Donald Sutherland Once Wore a Gas Mask to a Party to Avoid Cigarette Smoke

Donald Sutherland arrives for the 90th Annual Academy Awards on March 4, 2018, in Hollywood, California. (Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)

In a tribute to Donald Sutherland, who died at 88 years of age last week after a long illness, actress Kiera Knightley shared how co-stars of the acting “giant” would “nervously” spray perfume and wash their hands to disguise the smell of cigarette smoke, a scent the M*A*S*H factory famously detested.

Ms. Knightley, 39, acted opposite Mr. Sutherland in the 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” Mr. Sutherland played the character of Mr. Bennet, while Ms. Knightley played his daughter Elizabeth Bennet.

Following his passing, Ms. Knightley and several other co-stars contributed to a feature in The Guardian, published June 24, paying tribute to the late actor.

When Ms. Knightley first met Mr. Sutherland, she recalled being “unbelievably intimidated,” calling the M*A*S*H actor “terrifying and impish and generous.”

She also revealed a clause in Mr. Sutherland’s contract that prohibited anyone from smoking near him, as he was near many younger co-stars who smoked.

“Donald was a giant. When you meet most actors, they’re surprisingly small. But Donald was huge,” Ms. Knightley said.

“I remember feeling unbelievably intimidated by his size and reputation when I first met him. He had this clause in his contract that no one was allowed to smoke anywhere near him. Most of the rest of the cast were in their late teens and early 20s, all chugging away,” she continued.

Ms. Knightley described the lengths the young stars would go to conceal their smoking habit from Mr. Sutherland and how they would “nervously shuffle about” when the late actor would smell the air as he arrived on set.

“We used to manically wash our hands and spray ourselves with perfume after, so he wouldn’t know,” Ms. Knightley said. “He’d sniff the air as soon as he came on set and we’d all nervously shuffle about.”

According to the “Pride and Prejudice” star, Mr. Sutherland arrived at a party in a gas mask.

“At some point during filming, he came to a party we all had in a gas mask so we could all smoke. I will always remember him standing in the middle of that party in a gas mask,” Ms. Knightley said.

“He gave us all gifts and invitations to visit him on his lake in Canada. I wish I’d gone. He was full of stories and mischief. Strange and wonderful and loved by all of us. He will be greatly missed.”

Other co-stars who shared moments and tributes of Sutherland include “M*A*S*H” co-star Elliot Gould, “Ad Astra” director James Gray, “The Hunger Games” director Francis Lawrence, “Land of the Blind” co-star Ralph Fiennes, and “The Eagle” director Kevin Macdonald.

Mr. Fiennes also attested to Mr. Sutherland’s stance against smoking. “He couldn’t bear smoking and I know he had strict rules about not being within so many meters of anyone who smoked. Like a lot of actors of a certain age (he must have been in his late 60s at that time), he had very precise requirements about the conditions in which he would work,”

“Donald was a true human being—and not all of us are,” Mr. Gould said. “He could identify with any of us. His presence and his nature, his life and his mind are an asset for everyone. We all come and go physically, but as a being, he was really special and unique.”

Sutherland’s Acting Career

The late actor was born on July 17, 1935, in Saint John, Canada, and raised in Nova Scotia. He performed in school productions throughout his college years before going to Britain to sharpen his skills.

Mr. Sutherland then moved to the United States, where he received his big break as a cast member of the 1967 war film “The Dirty Dozen.” Three years later, he joined the film—later spun off into a TV series—“M*A*S*H” where he played a surgeon named Hawkeye Pierce.

Other films he contributed to include “Klute,” “Six Degrees of Separation,” “Pride and Prejudice,” and “The Hunger Games,” the final film and its sequels in which he played dictator President Snow.

“I wish I could say thank you to all of the characters that I’ve played, thank them for using their lives to inform my life,” Mr. Sutherland said in his speech while accepting an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement in 2017.

In 1995, Mr. Sutherland won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor for his role in the drama “Citizen X,” and two Golden Globe awards for his appearances in “Citizen X” and “Path to War.”

“I personally think [he’s] one of the most important actors in the history of film,” his son Kiefer Sutherland said. “Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived.”

His recent work included 2022’s “Swimming With Sharks” series and the 2023 movie “Miranda’s Victim.”

On June 20, Kiefer Sutherland shared that his father had died. “With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away.”

The late actor leaves behind five children, his wife Francine Racette, and several other family members.