Shirley Douglas

Shirley Douglas was a Canadian actress.

The mother of actor Kiefer Sutherland, Douglas attended the Banff School of Fine Arts and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London before beginning her acting career in the 1950s.

Most famously, she appeared in Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita (1962) and David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers (1988) as well as in Shadow Dancing (1988) and Wind at My Back (1996).

Douglas was also seen in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, had recurring roles in the television series Street Legal and Robson Arms, and contributed voiceover work for the animated series Flash Gordon and Franklin.

She was one of Canada’s most prominent activists in favor of a publicly funded health care system and became involved in the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

Douglas died April 5, 2020, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was 86.