Robert Duvall, Oscar winner who starred in "The Godfather," dies at age 95

1 hour ago 4

Robert Duvall, who starred successful specified classics arsenic "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II," "M*A*S*H," "Apocalypse Now" and "Tender Mercies," for which helium won the Academy Award, has died, his woman announced successful a societal media station Monday. He was 95.

Luciana Duvall said successful a statement that her hubby died Sunday astatine their location "surrounded by emotion and comfort."

"To the world, helium was an Academy Award-winning actor, a director, a storyteller. To me, helium was simply everything," she wrote. "His passionateness for his trade was matched lone by his heavy emotion for characters, a large meal, and holding court. For each of his galore roles, Bob gave everything to his characters and to the information of the quality tone they represented. In doing so, helium leaves thing lasting and unforgettable to america all."

One of the champion actors of his procreation with a vocation spanning astir 7 decades, Duvall was noted for his understated performances, subsuming himself into characters that manifested motivation conflicts oregon ethical struggles.

Some of his astir indelible portrayals included Tom Hagen, the Corleone family's consigliere, successful the archetypal 2 "Godfather" films; Mac Sledge, a state vocalist seeking to redeem himself, successful "Tender Mercies"; and his debut movie appearance, arsenic Boo Radley, a shy antheral who befriends young Scout, successful the 1962 adaptation of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Actor Robert Duvall is honored with a manus and footprint ceremonial astatine Grauman's Chinese Theatre connected Jan. 5, 2011, successful Hollywood, California.

But Duvall could besides spell large, arsenic shown by his full-throttle performances arsenic Lt. Col. Kilgore successful "Apocalypse Now," who leads a chopper onslaught connected a Vietnamese colony successful bid to unafraid a harmless portion for surfing; Bull Meechum, the overbearing Marine aviator and begetter successful "The Great Santini"; and Frank Hackett, a firm TV enforcement who runs roughshod implicit a quality part successful "Network."

Working with specified directors arsenic Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Sidney Lumet, George Lucas, Philip Kaufman and Dennis Hopper, Duvall was 1 of the astir disposable and dependable actors successful the 1970s and '80s. He brought gravitas and a interaction of subversion to specified films arsenic "True Confessions," "The Stone Boy," "Rambling Rose," "The Natural," "Colors," "The Handmaid's Tale" and "A Civil Action."

And arsenic helium aged into mentor roles — arsenic contention car operator Tom Cruise's pit unit main successful "Days of Thunder"; a hostage negotiator other Denzel Washington successful "John Q."; Michael Keaton's editor-in-chief successful "The Paper"; an astronaut starring his unit to prevention the satellite successful "Deep Impact" — Duvall brought a committedness to anchoring a communicative successful reality. In all, helium earned 7 Oscar nominations.

Robert Duvall arsenic Mac Sledge, an alcoholic, erstwhile state vocalist seeking redemption successful the 1983 movie "Tender Mercies." Duvall won the champion histrion Oscar for his performance.

Even successful tiny parts, helium could bargain a movie. In 2004, helium explained to CBS' "60 Minutes II" that, whether his characters were heroic oregon villainous, down-to-earth oregon tenacious, there's a spot of Robert Duvall successful each of them. "Has to be. It's you underneath," helium said. "You construe somebody. You effort to fto it travel from yourself."

"You can't measurement implicit the line"

A Navy brat (his begetter retired arsenic a rear admiral), Duvall was calved connected Jan. 5, 1931, successful San Diego, California, and raised successful Maryland, Missouri and Illinois. He took play classes successful school, appeared successful signifier productions, served for a twelvemonth successful the Army successful the 1950s, and past studied acting successful New York alongside Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman and James Caan. He made his off-Broadway debut successful 1958's "Mrs. Warren's Profession."

Duvall had aboriginal TV roles connected shows similar "Playhouse 90," "Naked City," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "The Twilight Zone," "Route 66" and "The Untouchables," and helium made his archetypal movie quality successful "To Kill a Mockingbird."

He continued with a hefty resume of TV roles, including "The Outer Limits," "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea," "The Time Tunnel," "The Wild Wild West," "Judd for the Defense," "Mod Squad" and "The F.B.I." But Duvall began making bigger and bigger appearances connected movie screens, including successful "Countdown," "Bullitt," "True Grit" (as outlaw Ned Pepper) and a starring relation successful Coppola's "The Rain People." He besides appeared connected Broadway successful the thriller "Wait Until Dark."

Then came "M*A*S*H," Altman's 1970 satire of war, successful which Duvall played Maj. Frank Burns, a by-the-book Army surgeon whose spiritual zeal didn't get successful the mode of his having an matter with the hospital's main nurse, Maj. Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Sally Kellerman). Burns becomes a foil and the butt of jokes of different doctors astatine the M*A*S*H portion until helium is virtually driven into a straitjacket.

Duvall followed "M*A*S*H" with a pb relation successful a subject fabrication movie directed by 1 of Coppola's friends, George Lucas. Inspired by 1 of Lucas' movie schoolhouse shorts, "THX 1138" starred Duvall arsenic a idiosyncratic successful a dystopian aboriginal who breaks escaped of the state's mind-control efforts and escapes to a ravaged landscape.

But an adjacent bigger relation – successful the discourse of fashionable civilization – was Duvall's supporting crook successful Coppola's "The Godfather." Cast other Marlon Brando, James Caan and Al Pacino, Duvall played an Irish lawyer who had been "adopted" into the Corleone household – his sole client. Balancing the wishes of Brando's Vito Corleone, the hot-headed antics of Caan's Sonny and the absorption of Pacino's Michael, Tom Hagen was a tested dependable of reason, a deliverer of atrocious quality and an instrumentality of revenge (as erstwhile helium directed the dismemberment of a movie workplace head's prized horse).

"As an histrion and a quality both, you can't measurement implicit the line," Duvall told the A.V. Club successful 2022. "[Hagen's] an adopted son, truthful helium is simply a subordinate of the family, benignant of; possibly not a 1000 percent, but he's precise important to the family. And arsenic an actor, you can't measurement implicit that line, either. You person to benignant of support yourself successful the inheritance a small spot and past beryllium called upon erstwhile needed."

He would repetition the relation successful Coppola's sequel, "The Godfather Part II." But erstwhile Coppola went to movie Part III of his gangster saga, Duvall and the workplace couldn't travel to presumption connected salary, and truthful Tom Hagen was killed off.

"It smells similar victory"

Duvall's enactment successful the 1970s included transgression films ("Badge 373," "The Outfit," "Breakout") and Westerns ("Lawman," "Joe Kidd," "The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid"). He appeared uncredited successful Coppola's "The Conversation"; starred successful a hardly released adaptation of a William Faulkner abbreviated story, "Tomorrow"; played Dr. Watson other Nicol Williamson's Sherlock Holmes successful "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution"; and had a showy crook successful the Sidney Lumet-Paddy Chayefsky satire "Network," astir a fictional TV web that boosts a mentally unstable quality anchor to rise its moribund ratings. He besides starred arsenic Gen. Dwight Eisenhower successful an ABC miniseries, "Ike."

But 1979 marked 2 of Duvall's astir celebrated roles. In Coppola's "Apocalypse Now," helium played Lt. Col. Kilgore, who leads a chopper onslaught connected a suspected Viet Cong village, blaring Wagner connected loudspeakers. Kilgore's bare-chested code ("I emotion the odor of napalm successful the greeting … it smells similar victory"), arsenic a wood is incinerated nearby, articulated the brutality and insanity of warfare and became 1 of cinema's iconic moments.

Duvall took his relation seriously, adjacent arsenic explosives were discharged each astir him. "I played a feline that didn't flinch, truthful I didn't flinch. You cognize what I mean?" helium told Esquire magazine successful 2014. "I played that benignant of feline – a non-flinching guy. If you flinch erstwhile the publication says not to flinch, you should beryllium fired."

The film, an autarkic accumulation backed by Coppola, became a high-water people successful Hollywood's attack to the Vietnam War. It besides earned Duvall his 2nd supporting histrion Oscar nomination.

On the other extremity of the theatrical selling spectrum from "Apocalypse Now," Warner Bros. had small religion successful "The Great Santini," adapted from the Pat Conroy novel. Duvall played Col. Bull Meechum, a hard-as-nails Marine combatant aviator whose domineering property collides with his family, successful peculiar his 18-year-old son, Ben (Michael O'Keefe). The movie received small emotion erstwhile it was hardly released successful 1979; it was adjacent shown connected airplanes nether a antithetic rubric ("The Ace"). It wasn't until summertime 1980, erstwhile it received a belated merchandise successful a New York theater, followed by cablegram TV play, that it won affirmative reviews and a following. The movie earned Oscar nominations for some Duvall and O'Keefe.

In 1983, Duvall starred successful the play "Tender Mercies," playing Mac Sledge, a state vocalist whose alcoholism derailed his vocation and who tries to marque a spiritual and nonrecreational comeback. Written by Horton Foote, "Tender Mercies" was a quiescent movie astir a breached psyche seeking redemption with a caller family, his longings and aspirations voiced done state and gospel songs.

He sang each opus himself. (That was portion of his deal.) "They were trying to get astir it," Duvall told CBS' "Sunday Morning" successful 2006, "but I said, 'No, no. This has to beryllium portion of it. You cannot dub later. I person to bash that.'"

He won the Academy Award for his performance. "Not to brag, but I got calls from Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson telling maine I had the quality conscionable right," helium told Roger Ebert successful 2012.

Duvall had said his favourite relation was Gus McCrae, the Texas Ranger turned philosopher cowboy, successful the 1989 TV miniseries "Lonesome Dove."

He admitted successful a 2014 interrogation with Cowboys and Indians magazine that helium didn't ever spot oculus to oculus with the series' Australian manager Simon Wincer. "Sometimes erstwhile you person a small turmoil, it tin crook retired amended than if everything is successful full harmony," helium said.

Robert Duvall and Rick Schroeder successful "Lonesome Dove"

In playing specified roles — stoic, quiet, analyzable — Duvall told the Los Angeles Times successful 1992, "I person a definite confidence. But this is an unforgiving milieu. You person to attack it by being unforgiving of yourself. You ever commencement with zero, starting with the simplest things. I talk, you listen. You talk, I listen. With each part, you statesman with the basics."

Other films included "Rambling Rose," "Newsies," the TV movie "Stalin," "Falling Down," "Sling Blade," "The Man Who Captured Eichmann," "Wrestling Ernest Hemingway," "Secondhand Lions," "The Road," "Get Low," "Crazy Heart," "Jack Reacher" and "The Judge."

He filmed a 1974 documentary astir rodeo riders, "We're Not the Jet Set," and past directed his archetypal communicative feature, successful 1983: "Angelo, My Love," acceptable successful the satellite of the Roma. He was backmost successful the director's seat 3 much times, including "The Apostle" (which helium besides wrote), successful which helium played a Pentecostal preacher connected the tally from the law. The show earned him his 5th Oscar nomination. He aboriginal directed "Assassination Tango" and "Wild Horses."

Filmed successful Buenos Aires, Argentina, the thriller "Assassination Tango" was Duvall's tribute to the tango. He starred other his girlfriend, Luciana Pedraza, who he'd met years earlier erstwhile she invited him to the opening of a tango shop. She and the three-times-married Duvall — 4 decades older than Pedraza — discovered they shared a passionateness for tango. They joined successful 2005.

Duvall talked with "60 Minutes" astir his obsession with the Argentine dance: "It gets successful your humor successful a quiescent way, benignant of a saccharine happening that sits there. He's leading, he's telling her what to do, but she embellishes. But successful our politically close world, up successful the United States, they telephone it the person and the follower. Down here, they telephone it the antheral and the woman."

The qualities of Duvall's work, from the histrionic to the silent, were evident successful the naturalness of his delivery. As helium said to "Sunday Morning," "What makes what I bash work? It's this, what we're doing close now: talking and listening. … That's the opening and the end. The opening and the extremity is to beryllium simple."

In:

Read Entire Article