# RIP Donald Sutherland **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [June 20, 2024, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127 "2024-06-20T17:48:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/61 "2024-06-23T19:25:04Z")
I completely agree. The heartbreaking part is seeing the pain that statement still caused him decades later. It’s one thing to hear strangers, or even friends, refer to you as ugly, but I can’t imagine how profound it must be to hear it from the person who brought you into the world. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/62 "2024-06-23T19:29:33Z")
And your mom is the one person in the world who _has_ to say you’re handsome. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/63 "2024-06-23T19:36:44Z")
> [@Disinfectus](#): > > I completely agree. The heartbreaking part is seeing the pain that statement still caused him decades later. It’s one thing to hear strangers, or even friends, refer to you as ugly, but I can’t imagine how profound it must be to hear it from the person who brought you into the world. I was in 9th grade when my brother was in 12th grade. My science teacher asked me if I was ever jealous of my brother. The thought had never occurred to me, so I said, “What do you mean?” She said something like, “Oh, you know, he’s popular, smart…” and several other positive adjectives. I was silent. She continued, “…not that you aren’t, I mean. Just wondering if you are jealous of what a great guy he is.” That was 30-31 years ago. Still hurts. It wasn’t that she was being intentionally mean; she just genuinely thought he was much better than me and someone I would be jealous of. Note: Some of that sounds almost creepy, but she wasn’t being creepy about him. There was no suggestion she was attracted to him, a student. She was just generally saying he’s a popular great guy and by insinuation, I was lesser than that. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/64 "2024-06-23T20:47:30Z")
I was always being compared to my older sister. We were only a grade apart, so it was easy for them. And she was the high school valedictorian. Not that I didn’t do fine (20th out of 600+ kids), but I tended to be a pain in most teachers’ butts. My younger sister still occasionally complains that she not only had to live _up_ to us both being smarter than her, but she had to live _down_ to my bad reputation. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/65 "2024-06-23T20:54:37Z")
> [@Disinfectus](#): > > I’ve loved pretty much all of his roles, but [his scene in JFK](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSw9sjqYK_I) was truly captivating, and as far as I’m concerned, the best part of the entire movie. Never saw that movie. Wow. What was his character’s position? > [@Mahaloth](#): > > All the way from MASH to Hunger Games, he seemed like not the most handsome man in the movies, but 100% _not_ ugly. [Hollywood homely.](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HollywoodHomely) ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/66 "2024-06-23T21:26:13Z")
Heheh, yeah. I’m often told “I don’t mean to insult you, but I think you look like (insert random actor who isn’t generally seen as attractive).” I always reply “Don’t worry about insulting me. I know I’m Hollywood ugly. So I’m a good 5-7 in the real world.” ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/67 "2024-06-23T21:42:16Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > [Hollywood homely.](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HollywoodHomely) Yes, Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer was supposed to be “Hollywood Ugly” for the first few seasons. As was her girlfriend Tara. Neither are, of course. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/68 "2024-06-23T21:48:15Z")
Nope, they recasted Willow, they were just going for cute and awkward geek with Alyson Hannigan. **Riff Regan** was the original Willow in the never aired pilot. > **[Riff Regan](https://buffy.fandom.com/wiki/Riff_Regan)** > > Riff Regan is the actress who portrayed Willow Rosenberg in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer pilot. The role was recast for the series and Alyson Hannigan took over the part. In addition to the pilot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Regan's acting credits... [![](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/58c2363b1d000039007cda07.png?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale&format=webp) ](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/58c2363b1d000039007cda07.png?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale&format=webp) * * * * * * Was Tara suppose to be “Hollywood Ugly” or just not a thin girl? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/69 "2024-06-23T21:49:44Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > **Riff Regan** was the original Willow in the never aired pilot. Totally remember. I still think that was the idea, but I agree Riff Regan was deemed “actually ugly”, which from my viewing of the original pilot, she was not. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/70 "2024-06-23T22:11:42Z")
I was passing by Gravenhurst, ON this weekend and it reminded me of Sutherland’s leading role in [Bethune: The Making of a Hero](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethune:_The_Making_of_a_Hero). It was the most expensive film in Canadian history at the time. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2024, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/71 "2024-06-23T22:52:26Z")
I always had that “I’m not joking, this is my job” video clip bookmarked, saving it for a particularly recalcitrant group of bored students. I always looked for them to pipe up and say, “Play the rest of that movie”, but no one ever did. Perhaps kids today don’t know about that documentary of college life. Thinking about it, since we had similiar jobs at one time, is that I would have liked to have most of the jobs he did in his movie roles. Such a cool, often snarky character. ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2024, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/72 "2024-06-24T14:27:59Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > What was his character’s position? Sutherland played “Mr. X” in the movie. According to Wikipedia: > **Leroy Fletcher Prouty** (January 24, 1917 – June 5, 2001) served as Chief of Special Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President John F. Kennedy. A colonel in the United States Air Force, he retired from military service to become a bank executive. He subsequently became a critic of U.S. foreign policy, particularly the covert activities of the Central Intelligence Agency(CIA), which he believed was working on behalf of a secret world elite. > > Prouty’s commentary on the Kennedy assassination circulated widely from the 1970s to 1990s, as a key source for conspiracy theories about it. He was the inspiration for the character “Mr. X” in Oliver Stone’s film _JFK_ . ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/73 "2024-06-25T20:56:00Z")
My household watched _The Italian Job_ last night in his honor. None of us had seen it before, and I think we all enjoyed it-- and agreed we shouldn’t overthink it. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2024, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/74 "2024-06-28T21:11:54Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Watch this moment with Anderson Cooper. That was my first thought, the firs time I noticed him in a movie (it might have been Klute, since his looks are sort of part of his character there), that is, how could someone so ugly be a movie star? I was young and naive at the time, and subsequently I think I have achieved a little more maturity on the subject. I can sympathize with what he went through, though. When I was a cub scout, and my father was active with our den, he was telling a story to my mother about one of the boys, and she wasn’t sure which one he was talking about, so he explained a bit more, and she said “Oh, the good-looking one.” This was at the dinner table, so it wasn’t accidental that I heard her say this, and I thought “Wait, I’m not good-looking?” After dinner I went and stared at myself in the bathroom mirror and decided I was, after all, ugly. Later I came to prefer “goofy-looking.” ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2024, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/75 "2024-06-29T22:41:45Z")
Just came across this story. When Sutherland was filming Alien Thunder in Saskatchewan in 1974, it was a rural area without much services, so he hired the lady who ran a little coffee shop to be his personal cook for the duration of the filming. It was an important event in her life, to be cooking for a movie star. > **[‘To her, he was a hero’ Donald Sutherland remembered by Sask. family](https://www.cjme.com/2024/06/28/to-her-he-was-a-hero-donald-sutherland-remembered-by-sask-family/)** > > "He was also a very kind person, and as she got to know him she found him more like an equal." Wiki article on the movie: > **[Alien Thunder | Synopsis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_Thunder#Synopsis)** > > Set in the North-West Territories in the 1890s after the North-West Rebellion, Alien Thunder is based on a true story about a Woods Cree (Gordon Tootoosis in his first film role) who kills a North-West Mounted Police sergeant (Kevin McCarthy) under desperate circumstances. Hunted for two years by the sergeant's resolute partner (Donald Sutherland), the ending brings tragedy for all those involved. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2024, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/76 "2024-06-30T13:14:53Z")
And an interesting article about a journalist who had tried for some time to get an interview with Sutherland. Then one day Sutherland called him. > **['I'm a Bluenoser': Donald Sutherland's love for and ties to Nova Scotia ran...](https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7246212)** > > Acting legend Donald Sutherland was born in Saint John, N.B., in 1935, but he spent many childhood years in Nova Scotia. "I'm a Bluenoser, I guess," he once said. "I smell like it. I feel like it. I think like it. The jokes that I find funny are... ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/77 "2024-08-09T19:16:22Z")
Hadn’t seen that interview clip with him before - wow. Sorry his mom’s carefully-chosen (if unflattering) words hit him so hard, and still stuck with him after all those years. Sutherland was a very talented and versatile actor, with a remarkable career. Some standout roles for me, in no particular order: _The Puppet Masters_ - The calm, cool head of a secret government agency _Animal House_ - The proto-hippy English Lit professor _Space Cowboys_ - The horny old astronaut _Eye of the Needle_ - The ruthless German spy _Backdraft_ - The quirky, old, still-dangerous pyromaniac _The Eagle Has Landed_ - The shrewd IRA operative _Outbreak_ - The tough U.S. Army general with a hidden agenda _Pride & Prejudice_ - The bemused country gentleman, husband of a pushy wife and father of five lively girls Rest in peace, Mr. Sutherland. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/78 "2024-08-09T23:17:35Z")
I happened to catch an old episode of the _The Saint_ this week, with Donald Sutherland. Also in it were Roger Moore (of course), Jean Marsh, and Wanda Ventham. Those were the beginnings of some very long careers. Their kids didn’t do too badly, either. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/79 "2024-08-10T13:58:07Z")
For me, his most memorable role was as Sergeant Major Peasy in _Revolution_. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127/80 "2024-08-12T19:23:49Z")
After I sent out a phishing warning to the company (everyone was copied on the phishing attempt), one of my coworkers also sent out a warning. (No details, like the header record I sent. Just ‘Don’t click on the link!’) I replied-all that if everyone is diligent, then when we receive these phishing attempts we’ll all look like this: [![](https://www.splittoothmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Invasion-Of-The-Body-Snatchers-Horse-Cropped.jpg) ](https://www.splittoothmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Invasion-Of-The-Body-Snatchers-Horse-Cropped.jpg) I saved the image to my hard drive so that I could use it next time I have to send out a warning. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-donald-sutherland/1003127.md?page=5)