Robert Duvall

Robert Duvall
Duvall at the Tribeca Film Festival, May 2007
Born	Robert Selden Duvall
Occupation(s)	Actor, director
Years active	1959-present
Spouse(s)	Barbara Benjamin (1964-1975) Gail Youngs (1982-1986) Sharon Brophy (1991-1996) Luciana Pedraza (2004-present)

Robert Selden Duvall (born January 5, 1931) is an Academy Award-, two-time Emmy Award-, and four-time Golden Globe Award-winning American film actor and director. He is best known for his roles in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now, Network, THX 1138, MASH, The Great Santini, Tender Mercies, Lonesome Dove, and The Apostle.

Biography

Early life

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. Duvall's father was a Methodist and his mother was a Christian Scientist, and Duvall was raised in the Christian Science religion. Duvall grew up in a military family, 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, Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. He served in the United States Army (service number 52 346 646) from 19 August 1953 to 20 August 1954, leaving as Private First Class. While stationed at Camp Gordon in Georgia, Duvall acted in an amateur production of the comedy "Room Service" in nearby Augusta.

After leaving the Army, Duvall studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre in New York under Sanford Meisner. 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. At one point, Duvall roomed with Hoffman while they were looking for work.

Career

Duvall's screen debut was as Boo Radley in the critically acclaimed To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). Duvall later played the notorious malefactor Ned Pepper in True Grit (1969), and Major Frank Burns in the film version of MASH (1970), but his breakout role was that of Tom Hagen in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974). He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in A Civil Action and for his role as Lt. Colonel Kilgore in Apocalypse Now (1979). He also received a nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role in The Great Santini as Lt. Col. "Bull" Meechum who was loosely based on world famous Marine Aviator, Colonel Donald Conroy. He won Oscar's Best Actor in Tender Mercies (1983). 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. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory.

(Pause)

Some day this war is going to end...

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.

He directed the critically acclaimed The Apostle, about a preacher on the run from the law, and Assassination Tango (2002), a thriller about one of his favorite hobbies, tango. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on September 18, 2003.

Duvall portrayed General Robert E. Lee in Gods and Generals in 2003 and is actually a relative of the Confederate general. He has stated in several forums, including CBS Sunday Morning, that his favorite role was that of Augustus "Gus" McCrae in Lonesome Dove.

In 2005, he was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush at the White House.

Personal life

Duvall is close friends with Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman, both of whom he has known since their struggling actor days. He has been married four times, the first to Barbara Benjamin, from 1964 until 1975. He then married Gail Youngs (1982–1986) and Sharon Brophy (1991–1996).

In 2005, Duvall married Luciana Pedraza, granddaughter of famous Argentinian 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. Duvall and Luciana have been active supporters of Pro Mujer, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping Latin America's poorest women help themselves through micro-credit, business training and health care linkages.

Duvall speaks fluent Spanish and maintains a farm in The Plains in Fauquier County, Virginia. He has the same birthday as Godfather co-star Diane Keaton who was born in 1946. His favorite city is Buenos Aires. He is an avid Tango dancer and soccer fan. Duvall faxed a message of support to Dumfries club Queen of the South ahead of the team playing in the 2008 Scottish Cup Final. Duvall became acquainted with the club in filming scenes in 1999 for 'A Shot at Glory'.

Duvall's political views are variously described as libertarian or conservative. He was personally invited to Republican President George W. Bush's inauguration in 2001. On September 5, 2007, Duvall announced his support for Republican Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1962	To Kill a Mockingbird	Arthur 'Boo' Radley
1963	The Twilight Zone	Charley Parkes	Episode #110, "Miniature"
	Captain Newman, M.D.	Capt. Paul Cabot Winston
1964	The Outer Limits	Adam Ballard	Episodes #42, 43, "The Inheritors"
1964	The Outer Limits	Louis Mace	Episode #31, "The Chameleon"
1965	Nightmare in the Sun	Motorcyclist
1966	T.H.E.Cat	Laurent	2 episodes, 1966-1967 TV series
	The Chase	Edwin Stewart
1968	The Detective	Nestor
	Countdown	Chiz
	Bullitt	Weissberg
1969	True Grit	Ned Pepper
	The Rain People	Gordon
1970	M*A*S*H	Frank Burns
	The Revolutionary	Despard
1971	THX 1138	THX 1138
	Lawman	Vernon Adams
1972	The Godfather	Tom Hagen	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; Nominated - BAFTA Award
	The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid	Jesse James
	Tomorrow	Jackson Fentry
	Joe Kidd	Frank Harlan
1973	The Outfit	Earl Macklin
	Badge 373	Eddie Ryan
	Lady Ice	Ford Pierce
1974	The Conversation	The Director	uncredited
	The Godfather: Part II	Tom Hagen
1975	Network	Frank Hackett
	Breakout	Jay Wagner
1976	The Eagle Has Landed	Oberst Max Radl
	The Seven-Per-Cent Solution	Dr. Watson
	Network	Frank Hackett	Nominated - BAFTA Award
1977	The Greatest	Bill McDonald
1978	Invasion of the Body Snatchers	Priest on swing	uncredited
	The Betsy	Loren Hardeman III
1979	Apocalypse Now	Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore	BAFTA Award; Golden Globe Award; Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
	The Great Santini	Bull Meechum	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor
	Ike	Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower	TV mini-series
1981	True Confessions	Thomas Spellacy
1983	Tender Mercies	Max Sledge	Academy Award for Best Actor; Golden Globe Award
1984	The Natural	Max Mercy
1986	The Lightship	Calvin Caspary
1988	Colors	Officer Bob Hodges
1989	Lonesome Dove	Augustus "Gus" McCrae	Golden Globe Award; Nominated - Emmy Award, stated this was his favorite role
1990	A Show of Force	Howard
	Days of Thunder	Harry Hogge
	The Handmaid's Tale	The Commander
1991	Rambling Rose	Daddy Hilyer
	Convicts	Soll
1992	Stalin	Josef Stalin	Golden Globe Award; Nominated - Emmy Award
	Newsies	Joseph Pulitzer
1993	Falling Down	Prendergast
	Wrestling Ernest Hemingway	Walter
	Geronimo: An American Legend	Al Sieber
1994	The Paper	Bernie White
1995	Something to Talk About	Wyly King
	The Stars Fell on Henrietta	Mr. Cox
	The Scarlet Letter	Roger Chillingworth
1996	Sling Blade	Karl's father
	The Man Who Captured Eichmann	Adolf Eichmann	Nominated - Emmy Award
	A Family Thing	Earl Pilcher Jr.
	Phenomenon	Doc Brunder
1997	The Apostle	Euliss 'Sonny' Dewey - The Apostle E.F.	Writer/Director Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor
1998	The Gingerbread Man	Dixon Doss
	A Civil Action	Jerome Facher	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; Nominated - Golden Globe Award
	Deep Impact	Capt. Spurgeon 'Fish' Tanner
2000	Gone in 60 Seconds	Otto Halliwell
	The 6th Day	Dr. Griffin Weir
	A Shot at Glory	Gordon McLeod
2002	John Q	Lt. Frank Grimes
	Assassination Tango	John J. Anderson	Writer/Director
2003	Gods and Generals	Gen. Robert E. Lee
	Secondhand Lions	Hub
	Open Range	Boss Spearman
2005	Kicking & Screaming	Buck Weston
	Thank You for Smoking	Doak "The Captain" Boykin
2006	Broken Trail	Prentice "Print" Ritter	Emmy Award; Nominated - Golden Globe Award
2007	Lucky You	Mr. Cheever
	We Own the Night	Albert Grusinsky
2008	Four Christmases	Howard	post-production
	The Road	Old Man	post-production

References

1977-The Eagle has Landed

External links

• Robert Duvall at IMDb
• 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".

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