©Courtesy of Paramount Pictures/Apocalypse Now
Actor Robert Duvall, who appeared in many iconic films including The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Network, and Tender Mercies, died on February 15 at his home in Middleburg, Virginia. He was 95.
During an acting career that spanned almost six decades, Duvall was nominated for seven Academy Awards and seven Golden Globes. He won an Oscar for best actor in 1984 for his role as Mac Sledge, an alcoholic country singer in Tender Mercies, directed by Bruce Beresford. The veteran actor delivered performances that were characterized by both “coiled fury and quiet gravitas,” in the words of Daniel Arkin of NBC News.
Robert Seldon Duvall was born in San Diego on January 5, 1931, the son of Rear Admiral William Duvall and aspiring actor Mildred Hall. After graduating from Principia College in Illinois, he served two years in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Duvall studied drama under Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. He initially appeared in several stage productions and on television, including The Twilight Zone, The Untouchables, and The Outer Limits.
Duvall made his film debut in 1962, playing Arthur “Boo” Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird. Later in that decade, he appeared with John Wayne in True Grit. He came to widespread public attention as attorney Tom Hagen in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974). During this period, he also appeared as a television executive in Sidney Lumet’s Network. In 1979, Duvall portrayed Lt. Col. Kilgore in Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, an epic inspired by the Vietnam War, where he is especially remembered for his line, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
During the 1980s, Duvall appeared in such films as Days of Thunder, The Paper, Falling Down, and A Civil Action. He also wrote, directed, and financed The Apostle, in which he played the role of a preacher in Louisiana’s bayou country. When he was in his 70s, Duvall played the Confederate general Robert E Lee in Gods and Generals, a bearded hermit in Get Low, and an elderly family patriarch in The Judge.
Duvall is survived by his wife, the Argentine actor and director Luciana Duvall. His previous marriages were to Barbara Benjamin Marcus, Gail Youngs, and Sharon Brophy.
His family has suggested his fans could best honor his memory by “watching a great film, telling a good story around a table with friends, or taking a drive in the countryside to appreciate the world’s beauty.”
Check out other articles by Edward.