Robert Duvall
Duvall at the premiere of The Road during the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.
Born	Robert Selden Duvall (1931-01-05) January 5, 1931 (age 81) San Diego, California, United States
Nationality	American
Education	Severn School
Alma mater	Principia College
Occupation	Actor and director
Years active	1952–present
Spouse	Barbara Benjamin (1964–75) Gail Youngs (1982–86) Sharon Brophy (1991–96) Luciana Pedraza (2005–present)

Robert Selden Duvall (born January 5, 1931) is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career.

A veteran character actor, Duvall has starred in some of the most acclaimed and popular films and TV shows of all time, among them The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, To Kill a Mockingbird, THX 1138, Joe Kidd, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, MASH, Network, True Grit, Bullitt, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, Tender Mercies, The Natural and Lonesome Dove.

He began appearing in theater during the late 1950s, moving into television and film roles during the early 1960s in such works as To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) (as Boo Radley) and Captain Newman, M.D. (1963). He started to land much larger roles during the early 1970s with films like the blockbuster comedy MASH (1970) (as Major Frank Burns) and the lead in George Lucas' THX 1138 (1971). This was followed by a series of critically lauded performances in films which were also commercial successes: The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974), Network (1976), The Great Santini (1979), Apocalypse Now (1979), and True Confessions (1981).

Since then Duvall has continued to act in both film and television with such productions as Tender Mercies (1983) (for which he won an Academy Award), The Natural (1984), Colors (1988), the television mini-series Lonesome Dove (1989), Stalin (1992), The Man Who Captured Eichmann (1996), A Family Thing (1996), The Apostle (1997) (which he also wrote and directed), A Civil Action (1998), Gods and Generals (2003), Broken Trail (2006) and Get Low (2010).

Early life[link]

Duvall was born in San Diego, California, the son of Mildred Virginia (née Hart), an amateur actress and relative of American Civil War General Robert E. Lee, and William Howard Duvall, a Virginia-born U.S. Navy admiral.^[1][2] Duvall was raised in the Christian Science religion and has stated that while it is his belief, he does not attend church.^[3] Duvall grew up in the traditional life of a career military family, moving frequently from military base to military base, living for a time in Annapolis, Maryland, near the United States Naval Academy. He attended Severn School in Severna Park, Maryland and The Principia in St. Louis, Missouri and graduated, in 1953, from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. He served in the United States Army from 19 August 1953 to 20 August 1954, leaving as Private First Class. While stationed at Camp Gordon (now known as Fort Gordon) in Georgia, Duvall acted in an amateur production of the comedy "Room Service" in nearby Augusta.

In the winter of 1955 he began studies at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater in New York under Sanford Meisner on the G.I. Bill. He was there for two years. Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman and James Caan were some of his classmates.^[4][5][6][7] He was there in 1957 attending Meisner's classes.^[8] While working to become an actor, he worked as a Manhattan post office clerk. Duvall is friends with actors Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman whom he knew during their years as struggling actors.^[9] In 1955, Duvall roomed with Hoffman in a New York City apartment while they were studying at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.^[10]

Career[link]

Early career in theatre, television and film: 1952–1969[link]

Duvall began his professional acting career with the Gateway Playhouse, an Equity summer theatre based in Bellport, Long Island, New York. Arguably his stage debut was in its 1952 season when he played the Pilot in Laughter In The Stars at the Gateway Theatre^{[disambiguation needed ]}. After a two-year absence when he was with the U.S. Army (1953-1954), he returned to Gateway in its 1955 summer season, playing: Eddie Davis in Ronald Alexander's Time Out For Ginger (July 1955), Hal Carter in William Inge's Picnic (July 1955), Charles Wilder in John Willard's The Cat And The Canary (August 1955), Paris in Arthur Miller's The Crucible (August 1955), and John the Witchboy in William Berney and Howard Richardson's Dark Of The Moon (September 1955). The playbill of Dark Of The Moon indicated that he had portrayed the Witch Boy before and that he will "repeat his famous portrayal" of this character for the 1955 season's revival of this play. For Gateway's 1956 season (his third season with the Gateway Players), he played the role of Max Halliday in Frederick Knott's Dial M For Murder (July 1956), Virgil Blessing in Inge's Bus Stop (August 1956), and Clive Mortimer in John van Druten's I Am A Camera (August 1956). The playbills for the 1956 season described him as "an audience favorite" in the last season and as having "appeared at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and studied acting with Sandy Meisner this past winter." In its 1957 season, he appeared as Mr. Mayher in Agatha Christie's Witness For The Prosecution (July 1957), as Hector in Jane Anouilh's Thieves Carnival (July 1957), and the role which he once described as the "catalyst of his career" - as Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge (from July 30 to August 3, 1957 and directed by Ulu Grosbard who was by then a regular director at the Gateway Theatre).^[11] Miller himself attended one of Duvall's performances as Eddie and also during this performance he met important people that allowed him to, in two months, land a "spectacular lead" in the Naked City television series.^[7] When appearing at the Gateway Theatre in the second half of the 1950s, he was also appearing at the Augusta Civic Theatre, the McLean Theatre in Virginia and the Arena Theatre in Washington, D.C.. The 1957 playbills also described him as "a graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse" (so he must have completed his studies there by the Summer of 1957), "a member of Sanford Meisner's professional Workshop" and as having worked with Alvin Epstein, a mime and a member of Marcel Marceau's Company. By this time also (July 1957) his noteworthy theatrical credits already included performances as Jimmy in The Rainmaker and as Harvey Weems in Horton Foote's The Midnight Caller.^[12][13] Already receiving top-billing at the Gateway Playhouse, in the 1959 season he appeared in lead roles as Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee William's Streetcar Named Desire (July–August 1959), Maxwell Archer in Once More With Feeling, Igor Romanoff in Peter Ustinov's Romanoff and Juliet, and Joe Mancuso in Kyle Crichton's The Happiest Millionaire (all in August 1959).^[14]

At the Neighborhood Playhouse, Meisner cast him in Tennessee William's Camino Real and the title role of Harvey Weems in Foote's one-act play The Midnight Caller. The latter was already part of Duvall's performance credits by mid-July 1957.^{[12][15][13][16][17][18][19]}

He made his Off-Broadway debut at the Gate Theater as Frank Gardner in George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession on June 25, 1958. This play closed three days later (June 28) after five performances. His other early Off-Broadway credits include the role of Doug in the premiere of Michael Shurtleff's Call Me By My Rightful Name on January 31, 1961 at One Sheridan Square and the role of Bob Smith in the premiere of William Snyder's The Days and Nights of BeeBee Fenstermaker on September 17, 1962 until June 9, 1963 at the Sheridan Square Playhouse. His most notable Off-Broadway performance, for which he won an Obie Award in 1965 and which he considers his "Othello", was as Eddie Carbone (again) in Miller's A View From the Bridge at the Sheridan Square Playhouse from January 28, 1965 to December 11, 1966. It was directed again by Ulu Grosbard with Dustin Hoffman. On February 2, 1966 he made his Broadway debut as Harry Roat, Jr in Frederick Knott's Wait Until Dark at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. This played at the Shubert Theatre and George Abbott Theatre and closed on 31 December 1966 at the Music Box Theatre. His other Broadway performance was as Walter Cole in David Marnet's American Buffalo, which opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on 16 February 1977 and closed at the Belasco Theatre on 11 June 1977.^[20][21][22]

In 1959, Duvall made his first television appearance on Armstrong Circle Theater in the episode The Jailbreak. He appeared regularly on television as a guest actor during the 1960s, often in action, suspense, detective, or crime dramas. His appearances during this time include performances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Naked City, The Untouchables, Route 66, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, The Fugitive, T.H.E. Cat, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel and The Mod Squad.

Duvall's screen debut was as Boo Radley in the critically acclaimed To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). He was cast in the film on the recommendation of screenwriter Horton Foote, who met Duvall at Neighborhood Playhouse during a 1957 production of Foote's play, The Midnight Caller. Foote, who would collaborate with Duvall many more times over the course of their careers, said he believed Duvall had a particular love of common people and ability to infuse fascinating revelations into his roles. Foote has described Duvall as "our number one actor."^[23]

After To Kill a Mockingbird, Duvall appeared in a number of films during the 1960s, mostly in mid sized parts but also in a few larger supporting roles. Some of his more notable appearances include the role of Capt. Paul Cabot Winston in Captain Newman, M.D. (1963), Chiz in Countdown (1968), and Gordon in The Rain People. Duvall has a small part as a cab driver who ferries McQueen around just before the chase scene in the film Bullitt (1969). He was the notorious malefactor "Lucky" Ned Pepper in True Grit (1969), in which he engaged in a climactic shootout with John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn on horseback.

Mid career: 1970–1989[link]

Robert Duvall with Diane Lane in 1989.

Duvall became an important presence in American films beginning in the 1970s. He drew a considerable amount of attention in 1970 for his portrayal of Major Frank Burns in the film MASH and for his portrayal of the title role in the cult classic THX 1138 in 1971. His first major critical success came portraying Tom Hagen in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974). The former film earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 1976 Duvall played supporting roles in The Eagle Has Landed and as Dr. Watson in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution opposite Nicol Williamson, Alan Arkin, Vanessa Redgrave and Laurence Olivier.^[24]

Duvall received another Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor and won both a BAFTA Award and Golden Globe Award for his role as Lt. Colonel Kilgore in Apocalypse Now (1979). His line "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" from Apocalypse Now is now regarded as iconic in cinema history. The full text is as follows:

You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. But the smell! You know - that gasoline smell... the whole hill! Smelled like... victory.
(Pause)
Some day this war is going to end...

Duvall received a BAFTA Award nomination for his portrayal of television executive Frank Hackett in the critically acclaimed film Network (1976) and garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role in The Great Santini (1979) as the hard-boiled Marine LtCol. "Bull" Meechum. The latter role was loosely based on a Marine aviator, Colonel Donald Conroy, the father of the book's author Pat Conroy. He also portrayed United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the television miniseries Ike (1979).

In 1977 Duvall returned to Broadway to appear as Walter Cole in David Mamet's American Buffalo. For his performance he received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play. To date, Duvall has not returned to the New York stage.

Duvall continued to appear in important films during the 1980s, including the roles of cynical sportswriter Max Mercy in The Natural (1984) and Los Angeles police officer Bob Hodges in Colors (1988). He won an Oscar for Best Actor as country western singer Mac Sledge in Tender Mercies (1983). Foote was rumored to have written the part for Duvall, who had always wanted to play a country singer and contributed ideas for the character. Foote denied this, claiming he found it too constraining to write roles for specific actors, but he did hope Duvall would be cast. Duvall was said to have written the music, but the actor said he wrote only a few "background, secondary songs." Duvall did do his own singing, insisting it be added to his contract that he sing the songs himself; Duvall said, "What's the point if you're not going to do your own (singing)? They're just going to dub somebody else? I mean, there's no point to that."^[23]

Actress Tess Harper, who co-starred, said Duvall inhabited the character so fully that she only got to know Mac Sledge and not Duvall himself. Director Bruce Beresford, too, said the transformation was so believable to him that he could feel his skin crawling up the back of his neck the first day of filming with Duvall. Beresford said of the actor, "Duvall has the ability to completely inhabit the person he's acting. He totally and utterly becomes that person to a degree which is uncanny."^[23] Nevertheless, Duvall and Beresford did not get along well during the production and often clashed during filming, including one day in which Beresford walked off the set in frustration.^[23]

In 1989, Duvall appeared in the landmark mini-series Lonesome Dove in the role of Augustus "Gus" McCrae. He has stated in several forums, including CBS Sunday Morning, that this particular role was his personal favorite. He won a Golden Globe Award and earned an Emmy Award^[25] nomination. For his role as a former Texas Ranger peace officer, Duvall was trained in the use of Walker revolvers by the Texas marksman Joe Bowman.

Later career: 1990–present[link]

President George W. Bush stands with recipients of the 2005 National Medal of Arts on November 9, 2005, in the Oval Office. Among those recognized for their outstanding contributions to the arts were, from left: Leonard Garment, Louis Auchincloss, Paquito D'Rivera, James De Preist, Tina Ramirez, Robert Duvall, and Ollie Johnston.

Duvall has maintained a busy film career, sometimes appearing in as many as four in one year. He received Oscar nominations for his portrayals of evangelical preacher Euliss "Sonny" Dewey in The Apostle (1997) — a film he also wrote and directed — and lawyer Jerome Facher in A Civil Action (1998).

He directed Assassination Tango (2002), a thriller about one of his favorite hobbies, tango. He portrayed General Robert E. Lee in Gods and Generals in 2003; he is a relative of the Confederate general.

Other roles during this period that displayed the actor's wide range included that of a crew chief in Days of Thunder (1990), a retiring cop in Falling Down (1992), an Hispanic barber in Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993), a New York tabloid editor in The Paper (1994), a rural doctor in Phenomenon (1996), an abusive father in 1996's Slingblade, an astronaut in Deep Impact (1998), a trail boss in Open Range (2003), a soccer coach in the comedy Kicking & Screaming, an old free spirit in Secondhand Lions (2003), a Las Vegas poker champion in Lucky You and a New York police chief in We Own the Night (both 2007).

He has been referred to as "The King of Action". He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on September 18, 2003.^{[citation needed]}

Duvall has periodically worked in television during the last two decades. He won a Golden Globe and garnered an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Joseph Stalin in the 1992 television film Stalin. He was nominated for an Emmy again in 1997 for portraying Adolf Eichmann in The Man Who Captured Eichmann. In 2006, he won an Emmy for the role of Prentice "Print" Ritter in the revisionist Western miniseries Broken Trail.

In 2005, Duvall was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush at the White House.^[26]

Duvall founded a production company, Butcher's Run Films, but it appears to have ceased operation.

Personal life[link]

Marriages[link]

Duvall and future wife Luciana Pedraza shaking hands with a member of the "The Black Stallions" of Helicopter Combat Support Squadron Four (HC-4) in the squadron’s hangar bay in 2003.

Duvall has been married four times. His first wife was Barbara Benjamin, to whom he was married from 1964 until 1975. His second wife was Gail Youngs, to whom he was married from 1982 to 1986. His marriage to Youngs temporarily made him the brother-in-law of John Savage, Robin Young, and Jim Youngs). His third wife was Sharon Brophy. His marriage to Brophy was for 5 years, from 1991 to 1996.

In 2005, Duvall wed his fourth wife, Luciana Pedraza, granddaughter of famous Argentine aviator Susana Ferrari Billinghurst. He met Pedraza on a street in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They were both born on January 5, but Duvall is 41 years older. They have been together since 1997. He produced, directed, and they acted together in Assassination Tango, with the majority of filming in Buenos Aires.

Duvall and Pedraza have been active supporters of Pro Mujer, a non-profit charity organization dedicated to helping Latin America's poorest women (with Duvall and Pedraza concentrating on Pedraza's home of northern Argentina) help themselves through micro-credit, business training and health care links.^[27][28]

Activism[link]

Politics[link]

Duvall's political views are variously described as libertarian or conservative.^[9] He was personally invited to Republican President George W. Bush's inauguration in 2001. In September 2007, he announced his support for Republican Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani.^[29] Duvall worked the floor at the GOP's 2008 national convention^[30] and, according to an August 29, 2008 MSNBC article, Duvall narrated most of the videos for the convention. In September 2008, he appeared on stage at a John McCain-Sarah Palin rally in New Mexico.

Charity work[link]

In May 2009 he spoke for historic preservation against Wal-Mart's proposal to build a store across the road from the entrance to the Wilderness Battlefield national park in Orange County, Virginia.

In 2011, Duvall appeared at a record-breaking Houston charity event when he was interviewed by Bob Schieffer for 'An Evening with a Texas Legend'.^[31] The event raised over $9 million for Texas Children's Cancer Center.^[31]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robert Duvall

• Robert Duvall at the Internet Movie Database
• Robert Duvall at the Internet Broadway Database
• Robert Duvall at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Political contributions of Robert Duvall
• 'Napalm' speech tops movie poll The BBC
• Artículo Star Pulse 19/6/2006- "Hollywood legend Robert Duvall discovers he married into a family of great Argentinean aviators".
• Robert Duvall photos at amctv.com
• The Cowboy Career of Robert Duvall at amctv.com
• Robert Duvall Fan Page 'Hat Creek'
• Photographs and literature on Robert Duvall
• Robert Duvall at Emmys.com