Shirley Douglas has died at the age of 86 from pneumonia, her actor son Kiefer Sutherland has confirmed.
He tweeted: “Early this morning my mother, Shirley Douglas, passed away due to complications surrounding pneumonia (not related to COVID19).
“My mother was an extraordinary woman who led an extraordinary life.
“Sadly she had been battling for her health for quite some time and we, as a family, knew this day was coming.
“To any families who have lost someone unexpectedly to the Coronavirus, my heart breaks for you, please stay safe.”
Shirley was an activist and veteran actress, and her father Tommy Douglas founded Medicare.
She worked to support the civil rights movement, the Black Panthers and public healthcare.
(Image: Getty Images)
She was also mother to Kiefer’s sister Rachel, with her ex husband Donald Sutherland, and son Thomas from a previous marriage.
In recent years she had been using the assistance of a wheelchair due to a painful degenerative spine condition.
In the 1960s and 70s she campaigned against the Vietnam War, and she also helped to create a fundraising group named Friends of the Black Panthers.
(Image: WireImage)
(Image: Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Passionate about social justice, she once said she did not care about harming her acting career if it meant campaigning for what she believed in.
She told The Canadian Press: “I think to live your life you have to live it, and if you see something that offends you morally or any other way, you have to follow that and take it up.
“I know a lot of McCarthy-ite victims. It was hard for them but really they had no choice. And when you have no choice and you see something, it’s like if you see a child going to be run over by a car — you grab the child.
“And for me, many things that I see wrong are as obvious as grabbing a child and so what else would you do?”
