By Brian Lowry, NCS
(NCS) — Robert Duvall, the Oscar-winning actor finest recognized for “The Godfather,“ “Apocalypse Now” and lots of different tough-guy roles over an acclaimed display screen career that spanned six a long time, has died. He was 95.
Duvall died “peacefully” at his dwelling in Middleburg, Virginia on Sunday, in response to an announcement despatched by his public relations company on behalf of his spouse, Luciana.
Duvall memorably performed the Corleone household consigliere, or key adviser, in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather,” incomes his first of seven Academy Award nominations for the 1972 movie earlier than reprising the function two years later in “The Godfather Part II.”
Born in San Diego, California – his father was a career naval officer – Duvall performed all kinds of roles, from cowboys to army males.
He attended Principia College in Illinois and served in the military throughout the Korean War earlier than shifting to New York and finding out drama underneath famed performing coach Sanford Meisner. During that interval, he shared an condominium with Dustin Hoffman and frolicked with Gene Hackman, one other younger actor who would go on to nice success. Hackman died final 12 months.
Duvall appeared in a quantity of performs earlier than being solid in the movie model of “To Kill a Mockingbird” in the small however pivotal of Arthur “Boo” Radley in 1962. (He later named one of his canine “Boo.”)
An array of movie roles adopted, amongst them the unhealthy man reverse John Wayne in Wayne’s lone Oscar-winning efficiency, “True Grit”; the half of Major Frank Burns in the Robert Altman film “M*A*S*H”; and the lead in “Star Wars” director George Lucas’ dystopian 1971 sci-fi directing debut, “THX 1138,” wherein Duvall (and everybody else) sported shaved heads.
That got here out the 12 months earlier than “The Godfather,” and his function as Corleone household lawyer Tom Hagen propelled Duvall into one other echelon. The actor labored continually thereafter, taking part in a community govt in the satire “Network,” and migrating to tv in the blockbuster TV miniseries “Lonesome Dove.”
Duvall received an Oscar for portraying a rustic singer in the 1983 film “Tender Mercies,” wherein he did his personal singing.
He additionally earned Academy Award nominations for enjoying a marine at odds together with his household in “The Great Santini,” and as Lt. Col. Kilgore in the Vietnam War epic “Apocalypse Now,” which reunited him with Coppola and featured him delivering the oft-quoted line, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
Duvall noticeably skipped showing in the long-delayed “The Godfather Part III” in 1990, on account of a pay dispute with Coppola, telling Bob Costas that Al Pacino was going to be paid 5 instances the quantity he was supplied, which was “totally unacceptable.”
Later, in an interview with Larry King, Duvall known as his determination to not seem in the third “Godfather” film “a matter of principle.”
Roles in different Westerns had been additionally a component of his oeuvre, reminiscent of “Open Range” reverse Kevin Costner, and his Emmy-winning function in one other miniseries, “Broken Trail.”
Duvall additionally grew to become a filmmaker, writing, directing and costarring in the 1997 film “The Apostle,” a few troubled preacher, and later directing the movies “Assassination Tango” and “Wild Horses.” He was once more nominated for an performing Oscar for his work in “The Apostle.”
He remained energetic effectively into the 2010s, incomes his closing Oscar nomination at 84 for “The Judge” in 2014, and showing in such movies as “Jack Reacher” and “Widows.”
Duvall additionally performed a quantity of historic figures throughout his career, together with Robert E. Lee (“Gods and Generals”), Joseph Stalin (in the HBO film “Stalin”) and Nazi warfare prison Adolf Eichmann (“The Man Who Captured Eichmann”).
Married 4 instances, Duvall’s final marriage was to Argentinian actress-director Luciana Pedraza.
Duvall had a historical past of supporting Republican candidates. He attended George W. Bush’s inauguration, raised cash for Mitt Romney’s candidacy and narrated a video at the Republican National Convention in 2008.
He was awarded the National Medal of Arts throughout the Bush administration in 2004.
Duvall’s consultant’s assertion added on Monday that no formal service will likely be held. Instead, “the family encourages those who wish to honor his memory to do so in a way that reflects the life he lived by watching a great film, telling a good story around a table with friends, or taking a drive in the countryside to appreciate the world’s beauty.”
This story has been up to date with further data.
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NCS’s David Daniel contributed to this report.