'Heartbroken' Jane Fonda Leads Tributes To Late Co Star Donald Sutherland

Actress Jane Fonda has led the tributes to her former co-star Donald Sutherland, who passed away aged 88.

Sutherland who was renowned for roles in Ordinary People, M*A*S*H, and The Hunger Games franchise, passed away following a "long illness" yesterday. The actor was due to release his memoir, Made Up, But Still True, later this year.

He was also known for roles in The Mechanic, satire The Day Of The Locust, horror Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, Roman epic The Eagle, war film The Dirty Dozen, drama Space Cowboys and period drama Pride & Prejudice. 

The actor's death was confirmed by his son and actor Kiefer Sutherland, who called his father “one of the most important actors in the history of film”.

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Jane Fonda who co-starred alongside Donald Sutherland in the 1971 thriller, Klute, led the tributes to the late actor.

“I am heartbroken”, she began.

Klute saw Sutherland star as the titular detective, trying to protect Fonda's character from a killer who was stalking her. 

The pair who also dated for a time, also set up a travelling anti war show in front of US soldiers in 1971, a reaction to Bob Hope’s United Service Organisation tour for the troops, in light of the Vietnam war.

A year later, the show was made into a documentary FTA, displaying the anti-war feelings of that time.

“He was my fascinating co-star in Klute and we loved working together”, Fonda added.

“Donald was a brilliant actor and a complex man who shared quite a few adventures with me, such as the FTA Show, an anti-Vietnam war tour that performed for 60,000 active duty soldiers, sailors, and marines in Hawaii, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Japan in 1971”.

We asked the kindest man in the world to portray the most corrupt, ruthless dictator we’ve ever seen. Such was the power and skill of Donald Sutherland’s acting that he created one more indelible character among many others that defined his legendary career. We are privileged to… pic.twitter.com/jQsRzGW2KN

— The Hunger Games (@TheHungerGames) June 20, 2024

Helen Mirren also paid tribute to Donald Sutherland.  

Mirren who featured alongside Sutherland in 2017’s The Leisure Seeker, following their 1990 drama Bethune: The Making Of A Hero, also paid tribute to the actor.

“Donald Sutherland was one of the smartest actors I ever worked with,” Mirren began.

“He had a wonderful enquiring brain and a great knowledge on a wide variety of subjects. He combined this great intelligence with a deep sensitivity and with a seriousness about his profession as an actor”, she added. “This all made him into the legend of film that he became”. 

                                          (Helen Mirren who featured alongside Sutherland in 2017’s The Leisure Seeker) (Source: Shutterstock)

Elliot Gould who also starred alongside Sutherland in the 1970 film version of M*A*S*H, said that his co star as a “giant” of acting.

Gould also revealed that the pair were both “young fathers” when they worked together, adding that his death “really profoundly hurts because Donald was like my brother, and a big part of my own career”.

Having heard of his death via a news conference regarding a national school food programme, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trundeau called Sutherland  “truly a great Canadian artist”.

Paying his respects, US President Joe Biden called Sutherland a “one-of-a-kind actor who inspired and entertained the world for decades”.

Donald Sutherland was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and one-of-a-kind actor who inspired and entertained the world for decades.

My thoughts are with his family and all those who loved him.

— President Biden (@POTUS) June 20, 2024

Donald Sutherland is survived by his wife Francine Racette, sons Rossif, Roeg, Angus and Kiefer, daughter Rachel, and four grandchildren.