Here are just seven films that exemplify this range, in a career studded with great performances.
Alan Alda may be the name synonymous with army surgeon Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, but it was Sutherland who first played the character in Robert Altman's smash-hit adaptation of Richard Hooker's anti-war novel.
Sutherland captured the anarchic and mischievous nature of the character, and Hawkeye's disdain for the military and authority wasn't that far from Sutherland's own viewpoints. The actor strongly opposed the Vietnam War, even appearing in an anti-war roadshow with Jane Fonda that performed for soldiers in South-East Asia.
His pairing with Elliott Gould (as Trapper John McIntyre) proved inspired, and their comedic chemistry helped make M*A*S*H the third-biggest film at the US box office in 1970.
While elements of the film haven't aged well, it helped usher in the New Hollywood movement of the 70s, as well as inspiring one of the most successful TV shows of all time, and sending Sutherland's career to the next level.
Where to watch: Disney+.
Widely regarded as one of the most influential horror films of all time, and a classic of British cinema, Don't Look Now (1973) showed Sutherland's willingness to take on daring roles in equally daring films.
Nicolas Roeg's disturbing exploration of parental grief used a range of innovative narrative and directorial techniques to wrong-foot the audience, but it wouldn't have worked as well as it did without the emotional core of Sutherland and Julie Christie.
Playing a couple trying to recover from the death of their daughter while living in a haunted, gothic-looking Venice, both were praised for their performances.
The film was not without its controversies. A sex scene — which was particularly graphic for the era — was a talking point, while Sutherland's life was reportedly put in danger by a stunt that involved hanging from a rope, which a stuntman refused to do.
Where to watch: Available to digitally rent/buy.
Sutherland was everywhere in 1978, with four movies hitting cinemas: Canadian mystery Blood Relatives, which saw him work with French New Wave director Claude Chabrol; Michael Crichton's The First Great Train Robbery alongside Sean Connery; the classic horror remake Invasion of the Body Snatchers (see below); and this all-time classic frat-house comedy.
His role in Animal House is a short cameo as a pot-smoking teacher, but his A-list status at the time meant he was the highest-paid actor in the movie — he reportedly earnt US$50,000 for his time, while lead actor John Belushi only got paid US$40,000.
But director John Landis said it was Sutherland's star power that "essentially got the film made", despite him only being on set for two days.
The film is regarded as an influential American comedy classic and was the highest-grossing comedy of all time until Ghostbusters came along six years later.
Where to watch: Binge/Foxtel.
A paranoid sci-fi thriller, this is one of those films hold up as an example of a remake surpassing the original.
Sutherland is top-billed, but part of a great ensemble (including Leonard Nimoy, Jeff Goldblum, Brooke Adams, and Veronica Cartwright) where everyone contributes to the eerie and increasingly oppressive atmosphere of the story, which is aliens taking over 's bodies.
Like many great sci-fi movies, its plot was a subtext for the societal concerns of the time, but for many, it's remembered for Sutherland's meme-worthy performance at the film's very end.
Where to watch: Available to digitally rent/buy.
Sutherland was never nominated for an Academy Award, though he was given an honorary one in 2017.
Perhaps the closest he came to being in the running for an Oscar was in Robert Redford's directorial debut Ordinary (1980), which won four awards.
Similarly to Don't Look Now, Sutherland played a grieving parent, but the film is a very different one, and was highly regarded for its handling of its tricky subject matter.
While co-stars Timothy Hutton, Mary Tyler Moore, and Judd Hirsch were all Oscar-nominated, Sutherland wasn't, and his performance often appears in those "biggest Oscar snubs" articles that pop up every year around awards season.
Where to watch: Available to digitally rent/buy.
Throughout the 90s, 00s and beyond, Sutherland popped up in dozens of high-profile films, adding a touch of class every time.
JFK, Six Degrees Of Separation, A Time To Kill, Backdraft, Outbreak, Disclosure, The Italian Job and Pride & Prejudice all benefited from his distinctive touch.
But one of the noteworthy picks of his post-leading-man appearances is his turn in the cult 1992 film Buffy The Vampire Slayer, as Buffy's mentor Merrick.
His gravitas among a predominantly young cast definitely helped elevate proceedings.
But not everyone loved his performance in the far-from-perfect film. Buffy creator Joss Whedon called Sutherland "a prick" for behaving entitled on set and accused him of "destroying my [dialogue]".
Sutherland, for his part, believed in the film, telling Backstage Magazine he "really did believe Buffy would be an immensely popular film with younger ". It was not, and Whedon would pretty much start from scratch with the idea when it became a TV show in 1997.
Where to watch: Disney+.
Younger audiences will know Sutherland best for his performance as President Coriolanus Snow in the Hunger Games franchise.
It's the perfect example of his capacity to switch between paternal and villainous, even within a single role.
As Snow, Sutherland gave the series a dignified antagonist — a central hissable bad guy for fans to loathe.
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