“In each of his many roles, Bob dedicated himself fully to the characters and to the truth of the human spirit they represented,” said Luciana Duvall in the post.
Duvall portrayed strong leaders, such as Lieutenant Colonel Bull Meechum in “The Great Santini” and the title character in “Stalin,” as well as bruised and decaying characters in “Tender Mercies,” for which he won the Oscar, and “The Apostle.” He won awards for both types of roles.
Take Advantage of the Stock Market Upswing!
Duvall, the son of a Navy admiral and an amateur actress, grew up in Annapolis, Maryland. After graduating from Principia College in Illinois and serving in the United States Army, he moved to New York, where he roomed with Dustin Hoffman and befriended Gene Hackman when the three were struggling theatre students.
After working on several television programs, Duvall made a strong impression even in small roles, such as his first film role, the mysterious recluse Boo Radley in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Duvall landed the role thanks to the suggestion of the film’s screenwriter, Horton Foote, who liked his work in one of his plays.
Foote later wrote “Tender Mercies,” a 1983 film for which Duvall won the Oscar for Best Actor as a fading country singer.
Perhaps Duvall’s most memorable role was in Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam epic, “Apocalypse Now,” portraying the eccentric Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, obsessed with surfing.
Duvall had only a few minutes on screen, but nearly stole the scene when his character boasted on a battlefield after a successful attack and proclaimed exuberantly: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” It smelled like “victory,” Kilgore said.
The role earned Duvall one of his seven Oscar nominations. Another was for Best Supporting Actor for Coppola’s “The Godfather,” portraying Tom Hagen, advisor to the Corleone crime family. Duvall appeared in “The Godfather Part II,” but refused Part III because he considered the salary offer inadequate.
Duvall was also nominated for an Oscar for “The Great Santini,” “The Apostle,” “A Civil Action” and “The Judge,” in 2014. In total, he appeared in nearly 100 films.
Duvall had a special talent for portraying cowboys. He won an Emmy for the television miniseries “Lonesome Dove,” starred alongside John Wayne in “True Grit,” and received an Emmy nomination for the miniseries “The Gunfighters of the West.” He used to say that his portrayal of the amiable policeman-turned-cowboy Gus McRae in The Gunfighters was his favorite role.
“I think I nailed a very specific character that represents something important in the history of the Western movement,” Duvall told the New York Times. “After that, I felt I could retire, that I had done something.”
When he grew tired of Hollywood, Duvall began making his own films. He wrote, directed and was nominated for Best Actor for “The Apostle,” the story of a preacher in conflict.
Duvall did the same with “Assassination Tango,” a film that allowed him to express his passion for tango and for Argentina, where he met his fourth wife, Luciana Pedraza. Both were born on January 5, but 41 years apart.
Duvall split his time between Los Angeles, Argentina and a 146-hectare farm in Virginia, where he turned the barn into a tango dance hall.
