A few words about Donald Sutherland
He didn’t need the entire spotlight, because stealing the scene came easy to him.
Thanks to my fearless (or careless?) dad, I had the pleasure of meeting so many great actors as a kid. Granted I met them on the big screen in whatever cinema piece that we were watching at Kenrick, Esquire, or the Tivoli-but it helped lay the groundwork for my appreciation of classic moviemaking and the faces who were doing the thing twenty years before I was even born. Instead of having to go back to revisit a classic talent when I was a teen or young man, I could recall the movie and role via memory, like a librarian finding a novel in a sea of pages.
The intense eyes are the first thing that comes to mind about Donald Sutherland. The actor died at the age of 88 on Thursday, announced in a heartfelt tweet from his son (and actor) Kiefer. The first time his father’s face came across my eyes’ desk, it was in Backdraft. He only had a couple scenes, but he revealed everything we had to know about Robert De Niro’s devilish character in Ron Howard’s terrific film. Calling him Shadow, De Niro takes young up and comer William Baldwin to meet Sutherland’s Ronald, a convicted arsonist. As they chase a new arsonist, Ronald shines a light on the nasty antagonistic crazy that exists in someone who likes starting fires. It’s a small yet pivotal part that’s dependent on the actor using everything available to have an effect.
In Sutherland’s case, those intense eyes were his secret weapon in many of his most noteworthy movies. From M.A.S.H. to Ordinary People-A Time to Kill and The Hunger Games for younger audiences-Sutherland never asked for the biggest piece of the spotlight. He preferred to bask in the gray areas of character development, roles that couldn’t find a comfy spot on good or evil’s side. He was his own thing, standing outside the norm of what the game wanted him to be.
While his talented son moved into leading man territory on screens big and small, Donald preferred a chair in the ensemble. He’s the tyrannical doom operator in the Jennifer Lawrence novel based film series, but audiences can’t take their eyes off him because he’s resolute in his beliefs. He can find a piece of empathy in the emptiest vessel. In 199 credited roles, Sutherland was in just about every other movie or show for a long time, even if just for a scene or that voice.
After all, talking about Sutherland without mentioning the captivating voice would be a rude smack to his arsenal of tricks. It wasn’t a commercial voice like Morgan Freeman or Bryan Cranston; more like a stern voiceover artist who knew more than you. He showed up for one (once again) pivotal scene towards the end of the under appreciated Lord of War, saving Nicolas Cage’s ass in the nick of time. A gatekeeper for facilitators, Sutherland was able to convey how powerful this man was with just a couple scenes of voice work. I don’t think a lot of actors could do it in such a way that all these years later the memory still doesn’t need to be unwrapped. It’s there, just like Sutherland’s talent will forever remain.
Most actors want some measure of notoriety, or at least a good chunk of dough. They want to be noticed and given credit. Sutherland didn’t really seem to need the extra fuss or bullshit around the career. He cut right to the heart of what the role and movie needed. He did that for over 60 years in Hollywood. Authentic longevity.
One more small role, big impact scene. Remember Oliver Stone’s JFK? Sutherland and that park bench in the nation’s capital, delivering fateful but not exactly tasteful news. A foreboding scene that works off the eyes and voice of the late actor.
Those were his secret weapons, the greeting alert for filmgoers who met a talent that didn’t need a movie poster spot to store a space in your brain. As the general rule informs, he may be gone but his work is anything but. Go get reacquainted.