Name a comparable actor, or someone whose qualities remind you of Donald Sutherland.
Anyone?
Difficult, no? I doubt there is one, certainly not with the same lucky combination of physical traits and vocal singularity.
In no particular order: the blue eyes, the long, narrow Modigliani face, the suave lankiness, the glorious upside-down “V” eyebrows that made 57 varieties of dialogue both sinister and amusing. And, once heard, never forgotten, the mellow-cello voice, luxuriantly authoritative, trustworthy when needed. Sutherland sold a lot of products in commercial voice-overs after his stardom; I was halfway out of the house and heading to the grocery store 10 seconds into his first Simply Orange orange juice ad.
But Sutherland’s career called for plenty of less trustworthy characters, always striking without grandstanding, sneakily human when the material was up for supporting a hungry actor’s efforts. Sutherland died June 20 in Miami after an illness at the age of 88, and seeing “The Hunger Games” cited in so many obituaries is testament to what he brought to President Snow, leader of a bleak future America. He could, and did, deliver a lot more than surface villainy.
The Canadian-born actor was a sickly child, deeply self-conscious about the size of his ears, and his looks in general. Confronted by young Donald with the question “Am I good looking?,” his mother took a few long seconds to find an answer. Which was: “Your face has character.” He hid in his room the rest of the day and, nearly a lifetime later, he acknowledged to “60 Minutes” and interviewer Anderson Cooper that he never got over it.