Lives Well Lived: Kiefer Sutherland unaware of father Donald’s success, growing up

But his big break was in The Dirty Dozen, in which, at first, he had a non-speaking part but was picked for something far bigger, apparently at random, by director Bob Aldrich.

“He didn’t even know my name,” Sutherland said.

“We’d all had our hair shaved off. He looked around the table and he said, ‘You with the big ears, you do it.'”

Kiefer describes this as “a real breakout moment for my father”.

But the fact he then “managed to be in films that were incredibly important each decade, is a testament to his capabilities as an actor – and I’m incredibly proud of him for it”, he says.