DONALD SUTHERLAND OPENS UP ABOUT SEEING HIMSELF AS “AN UGLY MAN” IN A GLAMOROUS BUSINESS, THIS SUNDAY ON “60 MINUTES”
Donald Sutherland has played a wide range of roles over the years, including leading men and all manner of misfits and villains. But the veteran actor says he has always struggled with self-consciousness about his looks, especially after a conversation he had with his mother when he was sixteen. The film star speaks to Anderson Cooper for a profile to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, Dec. 10 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
The Canadian actor was an awkward kid growing up – tall with big ears. His classmates called him Dumbo. One day, Sutherland asked his mother if he was good-looking. “My mother looked at me,” he tells Cooper, pausing to convey his mother’s hesitation. “‘Your face has character, Donald.’ And I went in my room and hid for at least a day.” Asked whether the remark has stayed with him, Sutherland responds with a chuckle, “Not really, just for 65, 66 years. It’s not easy to know that you’re an ugly man in the business like I’m in.”
When Cooper asks him if he thinks he is ugly, Sutherland says, “Unattractive is a gentler way of putting it.”
Sutherland has appeared in over 150 films and television shows over a span of more than 50 years. He got his big break with the 1967 hit “The Dirty Dozen,” but first made a name for himself with leading roles in early 1970s classics like “M.A.S.H.” and “Klute.” In 1980, he starred in “Ordinary People,” a drama that won a slew of awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture. More recently, he played President Snow in “The Hunger Games” franchise. Yet for all his iconic roles, the Oscar has eluded Sutherland. He’s been called one of the greatest actors never to be nominated for an Academy Award.
He’ll have another shot at a nomination with his latest film, due out next month. In “The Leisure Seeker,” Sutherland co-stars with Helen Mirren as a retired professor who is coping with old age. Says Sutherland, “He was maybe the nicest man I’ve ever played, who was losing his mind…and totally and utterly in love with his wife.” Did the role resonate? “Sure. All of it. Every bit of it.”
“60 MINUTES” LISTINGS FOR SUNDAY, DEC. 10
THE CHALLENGER – Alexey Navalny is President Vladimir Putin’s most popular critic and has now taken on the Kremlin ruler in a bid for the Russian presidency. As Lesley Stahl reports, the challenges facing this 41-year-old anti-corruption activist are many. Alexandra Poolos is the producer.
DONALD SUTHERLAND – The tall Canadian actor has played a wide range of roles over the years, including leading men and all manner of misfits and villains. Anderson Cooper profiles the versatile veteran on the eve of his newest film. Michael Gavshon and David M. Levine are the producers.
THE GOVERNOR – California’s Gov. Jerry Brown stands in the twilight of a remarkable political career often played out in the national spotlight, including three runs for president. As he prepares to exit the stage, he talks to Bill Whitaker about his highest priority of weaning California off fossil fuels and getting the world to do the same.
ARRESTED, JAILED AND ATTACKED, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER ALEXEY NAVALNY STILL SAYS HE IS READY TO SACRIFICE ALL BY RUNNING AGAINST PUTIN FOR PRESIDENT, THIS SUNDAY ON “60 MINUTES”
Alexey Navalny is President Vladimir Putin’s most popular critic, and now he has taken on the Kremlin ruler in a bid for the Russian presidency. The challenges facing this 41-year-old anti-corruption activist are many. The government says Navalny can’t run for office and he has been arrested and jailed numerous times for holding rallies without a permit. Attackers threw green dye in his face – twice – and he nearly lost sight in one of his eyes. His supporters have been stabbed and beaten. He and his brother have been found guilty of embezzlement, in charges Navalny insists were trumped up. His brother is still in jail, held hostage as punishment for his opposition to Putin, says Navalny. Despite the fact many of Putin’s critics have died mysteriously or fled the country, Navalny is determined to make good on his promise to his followers to challenge Putin for the presidency in March 2018. Lesley Stahl interviews Navalny for a report to be broadcast on the next edition of 60 MINUTES, Sunday, Dec. 10 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
Asked by Stahl whether continuing to oppose the Russian leader is worth his life, Navalny responds, “I’m trying not to think about it, because look, I think I’m ready to sacrifice everything for my job and for the people who [are] surrounding me. I’m not [going to] let them down.”
Navalny says he’s used to being targeted. “During my campaign, I spent every fifth day in the jail,” he tells Stahl. “It’s become a routine of my life.” Many of the arrests are for holding rallies that attract thousands of supporters without permits. When 60 MINUTES came to interview Navalny, he had just gotten out of jail and immediately took to the streets to hold a rally, again. His main message at these rallies, as he said at one, is “Putin is a thief and the head of the entire corrupt system.”
The corrupt system is costing Russians their livelihoods, he says, because Putin taps his friends and family to run important companies who put their own enrichment ahead of the country’s economic needs. “No opportunities at all. No future for the people,” says Navalny. “Putin is stealing their future.”
The Russian government says embezzlement, the crime Navalny was convicted of – that he denies committing – precludes him from running for president. He is barred from national television. But Navalny has used social media and YouTube to spread his message, gaining millions of followers. He now has 170,000 volunteers working on his campaign, he says. He believes his popularity may have saved his life.
Asked why he is still alive, Navalny says “I don’t know. Maybe they missed the good timing for [murdering me] when I was less famous?”
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