Almost Dying
On the set of Kelly’s Heroes, Sutherland did not have much luck. Don became seriously ill with spinal meningitis during filming in Yugoslavia. His then-wife, Shirley Douglas, was given a telegraph telling her to come to the far-off European state as soon as possible. It also stated that Sutherland would most likely die before she arrived. Yikes.
Almost Dying
Falling Into A Coma
The actor later told the Irish Examiner about his terrifying incident. He explained, “I got sick in the middle of shooting… I came to Yugoslavia for a day’s filming, and I was out for six weeks. They took me to hospital. I had spinal meningitis. They didn’t have the antibiotics, so I went into a coma, and they tell me that for a few seconds, I died. I saw the blue tunnel, and I started going down it. I saw the white light. [But] I dug my feet in.”
Falling Into A Coma
