Donald Sutherland: An aristocrat of the big screen
Donald Sutherland had a distinctive leonine handsomeness that the white beard of his latter years only made more majestic. Photo: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Donald Sutherland was an utterly unique actor and irreplaceable star: possessed of a distinctive leonine handsomeness that the white beard of his latter years only made more majestic: watchful, cerebral, charismatic, with a refinement to his screen acting technique comparable perhaps only to Paul Scofield.
His Canadian background (together with his early stage training and experience in England and Scotland) gave his American roles a certain touch of Anglo-international class. Sutherland was commanding and exacting, he gave each of his roles and films something special: he addressed his co-stars and the camera itself from a position of strength.
