Donald Sutherland, the late Canadian actor who died Thursday, at the age of 88, had more range than the Alps.
Consider, Sutherland’s portrayal of a dark overlord (“Hunger Games”), a mortifying alien clone (“Invasion of the Body Snatchers”), a frontline surgeon (“M*A*S*H”), a man of action (“The Dirty Dozen”) and a smooth-talking professor (“Animal House”).
The late Canadian took his acting talents into a different arena when he starred in the music video for Kate Bush’s 1985 single “Cloudbusting,” lifted from the classic “Hounds of Love.”
Directed by Julian Doyle, and conceived by Monty Python co-founder Terry Gilliam and Bush, “Cloudbusting” stars Sutherland in the role of Wilhelm Reich, and Bush in the role of his young son, Pete.
In the video, which can be seen in full below, Sutherland, the scientist and visionary, builds the titular cloudbuster, and catches the unwanted attention of officials who drag him away. But not before he gives Bush’s Pete the nod to activate the machine and make the heavens open.
“Cloudbusting” had a second life when Utah Saints sampled the line “I just know that something good is gonna happen,” for the 1992 rave hit “Something Good”.
Bush has, of course, been busting charts in recent years thanks to the incredible, “Stranger Things”-powered resurgence of “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” the lead single from “Hounds of Love.”
Sutherland died this week in Miami after a long illness, CAA confirmed.
For over a half century, the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor, who received an honorary Oscar in 2017, memorably played characters across the acting spectrum. He won a supporting actor Emmy for HBO’s “Citizen X” in 1995 and was introduced to young audiences in the past decade with his supporting role as the mean-spirited President Snow in “The Hunger Games” franchise.
Sutherland is survived by his wife Racette and five children, including “24” star Kiefer.