Robert Duvall, the Oscar-winning actor celebrated for his unforgettable performances in The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, passed away peacefully on Sunday evening at his residence in Middleburg, Virginia. He was 95 years old.
His wife Luciana Pedraza was at his side when he died.
She shared the news through social media, writing: “Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time. Bob passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort.”
In her statement, Ms Pedraza described him as “simply everything” to her, praising his dedication to his craft and his deep commitment to portraying the truth of the human spirit in every character he inhabited.
Robert Duvall has passed away aged 95
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Mr Duvall first collaborated with director Francis Ford Coppola on The Rain People in 1969, before being cast as the shrewd consigliere Tom Hagen in the 1972 masterpiece The Godfather, a role that earned him his first Academy Award nomination.
He reprised the character in The Godfather: Part II two years later.
His portrayal of the surf-obsessed Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore in Apocalypse Now produced one of cinema’s most quoted lines: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
Remarkably, the scene was captured in a single take whilst jets flew overhead and explosions erupted nearby.
Robert Duvall’s fourth wife, Luciana Pedraza, shared the sad news to social media
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“There wasn’t any time to think,” Mr Duvall told Roger Ebert in 1983. “I just got completely into the character, and if he wouldn’t flinch, I wouldn’t flinch.”
His understated turn as an alcoholic country singer in Tender Mercies brought him the Best Actor Oscar in 1984.
Throughout his career, the beloved actor accumulated seven Academy Award nominations, securing wins for both his acting and, as a producer, for the outstanding miniseries Broken Trail.
His personal favourite among all his roles was Augustus McCrae, the ex-Texas Ranger he portrayed in the 1989 CBS miniseries Lonesome Dove, adapted from Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
Robert Duvall holding gun in a scene from the film ‘The Outfit’, 1973
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“I walked into the wardrobe room one day on Lonesome Dove and said, ‘Boys, we’re making the Godfather of Westerns,'” he told Stephen Colbert in 2021.
His screen debut came in 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird, where he played the reclusive Boo Radley without uttering a single line of dialogue, yet still marked himself as an actor of exceptional promise.
Screenwriter Horton Foote personally recommended him for the part after seeing Duvall perform on the New York stage.
Mr Duvall was born in San Diego on January 5, 1931, the son of US Navy Rear Admiral William Duvall and Mildred Hart.
The family relocated to the East Coast when he was ten, settling primarily in Annapolis, Maryland.
After completing his studies at Principia College in Illinois, where he majored in drama, and serving two years in the Army, he moved to New York in 1955 to train under Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse.
During those early struggling years, he shared a flat with Dustin Hoffman, whilst Gene Hackman became another close friend whose wife regularly cooked for the trio.
Robert Duvall died peacefully in his home
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“The feeling was that Bobby was the new Brando,” Mr Hoffman later recalled.
Mr Duvall is survived by his fourth wife, Luciana, an Argentine native whom he married in 2005.
The pair first crossed paths in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In a 2011 interview with Esquire, Mr Duvall said: “I met my wife in Argentina. The flower shop was closed, so I went to the bakery. If the flower shop had been open, I never would’ve met her.”