My favorite role of Donald Sutherland was as Confederate General Pierre Beauregard as he calms a group of Confederate civilians under bombardment by Union forces in besieged Charleston by singing The Bonnie Blue Flag. This is from the 1999 movie The Hunley, a film about the Confederate proto-submarine. (My late brother-in-law, Charles Stringer, had a cameo as a Confederate amputee soldier. Sutherland had always been a Hollywood liberal, and this scene demonstrates just how recent the politicization of all things Confederate has been by the Left in this country.)
The CSS Hunley was a tribute to Rebel ingenuity. Working far beyond cutting edge technology, the Confederates in besieged Charleston produced a workable submarine. It cost the lives of three crews, but on its first and final combat mission on February 17, 1864, it sent the USS Housatonic, a sloop of war, to the bottom of the entrance of Charleston harbor, with the Hunley and her crew being lost in her moment of victory.
Bonus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8mu78IPIJU
Sutherland died at age 88. In many ways he was typical of the entertainment industry with three wives and predictable Leftist politics. He was blessed with five kids: four sons and one daughter. His talent was greater than most members of his profession. I will miss him.
Rest in Eternal Peace Donald Sutherland. An end of an era- he had been an actor for over 60 years. Not bad. His son Kiefer is a pretty good actor, and hasn’t relied on nepotism to carry his career. But his father possessed that authority on the screen that few had. I would say Gene Hackman was another one. Hopefully if I get time on the weekend, I’d like to watch one of his films.
As an armor officer in my former life I believe that his role as Oddball may be the best idealization of a tanker in cinema. “Oh man, I just ride ’em. I don’t know what makes them work.”
“Oh man, I just ride ’em. I don’t know what makes them work.”
That summarized the attitude of my tanker brother!
I was just looking at his Imdb page after the news broke. 199 acting projects listed. Has anyone seen the movie Fallen? Religious horror, very well done.
Yes, a broken attitude toward marriage–until his third, when he figured it out.
A fascinating man, and a great workaday actor. He described his career as “horizontal, like a buffet. You won’t like everything, but you’ll like some of it.”
He joyfully recounted the story of a little girl who yanked on his pantleg at an airport during his run as President Snow in The Hunger Games. She asked for his picture, and as he was getting ready for the snap, the little girl whispered “Look mean.”
May he rest in peace.
The only way I got to keep them Tigers busy is to let them shoot holes in me!
Still one of my favorite lines of all time. RIP