With a long and prolific acting career which included several box office smashes, Donald Sutherland’s net worth is unsurprisingly in the millions of dollars.
Sutherland, described by his son and fellow actor Keifer Sutherland as “one of the most important actors in the history of film,” died on Thursday following a long illness, at the age of 88.
During his decades in the TV and film industry, the Canadian actor starred in such high-grossing films as MASH and JFK, as well as The Hunger Games franchise which earned more than $1.9bn worldwide.
Sutherland is thought to have had a net worth of around $60m, according to a range of celebrity tracking sites. He had been earning between $1.5m and $2m per movie in his later career, which spanned over six decades. Sutherland described his early work as “a meandering little career” which also included roles in low-budget horror flicks.
Yet one bad decision in 1978 meant he lost out on a major windfall during the filming of the cult movie Animal House, after accepting payment upfront for his role.
His breakout role came in 1967 when he joined the ensemble cast of Robert Aldrich’s war film, The Dirty Dozen. The movie eventually earned $24.2m in the US and Canada and was the fourth-highest-grossing film of 1967.
Several years later, Sutherland landed one of his most memorable roles as “Hawkeye” Pierce in Robert Altman’s MASH, the 1970 comedy about medics in the Korean War. The film ultimately earned an astonishing $81.6m against a budget of $3m.
However, in 1978, Sutherland made a financial misstep after signing on to Jon Landis’ comedy, Animal House. Landis, a friend of Sutherland, needed more “star power” for the film.
“I used to babysit Kiefer,” Landis told Entertainment Weekly. “So I called Donald, and he said, ‘I’ll do it, but I’m not going to do it for scale. They have to pay me upfront.’”
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Sutherland was initially offered either his day rate of $25,000 or 2 percent of Animal House‘s total gross, according to Landis. With low expectations of the movie’s box office prospects, he settled for the day rate.
For his role as Professor Dave Jennings, Sutherland reportedly took home $35,000. Unfortunately for him, Animal House went on to earn more than $130m in US cinemas alone.
“I don’t remember the numbers involved,” Landis explained. “But had he taken a profit position, he’d have made at least $20m.” Sutherland believed he would have made $14m by the time Animal House finished its theatrical run.
Despite this, Sutherland continued a strong run in films such as Ordinary People (1980), and Six Degrees Of Separation (1993). His supporting performances in TV shows Citizen X and Path To War, both earned him Golden Globes.
Sutherland gained popularity among younger audiences for his portrayal of President Snow in The Hunger Games franchise. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which earned a combined gross of $1.9bn worldwide.
According to ScreenRant, Sutherland probably made around $1m for his role in the first Hunger Games film, though he may have made closer to $5m by the time Mockingjay - Part 2 was released in 2015.
Speaking to the BBC in 2015, Sutherland said that becoming an actor to make money had “never occurred to me.”
"I don’t think anybody of my generation became an actor to make money,” he said. “It never occurred to me. I made £8 a week here [on stage in London]. When I starred in a play at the Royal Court, I made £17 a week, that was in 1964.
"Nowadays, some young people aspire to be an actor because they think that they will make a bunch of money. That’s an interesting change.”
