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== Early life and education == [[File:Sutherland in Puppet Club at Victoria School.png|thumb|Sutherland (third from the right) at the Puppet Club at Victoria School in Saint John, 1948]] Donald McNichol Sutherland was born on 17 July 1935 at the [[Saint John General Hospital]] in [[Saint John, New Brunswick]], Canada,<ref name="CTVAtlantic">{{cite news |title=Donald Sutherland honoured in his hometown of Saint John |url=https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/donald-sutherland-honoured-in-his-hometown-of-saint-john-1.3689650 |access-date=28 November 2023 |work=[[CTV Atlantic]] |date=22 November 2017 |language=en |archive-date=4 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180204090620/https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/donald-sutherland-honoured-in-his-hometown-of-saint-john-1.3689650 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Chase's Annual Events|author1=Chase, W.D.R.|author2=Chase, H.M.|date=1994|publisher=Contemporary Books|isbn=9780809237326|issn=0740-5286|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WA3vAAAAMAAJ|access-date=6 December 2014|archive-date=1 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901100002/https://books.google.com/books?id=WA3vAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> the youngest son of Dorothy Isobel ({{nee|McNichol}}; 1892–1956) and Frederick McLea Sutherland (1894–1983), who worked in sales and ran the local gas, electricity, and bus company.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800010767/bio|title=Donald Sutherland Biography|publisher=Movies.yahoo.com|access-date=2 March 2011|archive-date=3 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603235357/http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800010767/bio|url-status=live}}</ref> He was of Scottish, German, and English ancestry.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0911FE345511728DDDAE0994D8415B8084F1D3|work=[[The New York Times]]|first=Tom|last=Buckley|title=At the Movies|date=17 October 1980|access-date=7 February 2017|archive-date=3 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203191816/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0911FE345511728DDDAE0994D8415B8084F1D3|url-status=live}}</ref> His grandfather was a Scots church minister.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Hepburn |first=David |date=21 June 2024 |title=Donald Sutherland and Scotland: Looking back at the actor's Scottish roots and pride at his Scottish heritage |url=https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/film-and-tv/donald-sutherland-and-scotland-looking-back-at-the-actors-scottish-roots-4674367 |website=[[The Scotsman]]}}</ref> As a child, he had [[rheumatic fever]], [[hepatitis]], and [[polio]].<ref name="Gainesville">{{cite news|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9FgzAAAAIBAJ&pg=6752,4746901&dq=donald-sutherland+scotia|first= Bob|last= Thomas|work= Gainesville Sun|agency= Associated Press|date= 14 October 1989|title= Sutherland gets a 'kick-start' for his soul|access-date= 17 June 2012|archive-date= 7 December 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221207040725/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9FgzAAAAIBAJ&pg=6752,4746901&dq=donald-sutherland+scotia|url-status= live}}</ref> During the first six years of his life, Sutherland and his family lived on present-day Kennebecasis River Road in [[Hampton, New Brunswick|Hampton]], a town in [[Kings County, New Brunswick|Kings County]], having moved there from Saint John while he was an infant. He first received education at a one-room schoolhouse in Hampton; Sutherland's family moved back to Saint John when he was six, his father having secured a position in the [[NB Power|New Brunswick Power Company]] as its vice president and general manager. Sutherland attended the Victoria School in Saint John, and later played hockey for the school. During this time, Sutherland also practiced [[puppetry]].<ref name="TJPQ">{{cite news |last1=Dwyer |first1=Erin |title=The Sutherland connection; Saint Johners recall Donald Sutherland's clumsiness and love of puppets as a boy |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/423170787 |access-date=21 June 2024 |work=[[Telegraph-Journal]] |date=16 February 2002 |archive-date=22 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240622030711/https://www.proquest.com/docview/423170787/3D783ACF4C7D493BPQ/1 |id={{ProQuest|423170787}} |url-status=live}}</ref> In a letter Sutherland sent to a [[Saint John Free Public Library]] representative in 2017, he detailed how he and his family had lived in a farmhouse in [[Lakeside, New Brunswick|Lakeside]], located in present-day Hampton, before moving to [[Bridgewater, Nova Scotia]], at the age of 12,<ref name="CTVAtlantic"/> where he spent his teenage years.<ref name="Gainesville"/> He obtained his first part-time job, at the age of 14, as a news correspondent for [[Independent Local Radio|local radio]] station [[CKBW-FM|CKBW]].<ref name="sutherland-interview">{{cite magazine |last1=Schulman |first1=Michael |title=Road Trip with Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/12/happy-campers |access-date=20 June 2024 |magazine=The New Yorker |publisher=Condé Nast |date=5 February 2018 |archive-date=6 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606074140/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/12/happy-campers |url-status=live}}</ref> At the age of 19, Sutherland spent four months as an [[Student exchange program|exchange student]] in Finland, where he lived near an iron mine located in [[Otanmäki]], [[Kainuu]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/nalkapeli-tahti-asui-nuorena-suomessa-rakastuin-kainuulaiseen-tyttoon/4536524#gs.an5nd1|title=Nälkäpeli-tähti asui nuorena Suomessa: Rakastuin kainuulaiseen tyttöön|trans-title='The Hunger Games' star lived in Finland when he was young: "I fell in love with a Kainuu-born girl!"|last=Pyrhönen|first=Kari|work=[[MTV Uutiset]]|date=17 November 2014|access-date=22 June 2024|language=fi}}</ref><ref>Kanto, Erkki; Kanto, Ilona (2001). ''Miten Hollywood valloitetaan? Suomalaisella sisulla menestystä tavoittelemassa – tositarinoita showmaailman mekasta'' (in Finnish). Hämeenlinna: Karisto. pp. 27, 28. {{ISBN|951-23-4162-X}}.</ref> Sutherland graduated from [[Bridgewater Junior Senior High School|Bridgewater High School]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Allen |first1=Tess |last2=Fahey |first2=Mary |title=New Brunswickers make their mark in entertainment |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1700592223 |access-date=22 June 2024 |work=[[The Daily Gleaner]] |date=3 August 2015 |page=A8 |archive-date=22 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240622055051/https://www.proquest.com/docview/1700592223/A24E35CEA1DE4AEEPQ/1 |id={{ProQuest|1700592223}} |url-status=live }}</ref> He then began studying at the [[University of Toronto]] before transferring to its affiliate college, [[Victoria University, Toronto|Victoria University]],<ref name="SaultStar-1">{{cite news |title=Don Sutherland films 'Casanova' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sault-star/149817493/ |access-date=22 June 2024 |work=[[The Sault Star]] |date=1 August 1975 |page=21 |archive-date=22 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240622054442/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sault-star/149817493/ |url-status=live }}</ref> where he met his first wife Lois May Hardwick.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 2010 |title=Obituary: Lois Sutherland, 1936–2010 |url=http://www.the-archer.co.uk/archive/2010/2010Dec09.pdf |website=the-archer.co.uk |publisher=The Archer |access-date=25 March 2021 |archive-date=1 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110601130149/http://www.the-archer.co.uk/archive/2010/2010Dec09.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> He graduated in 1958,<ref name="SaultStar-1"/> with a [[dual degree]] in engineering and drama.<ref>{{cite news |title=In memoriam: Donald Sutherland, Canadian acting legend and U of T alum |url=https://alumni.utoronto.ca/news/memoriam-donald-sutherland-canadian-acting-legend |access-date=22 June 2024 |work=University of Toronto Alumni |date=21 June 2024 |language=en |archive-date=21 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240621232944/https://alumni.utoronto.ca/news/memoriam-donald-sutherland-canadian-acting-legend |url-status=live }}</ref> He had at one point been a member of the "UC Follies" comedy troupe in [[Toronto]]. He changed his mind about becoming an engineer, and left Canada for Britain in 1957,<ref name="DVDinterview">Sutherland in a TV interview during the shooting of ''[[The Eagle Has Landed (film)|The Eagle Has Landed]]'' (on the DVD): "I was in England from 1957 until 1968." [Checked 17 June 2012.]</ref> studying at the [[London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art]] (LAMDA).<ref name="bbc-obit">{{cite news |title=Obituary: Donald Sutherland |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-52070783 |access-date=20 June 2024 |work=BBC |date=20 June 2024 |archive-date=20 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620184822/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-52070783 |url-status=live}}</ref>
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