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‘Hunger Games’ Star Donald Sutherland Dead at Age 88: ‘A Life Well Lived’
Legendary actor Donald Sutherland has died at the age of 88. While his cause of death is unclear, Donald’s son Kiefer Sutherland announced the sad news on Thursday, June 20.
“With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away,” Kiefer, 57, shared via Instagram alongside a childhood photo with the Hunger Games star. “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.”
Donald’s career spanned more than seven decades after getting his big break in Robert Aldrich’s 1967 film The Dirty Dozen. He later landed roles in films such as 1970’s MASH and Kelly’s Heroes. Throughout the next decade, Donald starred in iconic films like National Lampoon’s Animal House, The First Great Train Robbery and Don’t Look Now.
His success continued well into the 2000s with roles in such films as Pride & Prejudice, Dirty Sexy Money, The Hunger Games saga and many others. Donald’s final role came just one year before his death, as he portrayed Judge Parker in Paramount+’s Lawmen: Bass Reeves alongside David Oyelowo and Dennis Quaid.
Aside from his onscreen accolades, Donald was honored with a maple leaf on Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2000, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011, Officer of the Order of Canada in 1978 and an Honorary Doctor of Arts in 2005. He took home a primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe in 1995 for his role in Citizen X, among other honors.
Despite his highly regarded career, Donald was never nominated for an Academy Award. In 2017, however, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored the Canada native with an Academy Honorary Award.
“I made it to the toilet. Older people with smaller bladders, it would be wonderful if the toilets in this building were a little closer,” he joked during his acceptance speech. He went on to recall the moment he found out he was to be receiving his award, joking that he was “going to have to lose weight.”
“This is very important to me, to my family. It’s like a door’s open and a cool wonderfully fresh breath of air has come in. I wish I could say thank you to all of the characters I’ve played. Thank them for using their lives to inform my life,” he continued during the November 2017 event.
Donald was married to third wife Francine Racette from 1972 until his death in June 2024. He and Francine welcomed three sons, Rossif, Angus Redford and Roeg, throughout their marriage. Donald also shares eldest children, twins Keifer and Rachel, with his second wife, Shirley Douglas.
“And of course, thank you to Francine Racette, from whom everything has come. That’s my family. From whom everything has come, and to whom everything is owed,” he acknowledged in his speech. “I have been a partner to her for over 45 years. And in all that she has supported me with – her intelligence, her intuition, her instruction, her ability to make me laugh in the direst of situations, her extraordinary sense of taste, her residual belief in me – I mean, she deserves a medal for that.”
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