The Oscar-winning actor Robert Duvallbetter known as “The Godfather”, “Apocalypse Now” and other tough-guy roles over a six-decade film career, has passed away. He was 95 years old.
Duvall passed away “peacefully” at his home in Middleburg, Virginia, on Sunday, according to a statement sent by his publicist on behalf of his wife, Luciana.
Duvall played memorably the main advisor to the Corleone family in “The Godfather”from , earning his first of seven Oscar nominations for the 1972 film, before reprising the role two years later in “The Godfather Part II.” Duvall did not participate in the sequel, “The Godfather Part III,” which had its release delayed due to a pay dispute.
Born in San Diego, California – his father was a career Navy officer – Duvall played a wide variety of roles, from cowboys to military men.
He attended Principia College in Illinois and served in the army during the Korean War, before moving to New York and studying theater with renowned acting teacher Sanford Meisner. During this period, he shared an apartment with Dustin Hoffman and lived with Gene Hackman, another young actor who would later achieve great success.
Duvall was in several plays before being cast in the film version of in the small but crucial role of Arthur “Boo” Radley in 1962. (He later named one of his dogs “Boo.”)
He continued playing several roles in cinema, including the villain alongside John Wayne in Wayne’s only performance to win an Oscar, “Indomitable Bravery”; the role of Major Frank Burns in Robert Altman’s film “M.A.S.H”; and the lead role in George Lucas’s 1971 dystopian science fiction directorial debut, “THX 1138”in which Duvall (and everyone else) sported shaved heads.
This film was released a year before “The Godfather”, and His role as Tom Hagen, lawyer for the Corleone family, catapulted Duvall to another level. The actor worked steadily from then on, playing a broadcast executive in the satire “Rede de Intrigas” and migrating to television in the successful miniseries “Os Pistoleiros do Oeste”.
Duvall won best actor for playing a country singer in the 1983 film “The End of Love,” in which he himself sang the songs..
He also received nominations as a Marine at odds with his family in “The Great Santini” and as Lt. Col. Kilgore in the Vietnam War epic and featured him uttering the oft-quoted line, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
He also appeared in other western films such as “Pact of Justice”alongside Kevin Costner, and had an Emmy-winning role in another miniseries, “Lost Trail.”
Duvall also became a filmmaker, writing, directing and acting in the 1997 film “The Apostle,” about a troubled preacher, and later directing the films “Tango and the Killer” and “Wild Horses.” He was again nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for his work in “The Apostle.”
He remained active well into the 2010s, receiving another Oscar nomination at age 84 for “The Judge” in 2014, and appearing in films including “Jack Reacher” and “Widows.”
In an interview with Larry King, Duvall stated that his decision not to participate in the third “Godfather” film was “a matter of principle”, telling Bob Costas that Al Pacino would receive five times what he was offered, which was “totally unacceptable”.
“Everybody did it for the money,” Duvall said at the time. “Why wait 15 years to make a sequel?”
Throughout his career, Duvall has played numerous historical figures, including Robert E. Lee (“Gods and Generals”), Joseph Stalin (in the HBO film “Stalin”) and Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann (“The Man Who Captured Eichmann”).
Married four times, Duvall’s last marriage was to the Argentine actress and director Luciana Pedraza, 41 years younger, in 2004.
Duvall had a history of supporting Republican candidates, attending George W. Bush’s inauguration, fundraising for Mitt Romney’s candidacy and narrating a video at the Republican National Convention in 2008.
He was awarded the National Medal of Arts during the Bush administration in 2004.
A statement from Duvall’s representative, released Monday, added that there will be no formal ceremony. Instead, “the family encourages those who wish to honor his memory to do so in a way that reflects the life he lived, watching a great movie, telling a good story at the table with friends or taking a drive through the countryside to appreciate the beauty of the world”.
*Under updating.
