Donald Sutherland voiced a character in a 90s episode of The Simpsons (Picture: Fox/Disney/Shutterstock)
Donald Sutherland fans had no idea the legendary actor guest starred in The Simpsons as a clip from the cartoon resurfaced after his death.
Sutherland, whose best-known roles feature in Ordinary People, M*A*S*H and The Hunger Games franchise, died aged 88 on Thursday from a ‘long illness’ in Miami.
Hollywood stars including Jane Fonda and Nancy Sinatra have paid tribute to Sutherland on social media, while others have reminisced about his blockbuster career.
His voice-acting role in a season 7 episode of The Simpsons, titled Lisa The Iconoclast, from 1996 has taken viewers by surprise as they had no idea Sutherland was behind character Hollis Hurlburt.
After watching a clip of the show, @filipmolina said on X: ‘Never realized this was him. A regular quote of mine.’
Echoing their shock, @CheekyCrissy commented: ‘Omg just seen this episode last night!!! That was Donald? That was awesome Voice work!!! Gonna miss him, he has an Iconic Voice.’
Donald played the curator of Springfield’s historical society in the show (Picture: Fox/Disney)
Sutherland died after a ‘long illness’ at the age of 88 (Picture: Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)
Many others also described Sutherland’s stint in The Simpsons as one of the show’s ‘great all-time guest performances’, as @MikeBeauvais declared on X.
@MrGeorgeThorpe commented: ‘RIP Donald Sutherland. Only the other day thinking about a joke he told on The Jonathan Ross Show which still cracks me up. Superb actor. And an under-rated Simpsons guest star.’
Agreeing, @BerniM1812 exclaimed: ‘Man he was awesome in everything he did!!!’
In Lisa The Iconoclast, Lisa writes an essay on Springfield founder Jebediah Springfield only to discover he was a murderous private who viewed the town’s citizens with contempt.
The Simpsons fans said they had no idea Sutherland voiced the part (Picture: Fox/Disney)
Sutherland’s guest role in The Simpsons was called one of the show’s ‘all-time greats’ (Picture: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Sutherland voiced Hollis, the curator of the Springfield Historical Society. He grants Lisa access to the town’s archives to research Jebediah.
On Thursday, it was announced that Sutherland had died with the actor’s son 24 star Kiefer Sutherland confirming his death on Instagram.
He described his father as ‘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,’ Kiefer added.
Sutherland starred in dozens of classic movies including Don’t Look Now (Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)
Sutherland’s death was confirmed by his son Kiefer (Picture: Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
Among Sutherland’s most memorable roles was titular detective John Klute, who attempted to protect Fonda’s character Bree Daniels from a killer stalking her.
US actress Fonda shared a black-and-white photograph of a younger Sutherland from their 1971 hit film, which won her the Oscar for Best Actress.
‘I am heartbroken,’ she captioned the Instagram post.
More tributes were paid by the likes of Dame Helen Mirren, Michael Douglas, Edgar Wright and US President Joe Biden.
Tributes have poured in for Sutherland after his death (Picture: Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)
During his esteemed career, Sutherland won a Golden Globe for the TV movie Path To War for playing presidential adviser Clark Clifford, and a second for the mini-series Citizen X, which also earned him an Emmy Award.
He starred in the 1980 drama Ordinary People, which later won four Oscars – including Best Picture, Supporting Actor for Timothy Hutton, and Best Director for Robert Redford.
In 2017, Sutherland received an Academy Honorary Award for his acting but failed to get an Oscar nod during his lengthy career.
Sutherland is survived by his wife Francine Racette, sons Roeg, Rossif, Angus, and Kiefer, daughter Rachel, and four grandchildren.
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