ROBERT DUVALL
www.Talent Pages/ROBERT
Personal details
  • Height: 5' 8",
  • About me
    San Diego, California, United States
    Veteran actor and director Robert Duvall was born on January 5, 1931, in San Diego, CA, the son of a career military officer who later became an admiral. Duvall majored in drama at Principia College (Elsah, IL), then served a two-year hitch in the army after graduating in 1953. He began attending The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre In New York City on the G.I. Bill in 1955, studying under Sanford Meisner along with Dustin Hoffman, with whom Duvall shared an apartment. Both were close to another struggling young actor named Gene Hackman. Meisner cast Duvall in the play "The Midnight Caller" by Horton Foote, a link that would prove critical to his career, as it was Foote who recommended Duvall to play the mentally disabled "Boo Radley" in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). This was his first "major" role since his 1956 motion picture debut as an MP was in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), starring Paul Newman.

    Duvall began making a name for himself as a stage actor in New York, winning an Obie Award in 1965 playing incest-minded longshoreman "Eddie Carbone" in the off-Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge", a production for which his old roommate Hoffman was assistant director. He found steady work in episodic TV and appeared as a modestly billed character actor in films, such as Arthur Penn's The Chase (1966) with Marlon Brando and in Robert Altman's Countdown (1968) and Francis Ford Coppola's The Rain People (1969), in both of which he co-starred with James Caan.

    He was also memorable as the heavy who is shot by John Wayne at the climax of True Grit (1969) and was the first "Maj. Frank Burns", creating the character in Altman's Korean War comedy MASH (1970). He also appeared as the eponymous lead in George Lucas' directorial debut, THX 1138 (1971). It was Francis Ford Coppola, casting The Godfather (1972), who reunited Duvall with Brando and Caan and provided him with his career breakthrough as mob lawyer "Tom Hagen". He received the first of his six Academy Award nominations for the role.

    Thereafter, Duvall had steady work in featured roles in such films as The Godfather: Part II (1974), The Killer Elite (1975), Network (1976), The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976) and The Eagle Has Landed (1976). Occasionally this actor's actor got the chance to assay a lead role, most notably in Tomorrow (1972), in which he was brilliant as William Faulkner's inarticulate backwoods farmer. He was less impressive as the lead in Badge 373 (1973), in which he played a character based on real-life NYPD detective Eddie Egan, the same man his old friend Gene Hackman had won an Oscar for playing, in fictionalized form as "Popeye Doyle" in The French Connection (1971).

    It was his appearance as "Lt. Col. Kilgore" in another Coppola picture, Apocalypse Now (1979), that solidified Duvall's reputation as a great actor. He got his second Academy Award nomination for the role, and was named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most versatile actor in the world. Duvall created one of the most memorable characters ever assayed on film, and gave the world the memorable phrase, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning!".

    Subsequently, Duvall proved one of the few established character actors to move from supporting to leading roles, with his Oscar-nominated turns in The Great Santini (1979) and Tender Mercies (1983), the latter of which won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Now at the summit of his career, Duvall seemed to be afflicted with the fabled "Oscar curse" that had overwhelmed the careers of fellow Academy Award winners Luise Rainer, Rod Steiger and Cliff Robertson. He could not find work equal to his talents, either due to his post-Oscar salary demands or a lack of perception in the industry that he truly was leading man material. He did not appear in The Godfather: Part III (1990), as the studio would not give in to his demands for a salary commensurate with that of Al Pacino, who was receiving $5 million to reprise Michael Corleone.

    His greatest achievement in his immediate post-Oscar period was his triumphant characterization of grizzled Texas Ranger Gus McCrae in the TV mini-series "Lonesome Dove" (1989), for which he received an Emmy nomination. He received a second Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in Stalin (1992) (TV), and a third Emmy nomination playing Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in The Man Who Captured Eichmann (1996) (TV).

    The shakeout of his career doldrums was that Duvall eventually settled back into his status as one of the premier character actors in the industry, rivaled only by his old friend Gene Hackman. Duvall, unlike Hackman, also has directed pictures, including the documentary We're Not the Jet Set (1977), Angelo My Love (1983) and Assassination Tango (2002). As a writer-director, Duvall gave himself one of his most memorable roles, that of the preacher on the run from the law in The Apostle (1997), a brilliant performance for which he received his third Best Actor nomination and fifth Oscar nomination overall. The film brought Duvall back to the front ranks of great actors, and was followed by a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod for A Civil Action (1998).

    Robert Duvall will long be remembered as one of the great naturalistic American screen actors in the mode of Spencer Tracy and his frequent co-star Marlon Brando. His performances as "Boo Radley" in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), "Jackson Fentry" in Tomorrow (1972), "Tom Hagen" in the first two "Godfather" movies, "Frank Hackett" in Network (1976), "Lt. Col. Kilgore" in Apocalypse Now (1979), "Bull Meechum" in The Great Santini (1979), "Mac Sledge" in Tender Mercies (1983), "Gus McCrae" in "Lonesome Dove" (1989) and "Sonny Dewey" in The Apostle (1997) rank as some of the finest acting ever put on film. It's a body of work that few actors can equal, let alone surpass.

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    Credit
    FILM
    MISSISSIPPI WILD (PRE-PRODUCTION) ROBERT DUVALL JESSE BAGET
    JAYNE MANSFIELD'S CAR (FILMING) JIM CALDWELL BILLY BOB THORNTON
    SEVEN DAYS IN UTOPIA JOHNNY CRAWFORD MATT RUSSELL
    CRAZY HEART WAYNE SCOTT COOPER
    GET LOW FELIX BUSH AARON SCHNEIDER
    THE ROAD OLD MAN JOHN HILLCOAT
    FOUR CHRISTMASES HOWARD SETH GORDON
    WE OWN THE NIGHT BURT GRUSINSKY JAMES GRAY
    LUCKY YOU L. C. CHEEVER CURTIS HANSON
    THANK YOU FOR SMOKING CAPTAIN JASON REITMAN
    KICKING BUCK WESTON JESSE DYLAN
    SECONDHAND LIONS HUB TIM MCCANLIES
    OPEN RANGE BOSS SPEARMAN KEVIN COSTNER
    GODS AND GENERALS GEN. ROBERT E. LEE RONALD F. MAXWELL
    ASSASSINATION TANGO JOHN J. ANDERSON ROBERT DUVALL
    JOHN Q LT. FRANK GRIMES NICK CASSAVETES
    THE 6TH DAY DR. GRIFFIN WEIR ROGER SPOTTISWOODE
    A SHOT AT GLORY GORDON MCCLOUD MICHAEL CORRENTE
    GONE IN SIXTY SECONDS OTTO HALLIWELL DOMINIC SENA
    A CIVIL ACTION JEROME FACHER STEVEN ZAILLIAN
    DEEP IMPACT SPURGEON TANNER MIMI LEDER
    THE GINGERBREAD MAN DIXON DOSS ROBERT ALTMAN
    THE APOSTLE EULISS 'SONNY' DEWEY - THE APOSTLE E.F. ROBERT DUVALL
    THE MAN WHO CAPTURED EICHMANN (TV MOVIE) ADOLF EICHMANN WILLIAM A. GRAHAM
    SLING BLADE KARL'S FATHER BILLY BOB THORNTON
    PHENOMENON DOC BRUNDER JON TURTELTAUB
    A FAMILY THING EARL PILCHER JR. RICHARD PEARCE
    THE SCARLET LETTER ROGER CHILLINGWORTH ROLAND JOFFé
    THE STARS FELL ON HENRIETTA MR. COX JAMES KEACH
    SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT WYLY KING LASSE HALLSTRöM
    THE PAPER BERNIE WHITE RON HOWARD
    WRESTLING ERNEST HEMINGWAY WALTER RANDA HAINES
    GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND AL SIEBER WALTER HILL
    FALLING DOWN DETECTIVE PRENDERGAST JOEL SCHUMACHER
    LA PESTE JOSEPH GRAND LUIS PUENZO
    THE NEWS BOYS JOSEPH PULITZER KENNY ORTEGA
    CONVICTS SOLL GAUTIER PETER MASTERSON
    RAMBLING ROSE DADDY HILLYER MARTHA COOLIDGE
    DAYS OF THUNDER HARRY HOGGE TONY SCOTT
    A SHOW OF FORCE HOWARD BRUNO BARRETO
    THE HANDMAID'S TALE COMMANDER VOLKER SCHLöNDORFF
    COLORS OFFICER BOB HODGES DENNIS HOPPER
    HOTEL COLONIAL ROBERTO CARRASCO (LUCA VENIERI) CINZIA TH. TORRINI
    LET'S GET HARRY NORMAN SHRIKE STUART ROSENBERG, ALAN SMITHEE
    BELIZAIRE THE CAJUN THE PREACHER GLEN PITRE
    WAYLON JENNINGS: AMERICA (VIDEO SHORT) DOCTOR DAVID HOGAN
    THE LIGHTSHIP CALVIN CASPARY JERZY SKOLIMOWSKI
    THE NATURAL MAX MERCY BARRY LEVINSON
    THE STONE BOY JOE HILLERMAN CHRISTOPHER CAIN
    TENDER MERCIES MAC SLEDGE BRUCE BERESFORD
    THE PURSUIT OF D.B. COOPER GRUEN ROGER SPOTTISWOODE, AND 1 MORE CREDIT
    TRUE CONFESSIONS DET. TOM SPELLACY ULU GROSBARD
    IKE: THE WAR YEARS (TV MOVIE) GENERAL DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER BORIS SAGAL, MELVILLE SHAVELSON
    THE GREAT SANTINI LT. COL. 'BULL' MEECHUM LEWIS JOHN CARLINO
    APOCALYPSE NOW LIEUTENANT COLONEL BILL KILGORE FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA
    INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS PRIEST ON SWING (UNCREDITED) PHILIP KAUFMAN
    THE BETSY LOREN HARDEMAN III DANIEL PETRIE
    THE GREATEST BILL MCDONALD TOM GRIES, MONTE HELLMAN
    THE EAGLE HAS LANDED COLONEL RADL JOHN STURGES
    NETWORK FRANK HACKETT SIDNEY LUMET
    THE SEVEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION DR. JOHN H. WATSON / NARRATOR HERBERT ROSS
    THE KILLER ELITE GEORGE HANSEN SAM PECKINPAH
    BREAKOUT JAY WAGNER TOM GRIES
    THE GODFATHER: PART II TOM HAGEN FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA
    THE CONVERSATION THE DIRECTOR (UNCREDITED) FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA
    THE OUTFIT MACKLIN JOHN FLYNN
    BADGE 373 EDDIE RYAN HOWARD W. KOCH
    LADY ICE FORD PIERCE TOM GRIES
    JOE KIDD FRANK HARLAN JOHN STURGES
    THE GREAT NORTHFIELD MINNESOTA RAID JESSE JAMES PHILIP KAUFMAN
    TOMORROW JACKSON FENTRY JOSEPH ANTHONY
    THE GODFATHER TOM HAGEN FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA
    THX 1138 THX GEORGE LUCAS
    LAWMAN VERNON ADAMS MICHAEL WINNER
    THE REVOLUTIONARY DESPARD PAUL WILLIAMS
    MASH MAJ. FRANK BURNS ROBERT ALTMAN
    THE RAIN PEOPLE GORDON FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA
    TRUE GRIT NED PEPPER HENRY HATHAWAY
    BULLITT WEISSBERG PETER YATES
    THE DETECTIVE NESTOR GORDON DOUGLAS
    COUNTDOWN CHIZ ROBERT ALTMAN
    COSA NOSTRA, ARCH ENEMY OF THE FBI (TV MOVIE) ERNIE MILDEN DON MEDFORD
    THE CHASE EDWIN STEWART ARTHUR PENN
    NIGHTMARE IN THE SUN MOTORCYCLIST JOHN DEREK, MARC LAWRENCE
    CAPTAIN NEWMAN, M.D. CAPT. PAUL CABOT WINSTON DAVID MILLER
    TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD BOO RADLEY ROBERT MULLIGAN
    SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME MP (UNCREDITED) (UNCONFIRMED) ROBERT WISE
    TV
    HEMINGWAY RUSSIAN GENERAL PHILIP KAUFMAN
    BROKEN TRAIL (TV MINI-SERIES) PRENTICE RITTER WALTER HILL
    THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE (TV SERIES DOCUMENTARY) NARRATOR €“ THE CARTER FAMILY: WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN (2005) €¦ NARRATOR HENRY HAMPTON
    SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (TV SERIES) VARIOUS €“ GARTH BROOKS (1998) €¦ VARIOUS LORNE MICHAELS
    STALIN (TV MOVIE) JOSEF STALIN IVAN PASSER
    LONESOME DOVE (TV MINI-SERIES) AUGUSTUS 'GUS' MCCRAE €“ RETURN (1989) €¦ AUGUSTUS 'GUS' MCCRAE €“ THE PLAINS (1989) €¦ AUGUSTUS 'GUS' MCCRAE €“ ON THE TRAIL (1989) €¦ AUGUSTUS 'GUS' M N/A
    THE TERRY FOX STORY (TV MOVIE) BILL VIGARS RALPH L. THOMAS
    IKE (TV MINI-SERIES) GEN. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER BORIS SAGAL, MELVILLE SHAVELSON
    THE GODFATHER: A NOVEL FOR TELEVISION TOM HAGEN €“ EPISODE #1.4 (1977) €¦ TOM HAGEN €“ EPISODE #1.3 (1977) €¦ TOM HAGEN €“ EPISODE #1.2 (1977) €¦ TOM HAGEN €“ EPISODE #1.1 (1977) €¦ TOM HAGEN N/A
    THE F.B.I. (TV SERIES) ERNIE MILDEN / GERALD WILSON / JOHNNY ALBIN / €¦ €“ NIGHTMARE ROAD (1969) €¦ GERALD WILSON €“ THE HARVEST (1968) €¦ JOSEPH TROY €“ THE EXECUTIONERS: PART 2 (1967) €¦ ERNIE MILDEN NORMAN BORISOFF (STORY), JONATHAN BOX
    THE MOD SQUAD (TV SERIES) MATT JENKINS €“ KEEP THE FAITH, BABY (1969) €¦ MATT JENKINS BUDDY RUSKIN
    CBS PLAYHOUSE (TV SERIES) DR. MARGOLIN €“ THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR (1968) €¦ DR. MARGOLIN N/A
    JUDD FOR THE DEFENSE (TV SERIES) RAYMOND CANE €“ SQUARE HOUSE (1968) €¦ RAYMOND CANE PAUL MONASH
    RUN FOR YOUR LIFE (TV SERIES) RICHARD FLETCHER €“ THE KILLING SCENE (1968) €¦ RICHARD FLETCHER N/A
    FLESH AND BLOOD (TV MOVIE) HOWARD ARTHUR PENN
    THE WILD WILD WEST (TV SERIES) DR. HORACE HUMPHRIES €“ THE NIGHT OF THE FALCON (1967) €¦ DR. HORACE HUMPHRIES MICHAEL GARRISON
    CIMARRON STRIP (TV SERIES) JOE WYMAN €“ THE ROARER (1967) €¦ JOE WYMAN CHRISTOPHER KNOPF
    COMBAT! (TV SERIES) KARL / MICHEL / PETER HALSMAN €“ THE PARTISAN (1967) €¦ MICHEL €“ CRY FOR HELP (1966) €¦ PETER HALSMAN €“ THE ENEMY (1965) €¦ KARL N/A
    T.H.E. CAT (TV SERIES) LAURENT / SCORPIO €“ THE LONG CHASE (1967) €¦ LAURENT €“ CROSSING AT DESTINO BAY (1966) €¦ SCORPIO HARRY JULIAN FINK
    THE TIME TUNNEL (TV SERIES) RAUL NIMON €“ CHASE THROUGH TIME (1967) €¦ RAUL NIMON IRWIN ALLEN
    FAME IS THE NAME OF THE GAME (TV MOVIE) EDDIE FRANCHOT STUART ROSENBERG
    SHANE (TV SERIES) TOM GARY €“ POOR TOM'S A-COLD (1966) €¦ TOM GARY A/N
    FELONY SQUAD (TV SERIES) ALBIE FROEHLICH €“ DEATH OF A DREAM (1966) €¦ ALBIE FROEHLICH RICHARD MURPHY
    HAWK (TV SERIES) DICK €“ THE THEORY OF THE INNOCENT BYSTANDER (1966) €¦ DICK ALLAN SLOANE
    THEATRE OF STARS (TV SERIES) FRANK REESER €“ GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY (1966) €¦ FRANK REESER SAM PECKINPAH
    THE DEFENDERS (TV SERIES) AL ROGART / BILL ANDREWS / LUKE JACKSON €“ ONLY A CHILD (1965) €¦ BILL ANDREWS €“ METAMORPHOSIS (1963) €¦ LUKE JACKSON €“ PERJURY (1961) €¦ AL ROGART REGINALD ROSE
    VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (TV SERIES) ZAR €“ THE INVADERS (1965) €¦ ZAR (AS ROBERT DUVAL) IRWIN ALLEN
    THE FUGITIVE (TV SERIES) ERIC CHRISTIAN / LESLIE SESSIONS €“ BRASS RING (1965) €¦ LESLIE SESSIONS €“ NEVER WAVE GOODBYE: PART 2 (1963) €¦ ERIC CHRISTIAN €“ NEVER WAVE GOODBYE: PART 1 (1963) €¦ ERIC CHRISTIAN ROY HUGGINS
    THE OUTER LIMITS (TV SERIES) ADAM BALLARD / LOUIS MACE €“ THE INHERITORS: PART 2 (1964) €¦ ADAM BALLARD €“ THE INHERITORS: PART 1 (1964) €¦ ADAM BALLARD €“ THE CHAMELEON (1964) €¦ LOUIS MACE N/A
    KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATRE (TV SERIES) HARVEY FARNSWORTH €“ PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN MAN (1964) €¦ HARVEY FARNSWORTH N/A
    THE LIEUTENANT (TV SERIES) €“ MAN WITH AN EDGE (1964) (AS ROBERT DUVAL) GENE RODDENBERRY
    ARREST AND TRIAL (TV SERIES) MORTON WARE €“ THE QUALITY OF JUSTICE (1963) €¦ MORTON WARE LARRY COHEN (EPISODE)
    STONEY BURKE (TV SERIES) JOBY PIERCE €“ JOBY (1963) €¦ JOBY PIERCE TOM GRIES, LESLIE STEVENS
    THE VIRGINIAN (TV SERIES) JOHNNY KEEL €“ THE GOLDEN DOOR (1963) €¦ JOHNNY KEE FRANK PRICE, TEDDI SHERMAN
    THE TWILIGHT ZONE (TV SERIES) CHARLEY PARKES €“ MINIATURE (1963) €¦ CHARLEY PARKES ROD SERLING
    ROUTE 66 (TV SERIES) ARNIE / LEE WINTERS / ROMAN €“ SUPPOSE I SAID I WAS THE QUEEN OF SPAIN (1963) €¦ LEE WINTERS €“ BIRDCAGE ON MY FOOT (1961) €¦ ARNIE €“ THE NEWBORN (1961) €¦ ROMAN HERBERT B. LEONARD, STIRLING SILLIPHANT
    THE UNTOUCHABLES (TV SERIES) EDDIE MOON €“ BLUES FOR A GONE GOOSE (1963) €¦ EDDIE MOON N/A
    NAKED CITY (TV SERIES) BARNEY SONNERS / JOHNNY MEIGS / L. FRANCIS 'FRANK' CHILDE / €¦ €“ TORMENT HIM MUCH AND HOLD HIM LONG (1962) €¦ BARNEY SONNERS €“ FIVE CRANKS FOR WINTER... TEN CRANKS FOR SPRING (1962) €¦ JO N/A
    ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS (TV SERIES) BART COLLINS €“ BAD ACTOR (1962) €¦ BART COLLINS N/A
    SHANNON (TV SERIES) JOEY NOLAN €“ THE BIG FISH (1961) €¦ JOEY NOLAN N/A
    CAIN'S HUNDRED (TV SERIES) TOM NUGENT €“ KING OF THE MOUNTAIN (1961) €¦ TOM NUGENT PAUL MONASH
    GREAT GHOST TALES (TV SERIES) WILLIAM WILSON €“ WILLIAM WILSON (1961) €¦ WILLIAM WILSON RON WINSTON
    ARMSTRONG CIRCLE THEATRE (TV SERIES) BERKS / TONY NEWMAN €“ POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION (1960) €¦ TONY NEWMAN €“ THE JAILBREAK (1959) €¦ BERKS WILLIAM CORRIGAN, JOHN FITCHEN
    PLAYHOUSE 90 (TV SERIES) JOHN BROWN'S RAID (1960) TONY BARR, KARL GENUS, AND 2 MORE CREDITS
    VOICE OVER
    THE GODFATHER II (VIDEO GAME) TOM HAGEN (VOICE) SI DUY TRAN
    THE GODFATHER: BLACKHAND EDITION (VIDEO GAME) TOM HAGEN (VOICE) N/A
    THE GODFATHER: MOB WARS (VIDEO GAME) TOM HAGEN (VOICE) N/A
    THE GODFATHER (VIDEO GAME) TOM HAGEN (VOICE) (ALSO ARCHIVE FOOTAGE) PETER MITCHELL RUBIN
    Skills
    Dance: Ballet, Ballroom, English, Salsa, Swing, Tap, Tango Singing: Musical Theatre, Operatic Sports: Baseball, Bowling, Cricket, Fencing, Golf, Judo, Karate, Rugby, Tennis Musical Instruments: Guitar, Piano Language: English, French Accents: American Southern, French, New York City, Russian Additional: Film Stunts, Firearms, Hosting, Martial Arts, Martial Arts Weapons