Donald Sutherland’s family guide: Meet the late actor’s wife Francine Racette and 5 children
Donald Sutherland wasn’t the only actor in his family.
In fact, the “Hunger Games” star — who died on June 20 at the age of 88 — had five children, and most of them followed in his footsteps and went into the entertainment business.
Donald’s wife Francine Racette, 76, is also an actor. They met on the set of the 1974 film “Alien Thunder.”
The late actor’s oldest child, actor Kiefer Sutherland, 57, announced his father’s death on social media.
“I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film,” Kiefer tweeted. “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.”
Donald’s legacy will live on with his loving wife and children.
Here’s everything you need to know about his family.
Francine Racette
Donald was married to Racette for 52 years when he died. She was his third wife.
He was previously married to Lois Hardwick from 1959 to 1966 and actress Shirley Douglas from 1966 to 1970. He welcomed his two eldest kids with Douglas, and his other three kids with Racette.
Donald and Racette were co-stars in “Alien Thunder” and fell in love on set. They got married in 1972.
Racette is a Canadian actor known for her roles in “Au revoir les enfants,” “Lumière” and “The Disappearance.” She retired from acting in 1980.
Donald gushed over his wife in a 2005 interview with the Guardian.
“Everything was my fault. I was so dumb. But if I hadn’t made the mistakes I made, I wouldn’t have met the wonderful woman I’ve been married to for over 30 years, so I guess that makes the mistakes OK,” he said.
Three years later, the “Six Degrees of Separation” star was asked about ending up with Racette in another interview with the Guardian.
“She’s an extraordinary human. She was courted by intellectuals,” said Donald. “Jean-Paul Sartre? She was his actress. She was Frédéric Rossif’s muse. I think it’s like Joanne Woodward said, ‘Beauty goes and sex goes but my husband makes me laugh every single day.’ And so does my wife. We laugh all the time.’ “
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer is Donald’s oldest and most well-known child.
He rose to fame playing Jack Bauer in the FOX series “24,” which ran from 2001 to 2010, and then returned for a limited series in 2014.
Kiefer won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for his performance.
He was also in the popular political thriller series “Designated Survivor” from 2016 to 2019.
His movies include “The Bay Boy,” “Stand by Me,” “The Lost Boys,” “A Few Good Men,” “A Time to Kill” and “They Cloned Tyrone.”
Kiefer was raised by his mother and she got divorced from Donald, so he didn’t have a close relationship with his father growing up.
“There is inevitably always going to be a point when the younger lion wants to take on the older lion and then there is always going to be a point when the older lion is going to need the younger lion to help,” he said about their relationship to PEOPLE in 2016.
Donald and Kiefer worked together that year in the film “Forsaken.”
“Working with him is something I have wanted to do for 30 years,” Kiefer told PEOPLE at the time. “I remember feeling really bad as a son that I wasn’t aware of not only how prolific my father was as an actor but what he had really contributed to the art of cinema.”
Donald said working with his oldest son was “terrific” and Kiefer is a “wonderful actor.”
Kiefer addressed his relationship with his father again in a 2022 interview.
“I love him, though I don’t get to see him as much as I’d like to,” he said. “We’ve never lived in the same place, and COVID hasn’t helped.”
Kiefer added: “I’m so proud to have him as my father. Having grown up with my mother, there’s a kind of distance between us. But I want to impress him; I want him to be proud of me.”
The “24” actor has a daughter, actress Sarah Sutherland, 36, from his marriage to ex-wife Camelia Kath. He was briefly engaged to Julia Roberts in the ’90s.
Rachel Sutherland
Rachel Sutherland, 57, is Kiefer’s twin sister and Donald’s only daughter.
Unlike her twin brother, Rachel did not become an actor — but she did join the entertainment industry.
According to her IMDb, she’s worked as a production manager on shows like “Law and Order Toronto: Criminal Intent,” “Rookie Blue” and “The Kennedys.”
Kiefer told the Guardian in 2018 that he’s “incredibly close” with Rachel.
“Being a twin taught me the value of having a companion,” he said. “Every time I experienced something I could turn to my left and share it. When I was having my first child I said to my mother, ‘My gosh you had two at the same time.’ She said, ‘Oh, sweetheart, it was fine. By the time you were two you were looking after each other.’ She made it sound like she’d got a deal, which always made me laugh.”
Roeg Sutherland
Roeg Sutherland, 50, is Donald’s first-born child from his marriage to Racette.
He is a talent agent and producer. He works as a Media Finance exec at Creative Artists Agency.
Last October, Roeg talked about the impact the actors and writers’ strikes had on the film and television industries.
“In terms of the media finance business, a lot of it falls back on independent films, getting IAs and selling movies and for that there was a very healthy market for it,” he told Deadline. “You’ve never seen a bigger appetite from buyers and distributors to be involved with productions as early as possible so there’s a lot of opportunity there. That being said, we’d rather be in world in which there is a much healthier ecosystem, which we haven’t had for quite some time.”
Rossif Sutherland
Rossif Sutherland, 45, is Donald’s third son.
He decided to become an actor after filling in for another student in a film at Princeton University.
Rossif told The Post in 2013: “I never really had an interest in being an actor, but I was always in awe of what my father did. I knew how talented he was; it was just never something that I thought I could do or wanted to do. I didn’t want to be other people — that’s the extent of what I thought acting was.”
He also talked about how his father encouraged him to pursue a career in acting.
“The other life he had — the stuff he did when he went away — I was just very flattered that he thought that I belonged there. He was welcoming me into his club, you know?” he said.
Rossif has been in a number of hit shows including “ER,” “Monk,” “Reign,” “Covert Affairs,” “The Expanse” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.” His film credits include “River,” “Edge of Winter,” “A Call to Spy,” “Possessor” and “Orphan: First Kill.”
Angus Sutherland
Angus Sutherland, 41, is Donald’s youngest child.
He has done minimal acting, appearing in the films “Familiar Strangers,” “Undefeated,” “November Criminals,” “Kidnap” and “1917.” He’s also been a producer on Hollywood projects.
Donald revealed to Variety in 2019 that Angus’ middle name, Robert, is dedicated to the late Robert Redford.
“I wanted to name another son after Robert Redford,” the legendary actor shared. “But when the child was born [a woman at the maternity ward] said ‘no you can’t do that, you can’t name a child ‘Redford.’ So we named him Angus — Angus Redford.”
