Donald Sutherland RIP
Jun. 22nd, 2024 07:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphilo Last time I watched Donald Sutherland was a few weeks back when I happened upon the BBC's 1960s Hamlet with Christopher Plummer and Robert Shaw. He was playing Fortinbras- and doing it with an odd Scandanavian accent, adopted, I suppose, to differentiate him from the very English "Danes". Fortinbras is an unrewarding role but one in which you need an actor with presence. The high-spirited military hero, whom Hamlet so much admires, needs to make an impression- and Sutherland did.
He was never quite a leading man- he didn't have the looks for it- but he could steal movies from actors who were. You saw his name in a cast list and thought, "If he's in it it can't be all that bad". He was versatile. I've been thinking 18th century thoughts recently and his Casanova has kept popping into my head. It was a selfless performance. Fellini said he cast him because he wanted someone with the "eyes of a masturbator"- and had him shave his forehead to replicate Casanova's actual (to modern eyes) unalluring appearance. Casanova is a disappointing movie- at least I found it disappointing when I saw it in the cinema- but maybe that had to do with my expectations. I find now I very much want to see it again....
Not a leading man, but undoubtedly one of the best screen actors of the last half century. Also, by all accounts, a nice man. Quora has people regularly write in about the pleasant and not so pleasant celebrities they've met- and a former hotel worker recently wrote a piece about how friendly and unassuming Sutherland was- and how he gave everyone in the hotel- including the bloke who merely opened a car door for him- a very big tip....
He was never quite a leading man- he didn't have the looks for it- but he could steal movies from actors who were. You saw his name in a cast list and thought, "If he's in it it can't be all that bad". He was versatile. I've been thinking 18th century thoughts recently and his Casanova has kept popping into my head. It was a selfless performance. Fellini said he cast him because he wanted someone with the "eyes of a masturbator"- and had him shave his forehead to replicate Casanova's actual (to modern eyes) unalluring appearance. Casanova is a disappointing movie- at least I found it disappointing when I saw it in the cinema- but maybe that had to do with my expectations. I find now I very much want to see it again....
Not a leading man, but undoubtedly one of the best screen actors of the last half century. Also, by all accounts, a nice man. Quora has people regularly write in about the pleasant and not so pleasant celebrities they've met- and a former hotel worker recently wrote a piece about how friendly and unassuming Sutherland was- and how he gave everyone in the hotel- including the bloke who merely opened a car door for him- a very big tip....
