Kiefer Sutherland Reflects on Life and Legacy of His Father, Donald Sutherland

Kiefer Sutherland attends the 2015 Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on June 7, 2015. Mike Coppola/Getty Images via CNN

In a recent installment of BBC Radio 3’s “Sound of Cinema” program, Kiefer Sutherland offered poignant reflections on the life and legacy of his late father, fellow actor Donald Sutherland.

During the broadcast, the younger Mr. Sutherland, 57, expressed one regret about their relationship.

“The only thing that my father and I, I think, have been sorry for is that we didn’t spend more time together,” he said.

“We’ve never had an issue with each other. So, when I was a young boy, I was never upset or cross with him. Our biggest frustration was that ... our lives took us in different directions and that we didn’t spend as much time together as we would have liked,” Mr. Sutherland said. “But when we did, it was wonderful. And, you know, I think the hardest thing for me is just, you always think you’re gonna make up for the time and inevitably you don’t.”

‘A Magical Time’

Mr. Kiefer Sutherland’s father and mother, actress Shirley Douglas, wed in 1966. They divorced four years later when the actor was just 3 years old. After the separation, Mr. Sutherland and his twin sister, Rachel, moved to Canada with their mother, who died in April 2020.

Growing up, Mr. Kiefer Sutherland occasionally visited his father during holiday and summer breaks. When he was 15, he moved to Hollywood, where his father resided.

In 1983, the younger Sutherland made his screen debut in “Max Dugan Returns,” playing a minor role in the comedy film, which also starred his father. The two actors later co-starred in the 1996 crime thriller “A Time to Kill,” based on John Grisham’s 1989 novel of the same name. However, they did not share any scenes.

Donald Sutherland arrives for the 90th Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 4, 2018. Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images

The actor went on to star alongside his father in 2015’s “Forsaken”—a Western drama about an estranged father and son, played by Mr. Donald Sutherland and Mr. Kiefer Sutherland, respectively.

The younger Sutherland told the BBC that the role was “a huge opportunity” for him to connect with his father. “We had kind of a magical time,” he said. “Both of us were very grateful for having the opportunity.”

Elaborating on their roles, Mr. Sutherland said the time they spent together making the film allowed them to see their relationship in a new light.

“I remember both of us kind of realizing that we had not spent three months together at any given moment for a very long time—since I was maybe a child and came to visit for summer—and how much we enjoyed that,” he said.

Cinematic Masterpieces

Earlier in the radio program, the younger Mr. Sutherland, who is best known for his roles in the drama series “24” and the 1987 film “The Lost Boys,” reflected on his father’s illustrious career, which spanned six decades.

After appearing in a slew of minor roles in the early ‘60s, Mr. Donald Sutherland landed his breakthrough role in the 1967 war film “The Dirty Dozen.” He went on to appear in “M*A*S*H” (1970), “Klute” (1971), “Animal House” (1978), “Ordinary People” (1980), “JFK” (1991), “Pride & Prejudice” (2005), and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” (2015), among other big-name films.

Most recently, Mr. Donald Sutherland starred in the 2023 television miniseries “Lawmen: Bass Reeves,” alongside Dennis Quaid, David Oyelowo, and Barry Pepper.

“What I thought was so fantastic and fascinating about my father’s decisions and choices as an actor was that they really embodied the idea that less was more,” Mr. Sutherland told “Sound of Cinema.”

“They were more realistic and they were more human, allowing all of the other aspects of filmmaking, whether it be the lighting and the music, to be more predominant.”

In particular, the actor said his father’s role in 1973’s “Don’t Look Now” was especially moving. “I think it’s the most important film he made,” he said, calling the horror film an “amazing cinematic [experience].”

“You have movies, which ‘Top Gun’ was a perfect movie, and then you have film, and ‘The Godfather’ is a fantastic film, and then you have cinema,” he explained.

Mr. Sutherland said his father worked on three projects that fell into the realm of cinema. “‘Don’t Look Now’ is at the paramount of that,” he said.

According to Mr. Sutherland, his father’s second piece of cinema was the 1976 historical drama “1900,” directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The film also starred Robert De Niro and Gérard Depardieu. Mr. Donald Sutherland’s third piece of cinema was 1976’s “Casanova,” directed by Federico Fellini.

“To be an actor in the film age, which is still only 125 years old, to be able to, in my opinion, claim that he’s made three pieces of cinema—that’s an extraordinary feat,” Mr. Sutherland shared.