The Only Major Actors Still Alive From The Cast Of The Dirty Dozen
Released in 1967, "The Dirty Dozen" was an instant classic in the war genre. Although it takes place in World War II, its blistering commentary on the futility of war is a pointed commentary on the conflict in Vietnam, then still raging and increasingly opposed by many in the United States. In it, a group of 12 men all convicted of various crimes are selected for a secret mission, one that carries with it an extremely high chance of death, in exchange for a government pardon. Their job? To take out high-ranking members of the German Wehrmacht leading up to D-Day. Truthfully, no one expects any of them to actually survive the mission, but the official thinking is that even if they fail, they're sparing the army the trouble of dealing with a group of rebellious convicts that no one would miss much anyway.
"The Dirty Dozen" is so well-regarded today in part because of its exceptional ensemble cast that includes Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, George Kennedy, Jim Brown, and many others. But because this movie came out over 50 years ago, only a precious few members of its cast are still with us.
Donald Sutherland (Vernon Pinkley)
We're fairly confident that Donald Sutherland needs no introduction. Born in 1935, he was 32 years old when he took on the role of Vernon L. Pinkley, one of the 12 convicts assigned to Project Amnesty who is eventually killed in a firefight with German soldiers. Although Sutherland had worked mostly in television throughout much of the 1960s, this was his first high-profile production — but it wouldn't be his last. In the years since, he has become one of Hollywood's most reliable character actors, appearing in films as varied as "Animal House," "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "Don't Look Now," "Ad Astra," and "The Hunger Games." In 1995, he won an Emmy for his work in the miniseries "Citizen X," and he was given an honorary award at the Oscars in 2018.
Although Sutherland is nearly 90 years old, he continues to work steadily as an actor. He had three projects released in 2023, including "Lawmen: Bass Reeves," and currently has another film in pre-production.
Stuart Cooper (Roscoe Lever)
If you're struggling to remember Stuart Cooper, that's probably because he has been much more prolific behind the camera than in front of it. In fact, although he took on the role of Roscoe Lever, one of the convicts selected for the mission in "The Dirty Dozen," his entire acting career only lasted for about five years in the 1960s. Since then, however, he has directed many films, specializing in television movies especially in the 1990s.
Towards the beginning of his directorial career, he attracted attention on the film festival circuit, winning awards at the Berlinale two years in a row for two different films ("Little Malcolm" and "Overlord," respectively). He currently has two films in varying stages of production, both of which he is credited as a writer and director: "The Express," a Western about the development of the Pony Express starring Harry Treadaway, and "I Confess," a TV thriller.
Colin Maitland (Seth Sawyer)
Colin Maitland began his film career with one of the most memorable (and disturbing) films of the 1960s, playing Charlie Sedgewick in "Lolita." But although he has this credit to his name as well as an appearance in "The Dirty Dozen" as Seth Sawyer, another one of the convicts who is killed in action, his acting career was short-lived. In fact, "The Dirty Dozen" marked his last film role — his credited work after that is as a sound engineer for the television series "Shoestring" from 1979 to 1980.
In the years since, he's kept a generally low profile, although he did make a 2017 appearance on the BBC game show "Bargain Hunt," in which two amateur antiquers compete against one another to buy items and then sell them for the highest amount at auction. Now in his 80s, he's presumably living a quiet life with his family, far from the movie career of his early years.