Robert Duvall, the veteran actor who had a string of roles in classic American films including Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, M*A*S*H and To Kill a Mockingbird, has died aged 95.
“Bob passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort,” wrote his wife, Luciana Duvall, in a message on Facebook.
“To the world, he was an Academy Award-winning actor, a director, a storyteller. To me, he was simply everything. His passion for his craft was matched only by his deep love for characters, a great meal, and holding court. For each of his many roles, Bob gave everything to his characters and to the truth of the human spirit they represented. In doing so, he leaves something lasting and unforgettable to us all.”
Duvall was perhaps best known for his role as the cavalry-hatted Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, released in 1979, which yielded two of the most frequently quoted lines of dialogue in cinema history – “Charlie don’t surf!” and “I love the smell of napalm in the morning”. But he also made an immense impact as the consigliere Tom Hagen in The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, the reclusive Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird at the start of his career, and many supporting and character roles throughout the ensuing decades. He was nominated seven times for an Oscar, winning once, for best actor in 1984 for Tender Mercies as a country-music singer trying to overcome alcoholism.
“The greatest consigliere the screen has ever seen,” wrote the actor Jamie Lee Curtis on social media, referring to Duvall’s role in the Godfather films as the Corleone family’s lawyer, Tom Hagen.
Adam Sandler, who acted alongside Duvall in Hustled (2022), said of Duvall: “Funny as hell. Strong as hell. One of the greatest actors we ever had. Such a great man to talk to and laugh with. Loved him so much. We all did. So many movies to choose from that were legendary. Watch them when you can.”
Turner Classic Movies paid tribute to the actor, saying “Duvall’s storytelling transcended mediums and generations of audiences” and the TCM host Ben Manckiewicz said it was “hard not to love everything about Robert Duvall’s work”.
Born in San Diego, California, in 1931, the son of a naval officer, Duvall studied drama at college in St Louis, Missouri, and briefly joined the army. In 1955 he enrolled at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York (alongside James Caan, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman), sharing flats with Hackman and Hoffman. Duvall worked steadily in TV and theatre, including an award-winning role in a 1965 production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, directed by Ulu Grosbard, and won his first film role as the mysterious Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird, released in 1962.
Further small roles in Bullitt (1968) and True Grit (1969) consolidated his reputation, but it was his role in M*A*S*H – as the self-important Frank Burns, who is repeatedly mocked by Donald Sutherland’s Hawkeye and Elliott Gould’s Trapper John – that brought him to wider attention. Having appeared in Francis Ford Coppola’s feminist road movie The Rain People (1969), Duvall cemented his connection with the Hollywood new wave with the lead role in George Lucas’s 1970 debut feature, the dystopian sci-fi parable THX 1138; Tom Hagen in the first two Godfather films (he would ultimately not be cast in the third due to salary demands); and Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, in a role initially intended for Hackman.
Duvall also continued to appear in more mainstream films, including the second world war thriller The Eagle Has Landed (1976), news-media satire Network (1976) and baseball drama The Natural (1984). He made his directorial debut in 1983 with Angelo My Love, a semi-improvised drama about a Romany street kid in New York. Despite his Oscar for Tender Mercies, lead roles rarely came his way, but he was a commanding supporting presence throughout the 80s and 90s, appearing in a wide range of films: the Dennis Hopper-directed gang thriller Colors, the Tom Cruise stock car blockbuster Days of Thunder (1990) and the Margaret Atwood adaptation The Handmaid’s Tale (1990).
In 1992, he returned to TV to play Stalin in an award-winning HBO film directed by Ivan Passer. Another lead role came his way in 1997, in his second directorial effort, The Apostle, in which he plays a preacher who kills his wife’s lover. He received his third best actor Oscar nomination for the role.
Duvall would direct two more films – Assassination Tango in 2002, in which he displayed his real-life talent for the Argentinian dance style, and the western Wild Horses in 2015. He continued to appear in a wide variety of films, from Hollywood thrillers such as The Gingerbread Man and Gone in 60 Seconds, to left-field dramas such as We Own the Night and The Road. A longtime interest in football (the “association” kind) led to roles in the low-budget Scottish drama A Shot at Glory (opposite Ally McCoist) in 2000, and the comedy Kicking and Screaming (2005) with Will Ferrell.
Duvall continued working steadily through the 2010s, achieving another Oscar nomination for best supporting actor in 2015 for The Judge, becoming at the time the oldest male actor ever nominated.
One of Hollywood’s most prominent Republican supporters for decades, Duvall said he gave up supporting the party in 2014.
Duvall was married four times: to Barbara Benjamin (1964-81), to Gail Youngs (1982-86), to Sharon Brophy (1991-95) and to Luciana Pedraza, whom he married in 2005. He had no children.
