Shirley Jean Douglas (April 2, 1934 – April 5, 2020) was a Canadian actress and

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

. Her acting career combined with her family name made her recognizable in Canadian film, television and national politics.

Early life

Douglas was born April 2, 1934, in Weyburn,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

, the daughter of Irma May (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Dempsey; 1911–95) and

Tommy Douglas Thomas Clement Douglas (20 October 1904 – 24 February 1986) was a Scottish-born Canadian politician who served as seventh premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961 and Leader of the New Democratic Party from 1961 to 1971. A Baptist min ...

(1904–86), the late Scottish-born Canadian

statesman A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level. Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States * ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a ...

, Premier of Saskatchewan and the first leader of the federal

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * ...

. She attended high school at Central Collegiate Institute (now closed) in Regina. Douglas attended the

Banff School of Fine Arts Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...

at the age of 16.

Career

Douglas's acting career began in 1950 with a role in the Regina Little Theatre entry at the Dominion Drama Festival, where she won the best actress award. In 1952 Shirley graduated from the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and stayed in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

for several years, performing for theatre and television, before returning to Canada in 1957. She continued to act; and her career encompassed several memorable roles on stages in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. She portrayed prominent

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

Nellie McClung, family matriarch and business woman May Bailey in the television series '' Wind at My Back'', Hagar Shipley in Margaret Laurence's ''

The Stone Angel ''The Stone Angel'' is a novel by Canadian writer Margaret Laurence. First published in 1964 by McClelland and Stewart, it is perhaps the best-known of Laurence's series of five novels set in the fictitious town of Manawaka, Manitoba. In parall ...

'', and even characters in popular

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

series like ''

The Silver Surfer The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first ...

'' and ''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established '' Buck Rogers'' adv ...

''. In 1997, Douglas appeared on stage with her son

Kiefer Sutherland Kiefer William Sutherland (born 21 December 1966) is a British-Canadian actor and musician. He is best known for his starring role as Jack Bauer in the Fox drama series ''24 (TV series), 24'' (2001–2010, 2014), for which he won an Emmy Award ...

at the Royal Alexandra Theatre and at the

National Arts Centre The National Arts Centre (NAC) (french: Centre national des Arts) is a performing arts organisation in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre building. History The NAC was one of a number of ...

in ''

The Glass Menagerie ''The Glass Menagerie'' is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his Histrionic persona ...

''. In 2000, she performed on stage in ''

The Vagina Monologues ''The Vagina Monologues'' is an episodic play written in 1996 by Eve Ensler which developed and premiered at HERE Arts Center, Off-Off-Broadway in New York and was followed by an Off-Broadway run in at Westside Theatre. The play explores c ...

''. In 2006, she portrayed former U.S. Secretary of State

Madeleine Albright Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democrat ...

in the ABC

mini-series A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

'' The Path to 9/11''. In 2003, for her contributions to the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfo ...

, she was named an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

Personal life and death

Douglas was the mother of three children: Thomas Emil Sicks from her marriage to

Canadian prairie The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

brewery heir Timothy Emil Sicks in 1957, and twins Rachel Sutherland and

from her second marriage to Canadian actor Donald Sutherland (1966–70). By 2009, Douglas was in a wheelchair due to a degenerative spine condition that caused her severe pain. Douglas died on April 5, 2020, due to complications from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

, three days after her 86th birthday.

Activism

Douglas moved to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

in 1967 after marrying actor Donald Sutherland. She became involved in the American Civil Rights Movement, the campaign against the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, and later on behalf of immigrants and women. She helped establish the fundraising group "Friends of the

Black Panthers The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...

". In 1969, she was arrested in Los Angeles for Conspiracy to Possess Unregistered Explosives. According to a sworn statement by FBI agents, she allegedly attempted to purchase hand grenades for the Black Panthers using a cheque from those FBI agents. As her defence, she claimed the FBI was framing her by creating a crime where none existed prior to their involvement. Subsequently, the FBI denied her a work permit based on this allegation. Douglas, by then divorced from Sutherland, left America in 1977. She and her three children moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. The courts eventually dismissed the case and exonerated her. Douglas co-founded the first chapter in Canada of the Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament. As the daughter of

, promoter of Medicare, she was one of Canada's activists in favour of tax-payer funded health-care instead of

privatized Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

care. In the 2006 Canadian federal election, Douglas campaigned on behalf of the federal

and in 2012 she supported

Brian Topp Brian Topp (born July 4, 1960) is a Canadian political strategist, union leader, and writer and was formerly chief of staff to former Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. He was the runner-up for the federal leadership of the New Democratic Party duri ...

for that party's leadership.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards

* (2000)

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...

for her performance in the 1999 TV film ''Shadow Lake''. * (2001)

Honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad h ...

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor ...

(LL.D) from Ryerson University. * (2000) "Diamond Award" for her volunteerism, by th
Variety Club
an international charity for children in need * (2002)

Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (french: link=no, Médaille du jubilé d'or de la Reine Elizabeth II) or the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2002 to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...

* (2003) Officer of the Order of Canada (OC) - October 24, 2003. * (2004) awarded a space on the Wall of Fame at the

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the c ...

* (2004) received the "Distinguished Canadian Award" by the Seniors’ Education Centre at the

University of Regina The University of Regina is a public university, public research university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the Unive ...

, an award first presented to her father almost 20 years before * (2004) inducted with a star, on Canada's Walk of Fame in

* (2005) Honorary degree from

Brandon University Brandon University is a university located in the city of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, with an enrollment of 3375 (2020) full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. The current location was founded on July 13, 1899, as Brandon Co ...

* (2006) In November, Shirley gave an honorary lecture at

Trent University Trent University is a public liberal arts university in Peterborough, Ontario, with a satellite campus in Oshawa, which serves the Regional Municipality of Durham. Trent is known for its Oxbridge college system and small class sizes.

* (2009) Shirley Douglas was awarded the International Achievement Award at the 2009 Crystal Awards presented in Toronto by Women in Film & Television - Toronto, November 30, 2009 * (2012)

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (french: Médaille du jubilé de diamant de la reine Elizabeth II) or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...

Toronto, February 28, 2012

References

Citations

Sources

* * *

External links

Order of Canada Citation
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Shirley 1934 births 2020 deaths Actresses from Saskatchewan Canadian activists Canadian film actresses Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian stage actresses Canadian television actresses Canadian voice actresses Best Supporting Actress in a Television Film or Miniseries Canadian Screen Award winners Deaths from pneumonia in Ontario Officers of the Order of Canada People from Weyburn 20th-century Canadian actresses 21st-century Canadian actresses Sutherland family Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Canadian women activists