Jack Bauer ... er, Kiefer Sutherland's Family Tree

So yet another season of "24" ends on a dramatic note. Generally, the buzz about the last episode is that it saved an otherwise ho-hum season. (Here's a synopsis of the last show -- don't read it if you've TiVoed the episode and want to watch it first.)

Personally, if the superb Kiefer Sutherland weren't playing Jack Bauer, I doubt I would pay attention to the show. His acting talent is not surprising, however, considering his family lineage. His dad, Donald, is another well-known TV and movie actor and his mother, Shirley Douglas, is one of Canada's best stage actors. But the relative I admire the most had no acting experience: his grandfather, Tommy Douglas.

In a nationwide contest held in November 2004 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, in which 1.2 million people voted, Douglas was named the greatest Canadian who had ever lived. Among other things, he is known as the father of universal health care in Canada.

For me, his finest moment came when he literally stood alone against the entire Canadian political establishment during the so-called October Crisis of 1970. A Quebecois terrorist group, known as the FLQ, kidnapped two men and killed one of them. Then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau declared martial law under the War Measures Act and suspended civil liberties.

Only one major Canadian politician refused to support the draconian War Measures Act -- Douglas. As the CBC notes, "The move was devastating to his popularity at the time, but he would be heralded years later for sticking by his principles of civil liberty."

So while the grandson plays a hero, you could say that the grandfather was the real McCoy.

9:33 AM ET | 05-22-2007 | permalink