Donald Edward McNichol Sutherland was born on July 17, 1935, in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. He is the son of Dorothy Isobel and Frederick McLea Sutherland, who worked in sales and managed local utilities including gas, power, and transportation services. Sutherland spent much of his youth in Nova Scotia. At the age of 14, he began working part-time as a news correspondent for the local radio station CKBW in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.
Sutherland studied at Victoria College, University of Toronto, where he initially pursued a double major in engineering and drama. During his university years, he became an active member of the “UC Follies” comedy troupe. Despite his early interest in becoming an engineer, he changed his career path and decided to pursue acting. In 1957, he left Canada for the United Kingdom to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).
After leaving LAMDA, Sutherland spent approximately 18 months performing with the Perth Repertory Theatre in Scotland. In the early to mid-1960s, he began securing minor roles in British film and television. He performed alongside Christopher Lee in horror films such as Castle of the Living Dead (1964) and Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965). That same year, he also appeared in the Cold War film The Bedford Incident and in the television series The Saint, in the 1965 episode titled "The Happy Suicide."
In 1966, he had a supporting role in the BBC television play Lee Oswald – Assassin, portraying Charles Givens, an acquaintance of Lee Harvey Oswald.
Sutherland gained wider recognition in the 1970s, beginning with his role in the Academy Award-winning thriller Klute (1971), in which he starred opposite Jane Fonda. During the production, Sutherland and Fonda developed a personal relationship. The pair went on to co-produce and star in the anti-Vietnam War documentary F.T.A. (1972), which featured satirical sketches performed near military bases across the Pacific, along with interviews with American soldiers then on active duty.
Later that year, the two actors also co-starred in Steelyard Blues (1972), a countercultural, comedic drama penned by David S. Ward. Sutherland's career thrived throughout the decade with prominent roles in films like the psychological thriller Don't Look Now (1973), the war drama The Eagle Has Landed (1976), and Federico Fellini’s romantic epic Casanova (1976). He also featured in the mystery spy thriller Eye of the Needle and starred as a persistent health inspector in the science fiction horror remake Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978).
In 1975, Sutherland appeared alongside Karen Black in The Day of the Locust, in which he played the central role of Homer Simpson, based on the novel by Nathanael West.
| Birth Date: | 17 Jul, 1935 |
| Age: | 84 yrs |
| Citizenship: | Canada |
| Birth Place: | Saint John |
| residence: | Stanstead |
| Gender: | Male |
| Description: | Canadian actor |
| Net Worth 2021: | 60 million |
