Donald Sutherland Q&A

Q&A: Donald Sutherland

'Sleeping is my guilty pleasure. There's so little waking time left'

Rosanna Greenstreet

guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 March 2012 22.59 GMT


Donald Sutherland: 'My most treasured possession? My imagination.' Photograph: Jay L Clendenin/Getty Images

Donald Sutherland, 76, was born in Canada. One of his first roles was in the 1965 film Dr Terror's House Of Horrors. He was then cast in 1967's The Dirty Dozen, which was an instant hit, and starred in the 1970 comedy M*A*S*H. Sutherland has appeared in more than 130 films, including Kelly's Heroes, Klute, Don't Look Now, Cold Mountain and Pride & Prejudice. The Hunger Games, his latest film, is out on 23 March. He is married for the third time and has five children, one of whom is the actor Kiefer Sutherland.

When were you happiest?
When I was less well informed.

What is your greatest fear?
Not being informed.

What was your most embarrassing moment?
To sift through that mountain of moments and come up with one is not a useful task.

What is your most treasured possession?
My imagination.

Where would you like to live?
With my wife.

What do you most dislike about your appearance?
Looking at it.

If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose?
Whatever parts of the oceans that were living and are no longer, be they the coral reefs or the multitude of vertebrates that have not survived our profit-pursuing onslaught.

What is your favourite smell?
The Atlantic Ocean on the coast of Nova Scotia.

Is it better to give or to receive?
Is a woman's orgasm giving or receiving?

How do you relax?
I don't.

How often do you have sex?
As often as I can.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Sleeping. There's so little waking time left.

To whom would you most like to say sorry, and why?
Every single director I've ever been engaged by; and when I'm done with them, every woman I've ever loved and all the children and a couple of animals and one car.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My wife.

What was the best kiss of your life?
At Orly airport, 1973.

Have you ever said I love you and not meant it?
Never.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?
A chef.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Ones that indicate I've forgotten what I was going to say or that I can't find the name of this or that person or place.

What is the worst job you've done?
Training dogs.

What has been your biggest disappointment?
The behaviour of those dogs.

If you could go back in time, where would you go?
Thirty-seven years. The birth of our first son. Just when I caught him and laid him at the side of his mother.

What is the closest you've come to death?
I died in Yugoslavia in 1968 for a few seconds. In a coma: spinal meningitis, bacterial. Saw the blue tunnel. MGM flew me to London and Charing Cross hospital for six weeks, then back to the film Kelly's Heroes, with my brain a boiled cauliflower.

How would you like to be remembered?
Generously.