As reported by his wife, Luciana Duvall, the actor passed away at his horse farm in Plains, Virginia, near Washington, D.C.
Duvall, who turned 95 on January 5, leaves behind a legacy of nearly a hundred films over a career spanning more than seventy years in Hollywood. His last work was the film "Going to the NBA," released in 2022.
According to the obituary, the actor possessed a unique talent that allowed him to embody a wide range of characters — from a mob lawyer to a long-winded country singer and a tough military pilot. His mastery of transformation amazed many.
Australian director Bruce Beresford, who directed Duvall in the 1983 film "Tender Mercies," noted that Duvall immersed himself in roles so deeply that it seemed he completely disappeared into his characters. "It was an incredible ability, even a bit frightening at first glance," he said.
In this film, Duvall played the role of the washed-up country star Mac Sledge, who finds meaning in life through his relationship with a widow and her son. For this performance, he received his only Oscar for Best Actor, along with six nominations for the award.
"He became that character; it wasn't just Duvall," Beresford asserted about his performance. However, the actor himself disagreed with this viewpoint, stating in a 1989 interview: "I don't become a character! It's still me — just a little altered."
Nevertheless, both audiences and critics continued to see Duvall as a completely different person, not fitting traditional Hollywood standards.
Since the beginning of his career in the early 1960s, he displayed exceptional attention to detail, which defined each of his roles. As a child, when his family frequently moved across the country, he developed the ability to observe people's manners and accents. "I study the memories of every person," he said.
Preparation for the role of Mac Sledge included singing with a country band and traveling through East Texas in search of accents. He also interacted with shady characters while preparing for the role of Tom Hagen in "The Godfather," and before filming "True Confessions," he got to know police detectives.
Duvall was also actively involved in preparing for other notable roles, including Colonel Bull Meechum in "The Great Santini" and cynical media manager Frank Hackett in "Network." His famous line about "the smell of napalm in the morning" from "Apocalypse Now" lingered in viewers' memories for a long time.
Duvall's abilities were compared to those of Laurence Olivier; in 1980, critic Vincent Canby called him "the American Olivier." Director Herbert Ross also noted that only Duvall and George C. Scott could compare with him in range.
In his debut film "To Kill a Mockingbird" in 1962, Duvall played the reclusive neighbor Boo Radley, which was a surprising revelation for viewers. Later, Harper Lee sent him a congratulatory telegram with the phrase: "Hello, Boo."
However, Duvall's favorite role was that of Texas Ranger Augustus McCrae from the 1989 miniseries "Lonesome Dove." "Let the English play Hamlet, and I'll be Augustus McCrae," he noted.
This role earned him an Emmy nomination, and nearly two decades later, he received an award for the film "Broken Trail" (2006).
Duvall also tried his hand at directing, creating projects that interested him. The most personal was the film "The Apostle" (1997), where he served as writer, producer, and lead actor, earning him another Oscar nomination.
The actor often had disagreements with directors, standing up for his vision. "I take direction from the director only if it complements my ideas," he said.
Francis Ford Coppola, who made him famous in "The Godfather," remained a special figure in his life, although Duvall refused to return to the role in the third film due to a fee that he claimed was disproportionate to what Al Pacino was receiving.
Robert Selden Duvall was born on January 5, 1931, in San Diego, becoming the second of three sons of Rear Admiral William Duvall and Mildred Duvall. His family moved frequently, and he came to acting, realizing that he was "terrible at everything else" during his studies at Principia College.
After serving in the army in 1955, he moved to New York, where he studied under Sanford Meisner. His close friends included actors like Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman. Initially, he worked at the post office before landing his first role in "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Duvall preferred life away from Hollywood, spending time on a ranch in Virginia with his fourth wife, Luciana Pedraza, who is 41 years younger than him and whom he met in Buenos Aires during a tango obsession.
He was also known for his political views — being a conservative, he supported Republican candidates. In 2005, President George Bush awarded him the National Medal of Arts.
Despite the fact that as he aged, roles became less frequent, he continued to portray strong characters, such as an editor in "The Paper" (1994) and a doctor in "Phenomenon" (1996). One of his last significant works was the film "The Judge" (2014).
Duvall always valued supporting roles: "Someone said that the best life is that of a second lead actor," he asserted. "You travel, get per diem, and your role might even be better. And you don't carry the weight of the entire film."
