Donald Sutherland stars on new Canadian stamp

By Denise McCarty

Canada honored one of its most famous actors, Donald Sutherland, on a stamp issued Oct. 19 by Canada Post.

Sutherland was born July 17, 1935, in Saint John, New Brunswick.

In its Oct. 19 press release announcing the stamp, Canada Post called Sutherland one of the country’s most respected and versatile actors, adding that he has “appeared in nearly 200 feature films and television programs over seven decades.”

The new permanent-rate stamp, which is for domestic letters weighing up to 30 grams (currently 92¢), names a few of those films in English and French below a photographic portrait of Sutherland in profile: Kelly’s Heroes (1970), M*A*S*H (1970), Klute (1971), Fellini’s Casanova (1976), Ordinary People (1980), The Italian Job (2003), and The Hunger Games (2012).

Canada Post describes the stamp design as “movie-poster inspired,” with the names of the films resembling the closing credits of a movie.

A longer list of his films appears on the back of Canada Post’s official first-day cover for the stamp. The first-day cancel from his birthplace, Saint John, features a replica of Sutherland’s autograph in silver.

The cachet at lower left on the FDC shows a photograph of Sutherland as Sgt. Oddball in Kelly’s Heroes.

Canada Post said, “This cover commemorates Sutherland, highlighting the significance of recognizing Canadians who excel on the international stage while staying connected to their Canadian heritage.”

The stamp is sold in a booklet of 10.

The booklet cover shows a side portrait of Sutherland with a beard.

Text on the back of the booklet mentions two of his iconic roles — “the wise-cracking Captain ‘Hawkeye’ Pierce in M*A*S*H” and “the villainous President Snow in The Hunger Games franchise” — and summarizes the many honors he has received: “His work has garnered him such awards as a Genie [presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television], an Emmy and a Governor General’s Performing Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. Sutherland is a Companion of the Order of Canada.”

Paprika designed the stamp, booklet and FDC. They were printed by printed by Colour Innovations. The booklet was produced in a quantity of 200,000, and the FDC in a quantity of 7,000.

The Canada Post ordering numbers are 414239111 for the booklet and 414239131 for the FDC. They are available from Canada Post’s online store; by mail order from Canada Post Customer Service, Box 90022, 2701 Riverside Drive, Ottawa, ON K1V 1J8 Canada; or by telephone from U.S. or Canada at 800-565-4362, and from other countries at 902-863-6550.

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