't Look Now (73) S*P*Y*S (74) The Day of the Locust (75) End of the Game (76) Casanova (aka Fellini's Casanova, 76) 1900 (76) The Eagle Has Landed (76) Blood Relations (77) The Kentucky Fried Movie (77) The Assignment (77) The Disappearance (77) Bethune (TV-77) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (78) National Lampoon's Animal House (78) A Man, A Woman and a Bank (79) Murder by Decree (79) The First Great Train Robbery (79) Bear Island (79) Ordinary People (80) North China Commune (narrator - 80) Nothing Personal (80) Threshold (81) Gas (81) Eye of the Needle (81) A War Story (voice - 81) Max Dugan Returns (83) The Winter of our Discontent (TV-83) Ordeal by Innocence (84) Crackers (84) Revolution (85) Heaven Help Us (85) The Wolf at the Door (86) The Trouble With Spies (87) The Rosemary Murders (87) Apprentice to Murder (88) Lost Angels (89) A Dry White Season (89) Lock Up (89) Buster's Bedroom (90) Bethune: the Making of a Hero (90) JFK (91) Eminent Domain (91) Long Road Home (TV-91) Backdraft (91) Scream of Stone (91) Buffy the Vampire Slayer (92) Quicksand: No Escape (TV-92) The Railway Station Man (TV-92) Shadow of the Wolf (92) Six Degrees of Separation (93) Red Hot (93) Benefit of the Doubt (93) Younger and Younger (93) Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters (94) Punch (94) The Lifeforce Experiment (TV-94) A Century of Cinema (94) Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (TV-94) Disclosure (94) Hollow Point (95) Citizen X (TV-95) Outbreak (95) A Time to Kill (96) The Jackal (97) Natural Enemy (TV-97) Shadow Conspiracy (97) Fallen (98) Without Limits (98) Free Money (98) Toscano (99) The Setting Sun (99) Panic (99) C.S.S. Hunley (TV-99) Virus (99) Behind the Mask (TV-99) Instinct (99) Panic (2000) The Art of War (2000) Space Cowboys (2000) Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (voice, 2001) The Big Heist (TV-2001) Uprising (TV-2001) Big Shot's Funeral (2002)
Donald's infamous role of Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the film M*A*S*H occurred in 1970. He won rave reviews for his performance and it was this film that made him a star. With this ranking came the opportunity to appear in a variety of films that would not have been available to him in the past. Films like Klute, costarring Jane Fonda in 1971, The Day of the Locust in 1975 and 1900 in the same year.
Donald was not just a Movie star his reach also spanned the world of television with the CBC production of Bethune in 1977. His versatility cropped up again when he went on to make Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Animal House in 1978. When 1980 came around Donald was in Ordinary People, a drama starring Mary Tyler Moore that brought his dramatic acting persona to the forefront of Hollywood. His role in the film found his fans and his critics raving about his performance. Donald's grasp on success being secure he made an average of two films a year throughout the eighties and won a Genie for his performance in Threshold in 1983. Donald put his talent to the test playing a pyromaniac in Backdraft. His ability to get under the skin of his characters is eerily apparent in this role. A role in Oliver Stone's JFK widened his breath of work in 1991, and was a standout within the ensemble cast he worked with. A cinematic version of the Broadway play Six Degrees of Separation was without doubt one of his shining hours. He won rave reviews for the 1993 performance, along with his costars Stockard Channing and Will Smith. He won an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in Citizen X in 1994-1995.
Donald next played Lucien Wilbanks, an alcoholic Southern lawyer with a few tricks up his sleeve in A Time to Kill, which was adapted from the John Grisham novel and made in 1996. In 1998 he played the coach of American phenom runner Steve Prefontaine. Without Limits was one of two movies released about the athlete. Space Cowboys was Donald's Y2K project and the animated Final Fantasy was released in 2001. In early November, 2000 he was honoured with a Governor-General's Performing Arts Award.
The reach of Donald's career can be seen in the most bizarre of places. Of course one needs to only look at son Kiefer to see his father. Other young actors in Hollywood seem to have observed a thing or two from Donald too. His penchant for changing scenery from script to script seems to keep his work fresh and interesting. By not getting stuck in one type of film he has prolonged his career and at the same time kept himself interested too. A strong foundation seems to have been the key to Donald's longevity. Which leaves one asking did Donald become an engineer who acts or an actor who dabbles in engineering?"
written by Siobhan Rossiter
Films:
The World Ten Times Over (1963) Hamlet (TV-64) Castle of the Living Dead (64) Die! Die! My Darling (65) The Bedford Incident (65) Dr.Terror's House of Horrors (65) Fanatic (65) Promise Her Anything (66) Billion Dollar Brain (67) The Dirty Dozen (67) The Sunshine Patriot (TV-68) The Split (68) Sebastien (68) Joanna (68) Interlude (68) Oedipus the King (68) Start the Revolution Without Me (70) Alex in Wonderland (70) Act of the Heart (70) M*A*S*H (70) Kelly's Heroes (70) Johnny Got His Gun (71) Little Murders (71) Klute (71) F.T.A. (72) Lady Ice (73) Alien Thunder (73) Steelyard Blues (73) Don't Look Now (73) S*P*Y*S (74) The Day of the Locust (75) End of the Game (76) Casanova (aka Fellini's Casanova, 76) 1900 (76) The Eagle Has Landed (76) Blood Relations (77) The Kentucky Fried Movie (77) The Assignment (77) The Disappearance (77) Bethune (TV-77) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (78) National Lampoon's Animal House (78) A Man, A Woman and a Bank (79) Murder by Decree (79) The First Great Train Robbery (79) Bear Island (79) Ordinary People (80) North China Commune (narrator - 80) Nothing Personal (80) Threshold (81) Gas (81) Eye of the Needle (81) A War Story (voice - 81) Max Dugan Returns (83) The Winter of our Discontent (TV-83) Ordeal by Innocence (84) Crackers (84) Revolution (85) Heaven Help Us (85) The Wolf at the Door (86) The Trouble With Spies (87) The Rosemary Murders (87) Apprentice to Murder (88) Lost Angels (89) A Dry White Season (89) Lock Up (89) Buster's Bedroom (90) Bethune: the Making of a Hero (90) JFK (91) Eminent Domain (91) Long Road Home (TV-91) Backdraft (91) Scream of Stone (91) Buffy the Vampire Slayer (92) Quicksand: No Escape (TV-92) The Railway Station Man (TV-92) Shadow of the Wolf (92) Six Degrees of Separation (93) Red Hot (93) Benefit of the Doubt (93) Younger and Younger (93) Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters (94) Punch (94) The Lifeforce Experiment (TV-94) A Century of Cinema (94) Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (TV-94) Disclosure (94) Hollow Point (95) Citizen X (TV-95) Outbreak (95) A Time to Kill (96) The Jackal (97) Natural Enemy (TV-97) Shadow Conspiracy (97) Fallen (98) Without Limits (98) Free Money (98) Toscano (99) The Setting Sun (99) Panic (99) C.S.S. Hunley (TV-99) Virus (99) Behind the Mask (TV-99) Instinct (99) Panic (2000) The Art of War (2000) Space Cowboys (2000) Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (voice, 2001) The Big Heist (TV-2001) Uprising (TV-2001) Big Shot's Funeral (2002)