Oscar Profile #553: Robert Duvall

Born January 5, 1931, in San Diego, California, Robert Duvall was the son of an amateur actress and a U.S. Navy rear admiral. His lineage traces back to Martha Washington and Robert E. Lee. His father expected him to attend the Naval Academy at Annapolis, but he chose acting instead. Studying at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse while working odd jobs, he roomed with classmates Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. James Caan was also a classmate.

On stage in regional theatres from the late 1950s, he made his television debut in 1959 in two episodes of the Armstrong Circle Theatre and followed it with roles in numerous TV series. He made his film debut in 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird while continuing to appear in TV shows. His film career evolved slowly with roles in such films as Captain Newman, M.D. , The Chase, The Detective, Bullitt, and True Grit. He had a major role in 1970’s M*A*S*H and had the lead in 1971’s THX 1138, but it was his role in 1972’s The Godfather that solidified his career.

Post-Godfather, Duvall was seen in the lead in Tomorrow, written by Horton Foote who won an Oscar for adapting Duvall’s first film, To Kill a Mockingbird. Other major roles in the 1970s included those in The Godfather: Part II, Network, and Apocalypse Now for which he received a second Oscar nomination.

Duvall received his third Oscar nomination and his first for Best Actor for 1980’s The Great Santini losing to his Godfather II co-star Robert De Niro in Raging Bull. The two then starred together in 1981’s True Confessions for which Duvall received the brunt of the film’s notices. Three films later Duvall won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of a washed-up country-and-western singer in 1983’s Tender Mercies.

The actor’s best post-Oscar role was as a retired Texas Ranger in the 1989 TV mini-series, Lonesome Dove. A highly publicized dispute over money kept him out of 1990’s The Godfather: Part III.

Duvall’s 1990s films included supporting roles in Rambling Rose and Newsies, the co-lead in Wrestling Ernest Hemingway, and more supporting roles in such films as The Family Way and Sling Blade before directing himself to his fifth Oscar nomination and third for Best Actor for 1997’s The Apostle. That was followed by his sixth nomination, his third in support, for 1998’s A Civil Action.

Following his highly regarded performance in 2003’s Open Range, Duvall married fourth wife, Argentinian actress Luciana Pedrazza, 41 years his junior, whom he has since directed in two films, co-starring with her in one.

Oscar nominated for the seventh time for 2014’s The Judge, Robert Duvall remains a major acting force at the age of 90. His latest film is 2021’s 12 Mighty Orphans, with two more in post-production.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962), directed by Robert Mulligan

Duvall made his film debut one year after his former roommate Gene Hackman made his, but unlike Hackman, made an immediate impression. His was five years before his other former roommate, Dustin Hoffman, made his, yet both Hackman and Hoffman received their first Oscar nominations in 1967, while Duvall had to wait another five years for his. Duvall’s Boo Radley character is a mysterious figure throughout most of Mockingbird, but his appearance at film’s end is one of the film’s highlights. Horton Foote, who received an Oscar for his adapted screenplay later wrote Duvall’s first starring role in Tomorrow for him.

THE GODFATHER (1972), directed by Francis Ford Coppola

While Duvall hasn’t acted on screen with either of his famed former roommates, he did act opposite former classmate James Caan in this eagerly anticipated and long remembered transformative gangster film for which they both received Oscar nominations. The epic film was nominated for 11 Oscars, winning 3, and spawned two sequels. It won for Best Picture, Actor (Marlon Brando), and Screenplay. Caan, Duvall, and Al Pacino all lost Best Supporting Actor to Joel Grey in Cabaret, which won a total of 8 Oscars including Best Director (Bob Fosse) and Best Actress (Liz Minnelli), losing only Best Picture and Screenplay.

THE GREAT SANTINI (1980), directed by Lewis John Carlino

The year after Duvall received his second Oscar nomination for Apocalypse Now to Melvyn Douglas in Being There, he was nominated for Best Actor for the first time for his portrayal of the tough marine husband and father in the film version of Pat Conroy’s autobiographical novel. Michael O’Keefe was also nominated for his portrayal of the sensitive son based on Conroy. Blythe Danner, who memorably plays Duvall’s wife and O’Keefe’s mother, failed to be nominated or as the senior Conroy put it to his son: “You and me got nominated for Academy Awards, your mother didn’t get squat.”

TENDER MERCIES (1983), directed by Bruce Beresford

In another role written especially for him by Horton Foote, Duvall won an Oscar on his fourth nomination for his portrayal of a down-and-out country-and-western singer who finds redemption in the love of a Vietnam War widow and her young son. Nominated for 5 Oscars including Best Picture, Director, and Song (“Over You”), Foote also won for his original screenplay. The film features strong performances from Tess Harper in her film debut as Duvall’s true love, Betty Buckley as his superstar ex-wife, Ellen Barkin as his daughter, and Allan Hubbard as Harper’s son. Wilford Brimley plays Buckley’s manager.

GET LOW (2009), directed by Aaron Schneider

Duvall received a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of a 78-year-old hermit who throws a wake for himself while still alive. Based on a true story set in the 1930s, the mysterious character he plays here is very much an older version of Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird. Duvall, and supporting players Bill Murray as the local funeral director, and Sissy Spacek as an old friend, received all received AARP Movies for Grown-ups Awards nominations for their performances, but none of them received Oscar recognition for what was Duvall’s last major starring role to date.