Robert Duvall, who won an Oscar for “Tender Mercies” and was nominated for his roles in films including “The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now,” and “The Great Santini,” has d!ed. He was 95.
Duvall’s de@th was announced on Facebook via a statement from his wife, Luciana Duvall.
“Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time,” she wrote. “Bob passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort. To the world, he was an Academy Award-winning actor, a director, a storyteller. To me, he was simply everything.”
She continued, “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. Thank you for the years of support you showed Bob and for giving us this time and privacy to celebrate the memories he leaves behind.”
In a prolific Hollywood career that spanned nearly six decades, Duvall deftly alternated between leading and supporting roles, delivering performances of coiled fury and quiet gravitas. He fully inhabited each character, whether portraying a ruthless TV executive in “Network” (1976) or a passionate Pentecostal preacher in “The Apostle” (1997).
He was nominated for seven Academy Awards and seven Golden Globes. He won the best actor Oscar in 1984 for his turn as alcoholic country singer Mac Sledge in Bruce Beresford’s “Tender Mercies.”
Robert Seldon Duvall was born Jan. 5, 1931, in San Diego, California, to an amateur actress and a U.S. Navy rear admiral. He grew up on Navy bases around the country — including the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland — and graduated from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, in 1953.
He served two years in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. When Duvall returned to the States, he studied drama under the storied instructor Sanford Meisner at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse, where his classmates included Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman and James Caan.
In those years, Duvall made a living working odd jobs around New York and roomed with Hoffman and Hackman. He appeared in various Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including productions of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” and “A View from the Bridge,” and landed guest spots on popular television shows such as “The Twilight Zone.”
He did not make his film debut until age 31, taking on the small but crucial role of Arthur “Boo” Radley in the 1962 adaptation of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” He continued to build his reputation throughout the 1960s, delivering memorable work in the John Wayne flick “True Grit” (1969) and the Francis Ford Coppola character study “The Rain People” (1969).
In the 1970s, Duvall emerged as one of the key figures of the “New Hollywood” movement. He frequently collaborated with visionary directors and helped reshape the face of American movie stardom along with other unconventional leading men — a group that included Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and former roommates Hoffman and Hackman.
