Veteran actress, mom of Kiefer Sutherland
TORONTO — Shirley Douglas, the impassioned Canadian activist and veteran actress who was mother to actor Kiefer Sutherland and daughter of Canada medicare founder Tommy Douglas, died Sunday. She was 86.
Sutherland announced his mother’s death on Twitter, saying she succumbed to complications surrounding pneumonia. He said it was not related COVID-19.
“My mother was an extraordinary woman who led an extraordinary life,” said Sutherland. “Sadly she had been battling for her health for quite some time and we, as a family, knew this day was coming.”
A native of Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Ms. Douglas worked with directors including Stanley Kubrick (“Lolita”) and David Cronenberg (“Dead Ringers”), and she won a Gemini Award for her performance in the 1999 TV film “Shadow Lake.”
She tirelessly supported a variety of causes throughout her life, including the civil rights movement, the Black Panthers and the fight to save Canada’s public health care, pioneered by her politician father.
In 1965, Ms. Douglas married Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, with whom she had two children before they divorced — twins Rachel, a production manager, and Kiefer, who became a film and TV star in his own right.
Ms. Douglas had another son, Thomas, from a previous marriage.
Born on April 2, 1934, Douglas showed an early interest in the arts as well as politics.
She studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in England. In the ’60s and ’70s, while living in California, Douglas campaigned against the Vietnam War and protested for various causes.