Canadian actress and activist Shirley Douglas dies at age 86

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TORONTO: Shirley Douglas, the impassioned Canadian activist and veteran actress who was mom to actor Kiefer Sutherland and daughter of Canada medicare founder Tommy Douglas, died Sunday. She was 86.

Sutherland introduced his mom’s dying on Twitter, saying she succumbed to issues surrounding pneumonia. He mentioned it was not associated COVID-19.

“My mom was a unprecedented girl who led a unprecedented life,” mentioned Sutherland. “Sadly she had been battling for her well being for fairly a while and we, as a household, knew at the present time was coming.”

A local of Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Douglas labored with administrators together with Stanley Kubrick (“Lolita”) and David Cronenberg (“Dead Ringers”), and she or he received a Gemini Award for her efficiency within the 1999 TV movie “Shadow Lake.”

She tirelessly supported quite a lot of causes all through her life, together with the civil rights motion, the Black Panthers and the struggle to save lots of Canada’s public well being care, pioneered by her politician father.

In 1965, Douglas married Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, with whom she had two youngsters earlier than they divorced — twins Rachel, a manufacturing supervisor, and Kiefer, who grew to become a movie and TV star in his personal proper.

Douglas had one other son, Thomas, from a earlier marriage.

Born on April 2, 1934, Douglas confirmed an early curiosity within the arts in addition to politics as she journeyed on the marketing campaign path along with her father, who grew to become premier of Saskatchewan, a nationwide chief within the New Democratic Party and a socialist icon.

She attended the Banff School of Fine Arts and went on to check on the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in England, the place she acted in theater and TV and took part in anti-nuclear marches.

In the ’60s and ’70s, whereas dwelling in California, Douglas campaigned towards the Vietnam War and protested for varied causes.

She helped to determine a fundraising group referred to as Friends of the Black Panthers. Her assist for the group introduced controversy — she was refused a U.S. work allow and charged in 1969 with conspiracy to own unregistered explosives. The courts finally dismissed the case and exonerated her.

She additionally was a co-founder of the primary chapter in Canada of the Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament.

Douglas, although, was foremost a champion for Canada’s medicare system. She would communicate of the significance of a common well being care system at just about any alternative and lobbied authorities officers.

Douglas, who had lived in Toronto since 1977, was nominated for 2 different Canadian arts Geminis: in 1998 for her main position within the collection “Wind at My Back” and in 1993 for starring within the movie “Passage of the Heart.” She was additionally an Officer of the Order of Canada, one of many nation’s highest honors, and an inductee into Canada’s Walk of Fame.

The publish Canadian actress and activist Shirley Douglas dies at age 86 appeared first on The Himalayan Times.

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