Jane Fonda is “heartbroken” over ex Donald Sutherland’s death.
The actress posted a touching tribute to her “Klute” co-star on Thursday after news broke of his passing at age 88.
“I am stunned to hear that Donald Sutherland has died,” Fonda, 86, wrote via Instagram. “He was my fascinating co-star in ‘Klute’ and we loved working together.
“Donald was a brilliant actor and a complex man who shared quite a few adventures with me, such as the FTA Show, an anti-Vietnam war tour that performed for 60,000 active duty soldiers, sailors, and marines in Hawaii, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Japan in 1971,” she continued. “I am heartbroken.”
The Oscar winner’s emotional upload featured a photo of herself and Sutherland on the “Klute” set with director Alan Pakula.
Fonda and Sutherland played Bree Daniels and John Klute, respectively, in the 1971 movie, with the former winning her first Oscar for the role.
Courtesy Everett Collection
The duo dated at the time, with Fonda gushing about the “old-world gentleman” in her 2006 memoir, “My Life So Far.”
She gushed over Sutherland’s “rangy, hangdog quality” in the book, calling his “droopy, pale blue eyes especially appealing.”
The actor detailed their breakup to The Guardian in 2008.
“The relationship exploded and fell apart in Tokyo. It broke my heart,” he recalled. “I was eviscerated. I was so sad. It was a wonderful relationship right up to the point we lived together.”
While the timing of their romance remains unclear, the Emmy winner’s son Kiefer Sutherland was asked about the pair — and his dad’s divorce from mom Shirley Douglas — in 2006.
“He’d probably say, ‘I fell in love.’ I understand that. People do,” the 57-year-old told Rolling Stone at the time. “And when they’re falling in love, they believe in everything so strongly and passionately, this kind of heightened experience, that it’s very hard to judge somebody for it.”
Kiefer broke the news of Donald’s death in a tweet, referring to his late parent as “one of the most important actors in the history of film.”
He concluded, “He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived.”
Donald is survived by Kiefer and his twin sister, Rachel Sutherland, as well as wife Francine Racette and their three sons — Roeg Sutherland, 50, Rossif Sutherland, 45, and Angus Sutherland, 41.
