Donald Sutherland turns 83

Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda in Klute (1971)

Today is the 83rd birthday of Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, who has appeared in a whole bunch of excellent movies without actually getting nominated for a competitive Oscar himself. Sutherland's career started in television, with one of his earliest movies being a role I don't remember in a really fun movie, Die! Die! My Darling!. (One of the IMDb commenters says he's the handyman.) There are also roles in things like The Dirty Dozen, before he finally hit it big in 1970 with MASH and Kelly's Heroes.

Sutherland acted opposite Oscar-winner Jane Fonda in Klute (pictured above), and in 1980 Best picture Ordinary People, as the husband of Mary Tyler Moore (Oscar-nominated) and father of Timothy Hutton (won the Oscar). I think Sutherland had the most difficult role in the movie, but still he didn't get an Oscar nomination.


Mary Tyler Moore, Timothy Hutton, and Donald Sutherland in Ordinary People (1980)

In fact, he's never been Oscar-nominated, although to be fair there are a lot of roles that, although fun, aren't exactly Oscar bait. The Great Train Robbery comes to mind, as does the 1970s version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers or The Eagle Has Landed. Sutherland did finally get a lifetime achievement Oscar this past year.