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In 1965, Douglas married Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, with whom she had two children before they divorced — twins Rachel, a production manager, and Kiefer, who became a film and TV star in his own right.

Douglas also had another son, Thomas, from a previous marriage.

My mother was an extraordinary woman who led an extraordinary life

In a 2009 interview with The Canadian Press, she admitted that being away from home for lengthy periods of time to pursue acting was hard on her children, but said she knew it would make her a better mother in the end.

“Our jobs, we move around a great deal … and that is the reality that my children grew up with — is being left, and not happily,” said Douglas, who used a wheelchair in recent years due to a degenerative spine condition that caused her severe pain.

“You either have to decide you’re going to be guilty about it and not do it, or that you are going to do it and that you will be, in the end — and I hate to use it as an excuse — but that you’ll be a better mother than being home bitter that you aren’t allowed out.”

Born on April 2, 1934, Douglas showed an early interest in the arts as well as politics as she journeyed on the campaign trail with her father, who became premier of Saskatchewan, a federal NDP leader and a socialist icon.

She attended the Banff School of Fine Arts and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England, where she acted in theatre and TV and participated in anti-nuclear marches.

In the ’60s and ’70s, while living in California, Douglas campaigned against the Vietnam War and protested for various politicial and social causes.