Kiefer Sutherland tells of 'missing' dad Donald, and reveals parenting regret

Masterful acting as Jack Bauer in the US thriller series 24 clinched Kiefer Sutherland an Emmy for outstanding lead actor. Critics felt his performance as the brooding federal agent working to thwart terrorist plots was central to the success of the show, which won 20 Emmys during its run, from 2001 to 2010. It was also the performance that won the star much sought after recognition from his Canadian actor father, Donald Sutherland, star of The Hunger Games, The Dirty Dozen, Ordinary People, Mash and winner of an Honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2017. Speaking to The Arts Hour on the BBC World Service he says of his dad, who died in 2024, aged 88: “He did tell me that he really enjoyed 24, and he was excited for me for its success.” But, asked if his father ever told him he’d given a “great performance,” he admits: “No, not that.” Combining acting with a parallel career as a singer-songwriter, Kiefer, 59, recently released his fourth studio album, Grey, but he followed his father into movies and TV, having initially worked as a stage actor. Born in London, Kiefer’s parents separated when he was three and he moved to Toronto with his mother, actress Shirley Douglas, who died in 2020, aged 66 - leaving school, aged 15 to pursue an acting career. He recalls: “Every other Christmas I’d go down to see my dad… in Los Angeles. He was doing a film with Marsha Mason and Jason Robards and Matthew Broderick called Max Dugan Returns. “I had already started working and I was working in the theatre in Canada. He said, ‘do you want to come with me and work on this film and you can do a couple days and they'll pay you and you'll have a line or two?’ I was like 13 or 14. I said, ‘sure.’ And I went with him. I had two lines in the movie. “Anyway, about a week later, I got a cheque and it was for more than I was gonna make for the entire play that I was doing up in Canada for seven weeks. And I was like, ‘well, I gotta look into this film thing.’” Despite huge success, Kiefer - who’s known to have had a troubled relationship with alcohol, which saw him sentenced to 48 days in jail in 2007 for driving under the influence - clearly craved approval from his dad and his mum. He says: “I certainly think, you know, my parents would be the first to tell you that they didn't think that they were the greatest parents. I can certainly tell you I was not the easiest son, but at the end of the day, they're the people that I was trying to impress.” Immersed in theatre from an early age, he and his twin sister, Rachel, used to spend evenings at the theatre after school waiting for their mum to finish her performances. A political activist, Shirley was involved with the Black Panther Party in the US - a Marxist-Lenninist and Black power movement, her connection with which meant their home attracted the attention of the FBI. After leaving home at 15, Kiefer started to bond with his dad, who he’d only really seen during school holidays. And his breakthrough role in the 1986 film Stand By Me, aged 17, playing teenage bully Ace Merrill, was he says largely thanks to his dad helping him to transition from stage to screen acting. Asked about the character, who has no redeeming features, he again cites his dad’s influence, saying: “He [Ace] was just going to be an awful human being. You need to hit that hammer over the head. And I think that really comes from watching my father's films and me believing very strongly that what he did was right with those characters. “And so, Ace Merrill was absolutely that. He was going to be that [awful] from the beginning to the bitter end.” Twice married - to actress, writer and producer, Camelia Kath, 72, and actress Elizabeth Kelly Winn, who is in her 60s - Kiefer has a daughter, actress Sarah Sutherland, with Camelia and a stepdaughter, Michelle Kath Sinclair, with Elizabeth. Now in a long-term relationship with actress and model Cindy Vela, 47, Kiefer, who lives on a 73 acre rural retreat in New York’s Hudson Valley, believes playing Ace influenced some of his subsequent roles. He particularly refers to the 1996 film Eye For an Eye, co-starring Sally Field, in which he played the antagonist Robert Doob, who rapes and murders the teenage daughter of Sally’s character Karen McCann. The film was widely panned, but Keifer had a high regard for the director, John Schlesinger, who had directed his father in the 1975 film The Day of the Locust. He says of playing Doob: “I think that cost me some jobs over the years, but I really wanted to work with John Schlesinger because he had worked with my dad.” On the road in the US with the Kiefer Sutherland Band until July 2, the actor, who has just toured the UK as part of his Love Will Bring You Home tour to support his new album, clearly misses his dad. He says of the moments when he really feels his loss: “When you do something that you would really like to have shared with them, and it doesn't just have to be work, but it can be something that my daughter's done. That's when the missing becomes kind of sharper.” *This interview has been adapted from The Arts Hour on the BBC World Service and can be heard in full on BBC Sounds. Screen star to pop star Kiefer Sutherland is not the only actor to become a musician. Cultural critic Zing Tsjeng suggests that big Hollywood movie stars now belong to a bygone era and to get the same experience you need to be a pop star. She says: “Maybe the only way you can come close to having that same movie star experience is to be a rock star.” Examples of actors-turned musicians include: - Russell Crowe won a best actor Oscar for Gladiator, but runs a successful acting career alongside music - most recently as part of the band Indoor Garden Party - Keanu Reeves’ movie credits include everything from Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey to The Matrix, but he’s also released albums such as Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees with the band Dogstar. - Damien Lewis rose to fame in Band of Brothers, going on to star in hits including Homeland, Wolf Hall and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but also sings - releasing his debut album Mission Creep this month - Sabrina Carpenter started as an actress in Disney series Girl Meets World, but now combines acting and singing.