Donald Sutherland, M*A*S*H And Hunger Games Actor, Dies at 88

Entertainment Weekly reports that one of my favorite actors, Donald Sutherland, has died.

Donald Sutherland, he Canadian actor whose career spans seven decades and includes revered films as Klute, M*A*S*H, Ordinary People, Pride and Prejudice, and The Hunger Games, has died. He was 88. 

His son, fellow actor Kiefer Sutherland, 57, revealed the news in an emotional Thursday social media post.

"With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away,” he wrote on X.  “I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film. 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.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

Donald Sutherland dead: 'Hunger Games' actor was 88 (ew.com)

I first saw Donald Sutherland in one my favorite films, The Dirty Dozen. Sutherland had a minor role as one of the dozen military misfits, but he stood out in one scene when Lee Marvin asked the goofy soldier to impersonate a general. Great scene.

You can watch the scene below:

Bing Videos   

I next saw Sutherland in one of his finest roles as Army Doctor “Hawkeye” Pierce in Robert Altman’s 1969 film MASH.

You can watch a scene from the film via the below link:     

Bing Videos

Sutherland also appeared as the lead in a fine horror film called Don’t Look Now.

You can watch a scene via the below link:

Bing Videos

And Sutherland appeared with another one of my favorite actors, Sean Connery, in The Great Train Robbery.

You can watch a video via the below link:

Bing Videos

Donald Sutherland appeared in many more films and TV shows.

He will be missed.

A Look Back At Richard Hornberger, The Author Of MASH

I watched an episode of MASH on METV last night. 

The show was funny, and I laughed a couple of times, but the TV series was nowhere near as funny and clever as the Richard Hornberger (seen in the below photo) MASH novel or the 1970 Robert Altman film.

I first saw the film MASH in 1971 when I was an 18-year-old sailor serving on the USS Kitty Hawk as the aircraft carrier performed combat operations on “Yankee Station,” in the South China Sea, off the coast of North Vietnam. 

A lot of the older officers and senior enlisted hated the film, as they saw it as an anti-Vietnam War message, even if the film portrayed the Korean War.  

Although I was a fervent anti-communist and supported the Vietnam War – I thought we should have gone all out to win the war – I loved the film. 

I thought it was funny and irreverent, like other service comedies that preceded it.   

I bought the book, MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, soon after we returned home from Southeast Asia. I liked Richard Hornberger’s classic satirical novel even better than the film. 

Richard Hornberger (seen in the above photo in South Korea in front of the tent famously known as the "Swamp"), wrote the slim novel under the pen name Richard Hooker in 1968. 

Hornberger served as an Army doctor in a MASH unit during the Korean War, and according to those who knew him, he based the wise-cracking and irreverent character Hawkeye Pierce on himself.  

Richard Hornberger, who died in 1997 when he was 73, liked the film, and he liked actor Donald Sutherland’s portrayal of Hawkeye Pierce (seen in the above photo), although he hated the actor’s long hair, which a soldier in the Army would not have.  

He disliked the TV series, as actor Alan Alda and the producers used the comedy show as an antiwar allegory against the Vietnam War - even more than the film. 

The author, a political conservative, said he was not against the Korean War (or the Vietnam War), but as a doctor and draftee, he laughed at the nonsense he encountered in the Army. 

I watched the TV show, as it was often funny (I loved Harry Morgan's Colonel Potter character), but I too disliked the cheap shots at the U.S. military, while they never once condemned the brutal and dictatorial North Koreans, who invaded South Korea and started the war. 

You can watch three clips from the Robert Altman film with Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye, Elliot Gould as Trapper John, Tom Skerrett as Duke, Robert Duval as Frank Burns, and Sally Kellerman as "Hot Lips" via the blow clips:

Donald Sutherland,Elliott Gould,Tom Skerritt in M*A*S*H - martini (youtube.com)

MASH (2/5) Movie CLIP - Sayonara to Frank Burns (1970) HD - YouTube

MASH (4/5) Movie CLIP - A Shower With Hot Lips (1970) HD (youtube.com)

Mash 1970, Football - YouTube

A Little Humor: Three Men On A Golf Course

Mark Twain said famously that golf was a good walk spoiled, but I have friends who truly love the game.

There were three friends that wanted to play golf every Saturday afternoon, but couldn’t because of their wives who bugged them to stay home.

One day, they finally got together on the golf course and were waiting at the first tee when one guy said, “I had to buy my wife a diamond necklace to get to play today!”

The second said, “That’s nothing, I had to buy MY wife a new sports car to get out here today!”

The third said, “Boy you guys are a couple of wimps; I didn’t have to buy my wife anything.”

They both look at him and ask how he managed that.

The smartest of the three said, “It was easy, when I got up this morning, I looked her straight in the eye and asked, “Golf course or Intercourse?”

She threw me a sweater and said, “Take this, it might get chilly out there!”

Note: The above photo is of actors Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould as “the Pros from Dover” from one of my favorite movies, the great 1970 film MASH. 

A Look Back At Richard Hornberger, The Author of 'MASH'

I first saw the film MASH in 1971 when I was an 18-year-old sailor serving on the USS Kitty Hawk as the aircraft carrier performed combat operations on “Yankee Station,” in the South China Sea, off the coast of North Vietnam. 

A lot of the older officers and senior enlisted hated the film, as they saw it an anti-Vietnam War message, even if the film portrayed the Korean War. 

Although I was a fervent anti-communist and supported the Vietnam War – I thought we should have gone all out to win the war – I loved the film. I thought it was funny and irreverent, like other service comedies that preceded it.      

I bought the book, MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, soon after we returned home from Southeast Asia. I liked Richard Hornberger’s classic satirical novel even better than the film. 

Richard Hornberger (seen in the below photos) wrote the slim novel under the pen name Richard Hooker in 1968. He served as an Army doctor in a MASH unit during the Korean War, and according to those who knew him, he based the wise-cracking and irreverent character Hawkeye Pierce on himself. 

Richard Hornberger, who died in 1997 when he was 73, liked the film, and he liked actor Donald Sutherland’s portrayal of Hawkeye Pierce, although he hated the actor’s long hair, which a soldier in the Army would not have. 

He disliked the TV series, as actor Alan Alda and the producers used the comedy show as an antiwar allegory against the Vietnam War - even more than the film. The author, a political conservative, said he was not against the Korean War (or the Vietnam War), but as a doctor and draftee, he laughed at the nonsense he encountered in the Army. 

I watched the TV show, as it was often funny (I loved Harry Morgan's Colonel Potter character), but I too disliked the cheap shots at the U.S. military, while they never condemned the brutal and dictatorial North Koreans (or the North Vietnamese, for that matter) who invaded South Korea and started the war.

You can read about Richard Hornberger, his novel and his accomplishments as a surgeon at History.com via the below link:

https://www.history.com/news/why-the-real-life-hawkeye-pierce-hated-mash

Harry Morgan, TV And Film Star, Dies At 96

The Hollywood Reporter writes that film and TV star Harry Morgan has died.

Harry Morgan, who was best known for his long-running portrayal of the fatherly Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H*, died at his Los Angeles home Wednesday morning at 96 years old. Morgan won an Emmy in 1980 for his performance as the unflappable medic.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/harry-morgan-dies-97-mash-270852

I enjoyed Harry Morgan's fine comedic role on M*A*S*H and I also enjoyed his outstanding performances in a couple of my favorite films.

Harry Morgan was very funny in Support Your Local Sheriff with James Garner and he was also very good alongside John Wayne in the Duke's last film, The Shootist. (Morgan is seen above on the right of John Wayne).

Harry Morgan shall be missed.