Donald Sutherland, Emmy-Winning 'Body Snatchers', 'Hunger Games' Star, Has Died At 88

The actor’s six decades in Hollywood earned him great acclaim

Snow has fallen over Panem. Donald Sutherland, the revered actor who has over 200 credits to his name, starring in films including The Dirty Dozen, the original MASH, Animal House, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Italian Job and The Hunger Games movies, as well as TV series including Commander in Chief, Dirty Sexy Money, The Undoing, and Lawmen: Bass Reeves, died at 88 on Thursday in Miami after a long illness.

His son Kiefer, known for starring on Fox’s 24 franchise, Touch, and ABC and Netflix’s Designated Survivor, and movies such as Flatliners, The Lost Boys, Stand By Me, Monsters vs. Aliens, and The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial also made the announcement on Twitter. He wrote “With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away. 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 had four other children, sons Roeg, Rossif and Angus, and a daughter, Rachel. Kiefer and Donald starred together in films such as 1983’s Max Dugan Returns, 1996’s A Time to Kill, and 2015’s Forsaken.

William Russell, Original 'Doctor Who' Companion Ian Chesterton, Has Died At 99

The elder Sutherland was born on July 17, 1935, in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Recipient of a 2017 Honorary Oscar, his big break was the 1967 World War II drama The Dirty Dozen, playing Vernon Pinkley alongside Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, George Kennedy, Telly Savalas and more. As his career advanced, he would become known forlaconic, wry and dead-serious” line readings playing such characters as the level-headed detective John Klute in Klute. He would also originate Hawkeye Pierce in the original film version of MASH. In Don’t Look Now he played John Baxter, skeptical of his wife’s claims that their recently deceased daughter is trying to contact them from the afterlife. The younger generations likely know him best as fascist dictator President Coriolanus Snow in the The Hunger Games movies. Notably, he was also Merrick, the original Watcher for Buffy Summers in the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer film where she was played by Kristy Swanson.

The TV roles that preceded Judge Parker on Bass Reeves, which was his last, include an Emmy and Golden Globe-winning turn in the 1995 HBO TV movie Citizen X. His roles as Speaker of the House Nathan Templeton on ABC’s Commander in Chief and Darling family patriarch Patrick “Tripp” Darling III on Dirty Sexy Money earned him Golden Globe nominations. He also played oil tycoon J. Paul Getty on FX’s Trust, and stopped by The Simpsons as Hollis Hurlbut in the iconic seventh season episode “Lisa the Iconoclast”.

Sources: Deadline, Kiefer Sutherland, TVLine