Vale Donald

Donald Sutherland (17 July 1935 to 20 June 2024)

No, they haven’t assassinated Donald Trump, yet. Rather, we honour today the passing of a Donald on the other end of the political spectrum, (if that device still applies).

He was sui generis – not handsome, but suited to starring roles, not a ‘character actor’, but he enlivened many otherwise humdrum films with superb vignettes. As to the latter, think of his smiling treacherous Irishman in The Eagle Has Landed (1976), his spooky firebug in Backdraft (1991), his perfect playing as Mr. X in JFK (1991), the smiling-assassin Big-Boss in Disclosure (1994), or the Reverend in Cold Mountain (2003).

TVC would single out from his almost 150 film appearances:

The Dirty Dozen (1967)

M*A*S*H (1970)

Klute (1971)

Don’t Look Now (1973)

The Day of the Locust (1975)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Ordinary People (1980)

Eye of the Needle (1981)

A Dry White Season (1989)

JFK (1991)

Six Degrees of Separation (1993)

Horrible Bosses (2011) (he was the nice one)