Donald Sutherland, who died on Thursday at 88 after a long illness, opened up in one of his last interviews on his reasons for never seeking a dual Canadian and American citizenship.

“Because we don’t have the same sense of humour. It’s true. We don’t. I’m a Canadian through and through,” Sutherland said on the CBC radio show Q with Tom Power in March.

Sutherland, whose film career spanned seven decades, was born in New Brunswick, Canada, on 17 July 1935.

In the interview, he remembered an incident with an American border guard who asked why the actor didn’t get an American passport to help him travel across the border easily.

“Anyway, I love the country. I’m very, very proud that they gave me a stamp,” Sutherland said, referring to Canada’s postal service releasing a commemorative stamp to honour the actor’s career.

“Do you know that [the stamp] goes everywhere in this country and abroad? That puts me on letters that go everywhere. I love it. I am so touched by it,” he added.

Sutherland’s death was announced by his son, 24 star Kiefer Sutherland, who posted a photo on social media on Thursday and wrote: “With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away.

“I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film. Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived.”

Sutherland started his career in the theatre and had a handful of minor roles on British television before his first film role in the 1964 Italian horror The Castle of the Living Dead.