{"id":2284589,"date":"2026-02-16T20:22:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T20:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2284589"},"modified":"2026-02-16T20:22:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T20:22:31","slug":"robert-duvall-godfather-and-apocalypse-now-actor-dies-at-95","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/robert-duvall-godfather-and-apocalypse-now-actor-dies-at-95\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Duvall, &#8216;Godfather&#8217; and &#8216;Apocalypse Now&#8217; actor, dies at 95"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/02\/16\/photos\/robert-duvalls-life-in-photos\/\">Robert Duvall<\/a>, the Oscar-winning actor whose career spanned seven decades, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/celebrity-news\/celebrity-deaths-2026-actors-singers-and-stars-we-lost-this-year\/\">has died<\/a>. He was 95.<\/p>\n<p>His wife, Luciana Duvall, confirmed Robert died on Feb. 15.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time,\u201d Luciana, 54, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RobertDuvallOfficial\/posts\/pfbid0WGqtC9fNEPtTpFwv5WtsQen31nUSkunt13QMTz84vuAToborwYSgsDifnhBzk8cTl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote on Facebook<\/a> Monday, adding that the actor \u201cpassed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><figcaption>Legendary actor Robert Duvall died on Sunday at his home in Virginia. He was 95. <span class=\"credit\">Gilbert Carrasquillo\/GC Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Robert\u2019s wife, Luciana, confirmed his death in a Facebook post on Monday. <span class=\"credit\">Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cTo the world, he was an Academy Award-winning actor, a director, a storyteller,\u201d the Argentine actress continued. \u201cTo me, he was simply everything. His passion for his craft was matched only by his deep love for characters, a great meal, and holding court.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Luciana said that Robert \u201cgave everything to his characters and to the truth of the human spirit they represented\u201d in his many acting roles. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn doing so, he leaves something lasting and unforgettable to us all,\u201d she shared. \u201cThank you for the years of support you showed Bob and for giving us this time and privacy to celebrate the memories he leaves behind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Luciana\u2019s tribute included a photo of the couple posing on their Virginia ranch with a horse and two dogs.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Luciana said Robert \u201cpassed away peacefully\u201d at their Virginia home. <span class=\"credit\">Facebook\/Robert Duvall<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Luciana also said Robert \u201cleaves something lasting and unforgettable to us all.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Born on Jan. 5, 1931, in San Diego, Calif., Robert and his two brothers were raised in Annapolis, Md., near the Naval Academy, where his father worked.<\/p>\n<p>After he decided to pursue acting, Robert studied drama at Principia College in Illinois and then at New York\u2019s Neighborhood Playhouse, where his classmates included Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman and James Caan.<\/p>\n<p>Robert\u2019s first big movie role was as Boo Radley\u00a0in 1962\u2019s \u201cTo Kill a Mockingbird.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He was recommended for the job by the film\u2019s screenwriter, Horton Foote,\u00a0with whom he previously worked on the 1957 play \u201cThe Midnight Caller.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Robert had a prolific acting career that spanned seven decades. <span class=\"credit\">Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>His first big movie role was in \u201cTo Kill a Mockingbird.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In 1972, Robert starred in \u201cThe Godfather\u201d as\u00a0Tom Hagen, earning him his first-ever Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. He reprised his role in the 1974 sequel, \u201cThe Godfather Part II.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt always comes back to \u2018The Godfather.\u2019 The first ones are two of the best films ever made. About a quarter of the way into it, we knew we had something special,\u201d Robert<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/movies\/article\/Duvall-goes-for-flavor-not-flash-in-Get-Low-3179288.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> told the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a> in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>However, Robert did not return for 1990\u2019s \u201cThe Godfather Part III\u201d due to salary disagreements with Paramount Pictures, director Francis Ford Coppola said during the film\u2019s DVD commentary, according to <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/screenrant.com\/why-robert-duvall-tom-hagen-not-return-in-the-godfather-3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Screen Rant.<\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>He notably played Tom Hagen in the first two \u201cGodfather\u201d films. <span class=\"credit\">Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Robert did not return for the third \u201cGodfather\u201d movie. <span class=\"credit\">Everett Collection \/ Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Robert also collaborated with Coppola on 1979\u2019s \u201cApocalypse Now,\u201d in which he says the iconic line, \u201cI love the smell of napalm in the morning.\u201d This role garnered him his second Oscar nomination.<\/p>\n<p>Coppola<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/robert-duvall-dead-at-95-7502511\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> told People<\/a> in 2003 of Robert, \u201cActors click into character at different times \u2014 the first week, third week. Bobby\u2019s hot after one or two takes. That\u2019s all he needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Robert\u2019s other Oscar nominations were for \u201cThe Great Santini\u201d (1979), \u201cThe Apostle\u201d (1997), \u201cA Civil Action\u201d (1998) and \u201cThe Judge\u201d (2014).<\/p>\n<p>He won the Oscar for best actor in 1984 for \u201cTender Mercies,\u201d in which he played alcoholic country singer Mac Sledge.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Robert worked with \u201cGodfather\u201d director Francis Ford Coppola again on \u201cApocalypse Now.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">\u00a9United Artists\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>He was nominated for seven Oscars, winning one in 1984 for the movie \u201cTender Mercies.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">EPA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>His other popular films included \u201cTrue Grit\u201d (1969), \u201cTomorrow\u201d (1972), \u201cDays of Thunder\u201d (1990), \u201cThe Paper\u201d (1994), \u201cGone in 60 Seconds\u201d (2000), \u201cGods and Generals\u201d (2003), \u201cFour Christmases\u201d (2008), \u201cCrazy Heart\u201d (2009) and \u201cJack Reacher.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also memorably played Major\u00a0Frank Burns\u00a0in\u00a0\u201cM*A*S*H\u201d (1970) and the titular character in George Lucas\u2019 feature directorial debut \u201cTHX 1138\u201d (1971).<\/p>\n<p>Robert\u2019s final film roles were in <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/09\/01\/adam-sandler-netflix-made-me-change-films-china-location\/\">\u201cHustle\u201d starring Adam Sandler<\/a> and \u201cThe Pale Blue Eye\u201d starring Christian Bale, both released in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>He also had a prolific career on television, winning two Emmy Awards for starring in and executive producing the 2006 AMC miniseries \u201cBroken Trail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He was also Emmy-nominated for his roles in the four-part 1989 miniseries \u201cLonesome Dove\u201d and the TV films \u201cStalin\u201d and \u201cThe Man Who Captured Eichmenn.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Robert also won two Emmy Awards for starring in and executive producing the 2006 AMC miniseries \u201cBroken Trail.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Gilbert Carrasquillo\/GC Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Robert also played General Lee in \u201cGods &amp; Generals,\u201d as pictured here. <span class=\"credit\">Warner Bros.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Robert lived with Hoffman and Hackman in New York City in the 1960s during the early years of their careers. <\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/news\/2004\/03\/gene-hackman-dustin-hoffman-hollywood\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">During a 2013 interview with Vanity Fair,<\/a> Hoffman said Robert was \u201coutrageous\u201d and \u201cuncensored\u201d and would \u201cdo anything on impulse\u201d when they were younger.<\/p>\n<p>Robert shared in the same interview that Hackman \u2014 who <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2025\/04\/27\/celebrity-news\/gene-hackmans-final-autopsy-indicates-prolonged-fasting-prior-to-death\/\">died in February 2025 at age 95<\/a> \u2014\u00a0was \u201ca tormented guy\u201d who was \u201calways into his own space, his own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Duvall was close pals with Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman in the 1960s. <span class=\"credit\">Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>The trio lived together in New York City. <span class=\"credit\">Facebook\/Robert Duvall<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Robert had no children despite being married four times, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.today.com\/popculture\/queen-pop-jacko-acts-diva-wbna17521718\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">saying in 2007<\/a>, \u201cI guess I\u2019m shooting blanks. (I\u2019ve tried) with a lot of different women, in and out of marriage.<\/p>\n<p>Robert was married to announcer and dancer Barbara Benjamin from 1964 to 1975, Gail Youngs from 1982 to 1986 and dancer Sharon Brophy from 1991 to 1995. He tied the knot with Luciana, his fourth wife, in 2005.<\/p>\n<p>Luciana is an Argentine actress and director and the granddaughter of Argentine aviation pioneer\u00a0Susana Ferrari Billinghurst.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Robert had no children despite his four marriages.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>He married his fourth wife, Luciana, in 2005.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Robert shared how the couple met in <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esquire.com\/entertainment\/interviews\/a9052\/robert-duvall-quotes-0111\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a 2010 interview with Esquire.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI met my wife<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>in Argentina. The flower shop was closed, so I went to the bakery. If the flower shop had been open, I never would\u2019ve met her,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Robert, who was 41 years older than Luciana, also admitted that he initially \u201cwas a little concerned\u201d about being with a much-younger woman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I asked [actor] Wilford Brimley about it. Wilford is a very sharp guy. He used to be a bodyguard for Howard Hughes,\u201d Robert recalled. \u201cHe said, \u2018Let me tell you something, my friend, the worst thing in the world for an old man is an old woman!&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source pagesix.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robert Duvall, the Oscar-winning actor whose career spanned seven decades, has died. He was 95. His wife, Luciana Duvall, confirmed Robert died on Feb. 15. \u201cYesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time,\u201d Luciana, 54, wrote on Facebook Monday, adding that the actor \u201cpassed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2284590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[22062,24003,21912,373404],"class_list":["post-2284589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-celebrity-deaths","tag-celebrity-news","tag-movies","tag-robert-duvall"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Robert-Duvall-Godfather-and-Apocalypse-Now-actor-dies-at-95.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2284589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2284589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2284589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2284591,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2284589\/revisions\/2284591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2284590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2284589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2284589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2284589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}