RIP, Donald Sutherland
Today actor Donald Sutherland passed away. He was 88.
His passing today is ironic to me, at least, because just yesterday I watched a few episodes of a 2023 TV series he acted in. He played the recurring (minor) character Judge Isaac Parker in Lawmen: Bass Reeves (link: IMDb page). That show seems to me like a spinoff, at least in concept, of an episode in the TV series Timeless from several years ago that featured the character Bass Reeves. I'm several months behind on writing about Timeless so I haven't addressed that episode yet. It was one of the best of the series. I'll write about Lawmen: Bass Reeves after I catch up on blogging about Timeless... which I'll do sometime after catching up on blogging about my trip to Alaska... which is currently falling even further behind because I've been busy with work today. Wow, is the common thread of this blog entry my blog backlog or Donald Sutherland? 🤣
I've got to say I'm not familiar with Sutherland's earlier work. He starred in 1970's M*A*S*H, the movie, though his portrayal of Hawkeye Pierce never registered with me like Alan Alda's enduring TV portrayal of that character did. When I watched 1967's The Dirty Dozen his character there wasn't memorable like Lee Marvin's hard-boiled lead, Charles Bronson's earnest convict seeking redemption, or Telly Savalas's bulging-eyed psychopath. And the movie that many critics say cemented his early career, 1980's Ordinary People, is one I was never aware of until I read about it in obituaries today.
To me, Sutherland was always old- and played old characters. And he did it amazingly well. His white hair and beard surrounded his face like a lion's mane, amplifying his presence as a person of stature and wisdom... and danger. Sutherland seemed to excel at portraying characters who could be warm on the surface while planning something terrible underneath.
Bringing that back full circle to his Judge Parker character in Bass Reeves, it makes me wonder what horrible villainy he's plotting. I've only seen the first 4 episodes so far, so I don't know if he turns out to be the master villain of series. Though now with his passing and only a single, 8-episode season of the show made, I wonder if the showrunners will recast the character.
His passing today is ironic to me, at least, because just yesterday I watched a few episodes of a 2023 TV series he acted in. He played the recurring (minor) character Judge Isaac Parker in Lawmen: Bass Reeves (link: IMDb page). That show seems to me like a spinoff, at least in concept, of an episode in the TV series Timeless from several years ago that featured the character Bass Reeves. I'm several months behind on writing about Timeless so I haven't addressed that episode yet. It was one of the best of the series. I'll write about Lawmen: Bass Reeves after I catch up on blogging about Timeless... which I'll do sometime after catching up on blogging about my trip to Alaska... which is currently falling even further behind because I've been busy with work today. Wow, is the common thread of this blog entry my blog backlog or Donald Sutherland? 🤣
I've got to say I'm not familiar with Sutherland's earlier work. He starred in 1970's M*A*S*H, the movie, though his portrayal of Hawkeye Pierce never registered with me like Alan Alda's enduring TV portrayal of that character did. When I watched 1967's The Dirty Dozen his character there wasn't memorable like Lee Marvin's hard-boiled lead, Charles Bronson's earnest convict seeking redemption, or Telly Savalas's bulging-eyed psychopath. And the movie that many critics say cemented his early career, 1980's Ordinary People, is one I was never aware of until I read about it in obituaries today.
To me, Sutherland was always old- and played old characters. And he did it amazingly well. His white hair and beard surrounded his face like a lion's mane, amplifying his presence as a person of stature and wisdom... and danger. Sutherland seemed to excel at portraying characters who could be warm on the surface while planning something terrible underneath.
Bringing that back full circle to his Judge Parker character in Bass Reeves, it makes me wonder what horrible villainy he's plotting. I've only seen the first 4 episodes so far, so I don't know if he turns out to be the master villain of series. Though now with his passing and only a single, 8-episode season of the show made, I wonder if the showrunners will recast the character.