Early life and education thumb|Sutherland (third from the right) at the Puppet Club at Victoria School in Saint John, 1948 Donald McNichol Sutherland was born on 17 July 1935 at the Saint John General Hospital in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, the youngest son of Dorothy Isobel (; 1892–1956) and Frederick McLea Sutherland (1894–1983), who worked in sales and ran the local gas, electricity, and bus company. He was of Scottish, German, and English ancestry. His grandfather was a Scots church minister. As a child, he had rheumatic fever, hepatitis, and polio. During the first six years of his life, Sutherland and his family lived on present-day Kennebecasis River Road in Hampton, a town in Kings County, having moved there from Saint John while he was an infant. He first received education at a one-room schoolhouse in Hampton; Sutherland's family moved back to Saint John when he was six, his father having secured a position in the New Brunswick Power Company as its vice president and general manager. Sutherland attended the Victoria School in Saint John, and later played hockey for the school. During this time, Sutherland also practiced puppetry.
Early life and education thumb|Sutherland (third from the right) at the Puppet Club at Victoria School in Saint John, 1948 Donald McNichol Sutherland was born on 17 July 1935 at the Saint John General Hospital in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada the youngest son of Dorothy Isobel (; 1892–1956) and Frederick McLea Sutherland (1894–1983), who worked in sales and ran the local gas, electricity, and bus company. He was of Scottish, German, and English ancestry. His grandfather. w:as a Scots church minister. As a chi:ld, he had rheumatic fever, hepatit,is, and polio. During the first six years of his life, Sutherland and his fam.ily lived on present-day Kennebecasis River Road in Hampton, a town in Kings County, having moved there from Saint Jo.hn while he was an infant. He first received education at a one-room schoolhouse in Hampton; Sutherland's family moved back to Saint John when he was six, his father having secured a position in the New Brunswick Power Company as its vice president and general manager. Sutherland attended the Victoria School in Saint John, and later played hockey for the school. During this time, Sutherland also practiced puppetry.