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Robert Duvall, one of Hollywood’s most sought-after character actors, won an Oscar, 2 Emmys and 4 Golden Globes in his extraordinary career.<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n\n![](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2026\/02\/16\/USAT\/88705264007-robert-duval.jpg?crop=1919,1079,x0,y0\"\/)
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nRobert Duvall, legendary ‘Godfather’ actor, has died<\/p>\n
Oscar-winning actor Robert Duvall portrayed unforgettable characters during his seven-decade Hollywood career.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Robert Duvall<\/a>, the Academy Award-winning actor known for his roles in Hollywood classics such as “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now,” has died. He was 95.<\/p>\nDuvall died “peacefully” at home<\/a> on Feb. 15 in Middleburg, Virginia, a representative for the actor confirmed. He was with his wife, Luciana Duvall.<\/p>\n“To the world, he was an Academy Award-winning actor, a director, a storyteller. To me, he was simply everything,” Luciana Duvall wrote on Facebook. “His passion for his craft was matched only by his deep love for characters, a great meal, and holding court.<\/p>\n
“For each of his many roles, Bob gave everything to his characters and to the truth of the human spirit they represented. In doing so, he leaves something lasting and unforgettable to us all.”<\/p>\n
During a\u00a0seven-decade stage, TV and screen acting career<\/a>, Duvall disappeared into a stunning\u00a0range of strong-willed characters, leading to seven Oscar nominations and a best actor win for his role as a down-and-out country singer in 1983’s\u00a0“Tender Mercies.” He also won two Primetime Emmys and four Golden Globe Awards for his work.<\/p>\nRobert Duvall: <\/strong>The legend reflects on ‘The Godfather’ in final USA TODAY interview<\/a><\/span><\/p>\nHe played a\u00a0wide array of unforgettable men, from\u00a0Mafia lawyer Tom Hagen in Francis Ford Coppola’s\u00a01972 “The Godfather”\u00a0to the surf and napalm-loving\u00a0Lt. Col.\u00a0Bill Kilgore in Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War saga “Apocalypse Now,” in which\u00a0Duvall\u00a0utters the\u00a0immortal line, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning<\/a>. … It smells like\u00a0victory.”<\/p>\nHis domineering Marine pilot patriarch Bull Meechum in “The Great Santini” burst onto movie screens in 1979, earning another Oscar nomination.\u00a0Just for good measure, he appeared that same year as Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower in the miniseries “Ike: The War Years.”<\/p>\n
Also on TV, he became Joseph Stalin in 1992’s\u00a0“Stalin,” Nazi Adolf Eichmann in 1996’s “The Man Who Captured Eichmann” and, his favorite role,\u00a0Texas Ranger Capt.\u00a0Augustus “Gus” McCrae in the 1989 miniseries “Lonesome Dove.”<\/p>\n
Still, Duvall, who obsessed over tango dancing when he wasn’t acting,\u00a0felt all of these characters came from within.<\/p>\n
“Has to be, it’s you underneath,” Duvall\u00a0told CBS\u00a0“60 Minutes”<\/a>\u00a0in 2004. “You interpret somebody, you try to let it come from yourself.”<\/p>\nBorn Robert Selden Duvall on Jan.\u00a05, 1931, to career Navy officer (and later admiral) William Howard Duvall and actress\u00a0Mildred Virginia,\u00a0Duvall\u00a0told USA TODAY<\/a>\u00a0in 2014 that it was his mother who “ran the show” growing up.<\/p>\n“It was supposed to be when the military guy comes back, she imperceptively gives him the power to run the family until he goes away again,” Duvall\u00a0said. “He never had it.”<\/p>\n
After a brief military stint, Duvall began his acting career with off-Broadway plays in New York City, becoming close\u00a0friends and often roommates with\u00a0up-and-coming actors Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman and James Caan. The impressive stage roles\u00a0landed Duvall a major movie debut, the wordless but memorable Boo Radley in 1962’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.”<\/p>\n
But Duvall struggled to stand out, even with significant minor roles such as\u00a01969’s dastardly “Lucky” Ned Pepper, who battled to the death on horses with John Wayne’s one-eyed Federal Marshal Rooster Cogburn in the classic 1969 Western “True Grit,” a role which won Wayne his only Oscar.<\/p>\n
He would break out in 1972’s “The Godfather,” as the indecipherable, Irish Hagen,\u00a0the loyal, adopted family consigliere to the Corleone clan. Duvall\u00a0reprised his role in 1974’s lauded sequel “Godfather Part II.”<\/p>\n
Describe by People magazine as “Hollywood’s\u00a0No. 1\u00a0No.\u00a02\u00a0lead,”\u00a0\u00a0Duvall didn’t appear in Coppola’s 1990 trilogy-ending\u00a0“The Godfather Part III” after a dispute over his paycheck compared to Al Pacino, who played family head Michael Corleone.<\/p>\n
“If they paid Pacino twice what they paid me, that’s fine, but not three or four times, which is what they did,” Duvall told “60 Minutes” of his decision to sit out the finale.<\/p>\n
It was his movie-stealing supporting role in Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” that Duvall\u00a0earned\u00a0his most widespread public acclaim. As the shirtless Kilgore, he demanded his men surf even amid\u00a0a fierce battle. Throughout his career, Duvall relished telling variations of fan moments centered around Kilgore’s famed line.<\/p>\n
“People come up to me on the street and say, ‘I love the smell of napalm in the morning,’ like I never knew it and had forgotten it after I said it,” Duvall said with a laugh on the Bob Costas<\/a>\u00a0“Later” talk show\u00a0in 1991. “It’s like, ‘Enough’s enough.’ “<\/p>\nDuvall reached cult-level status portraying Texas Ranger\u00a0McCrae in “Lonesome Dove,” based on the Larry McMurtry novels of the same name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I remember walking into the mess hall one day on \u2018Lonesome Dove.\u2019 I said, \u2018Boys, we\u2019re making a \u201cGodfather\u201d of Westerns,’ ” Duvall told\u00a0the Los Angeles Times<\/a> in 2014.<\/p>\nIn 2021, he name-checked the movie to USA TODAY as the performance he was proudest of. “The Western is our genre in the United States of America. The English have Shakespeare, the French have Molie\u0300re, the Russians have Chekhov, but we have the Western,” Duvall said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRobert Duvall, legendary ‘Godfather’ actor, has died<\/p>\n
Oscar-winning actor Robert Duvall portrayed unforgettable characters during his seven-decade Hollywood career.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Robert Duvall<\/a>, the Academy Award-winning actor known for his roles in Hollywood classics such as “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now,” has died. He was 95.<\/p>\n Duvall died “peacefully” at home<\/a> on Feb. 15 in Middleburg, Virginia, a representative for the actor confirmed. He was with his wife, Luciana Duvall.<\/p>\n “To the world, he was an Academy Award-winning actor, a director, a storyteller. To me, he was simply everything,” Luciana Duvall wrote on Facebook. “His passion for his craft was matched only by his deep love for characters, a great meal, and holding court.<\/p>\n “For each of his many roles, Bob gave everything to his characters and to the truth of the human spirit they represented. In doing so, he leaves something lasting and unforgettable to us all.”<\/p>\n During a\u00a0seven-decade stage, TV and screen acting career<\/a>, Duvall disappeared into a stunning\u00a0range of strong-willed characters, leading to seven Oscar nominations and a best actor win for his role as a down-and-out country singer in 1983’s\u00a0“Tender Mercies.” He also won two Primetime Emmys and four Golden Globe Awards for his work.<\/p>\n Robert Duvall: <\/strong>The legend reflects on ‘The Godfather’ in final USA TODAY interview<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n He played a\u00a0wide array of unforgettable men, from\u00a0Mafia lawyer Tom Hagen in Francis Ford Coppola’s\u00a01972 “The Godfather”\u00a0to the surf and napalm-loving\u00a0Lt. Col.\u00a0Bill Kilgore in Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War saga “Apocalypse Now,” in which\u00a0Duvall\u00a0utters the\u00a0immortal line, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning<\/a>. … It smells like\u00a0victory.”<\/p>\n His domineering Marine pilot patriarch Bull Meechum in “The Great Santini” burst onto movie screens in 1979, earning another Oscar nomination.\u00a0Just for good measure, he appeared that same year as Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower in the miniseries “Ike: The War Years.”<\/p>\n Also on TV, he became Joseph Stalin in 1992’s\u00a0“Stalin,” Nazi Adolf Eichmann in 1996’s “The Man Who Captured Eichmann” and, his favorite role,\u00a0Texas Ranger Capt.\u00a0Augustus “Gus” McCrae in the 1989 miniseries “Lonesome Dove.”<\/p>\n Still, Duvall, who obsessed over tango dancing when he wasn’t acting,\u00a0felt all of these characters came from within.<\/p>\n “Has to be, it’s you underneath,” Duvall\u00a0told CBS\u00a0“60 Minutes”<\/a>\u00a0in 2004. “You interpret somebody, you try to let it come from yourself.”<\/p>\n Born Robert Selden Duvall on Jan.\u00a05, 1931, to career Navy officer (and later admiral) William Howard Duvall and actress\u00a0Mildred Virginia,\u00a0Duvall\u00a0told USA TODAY<\/a>\u00a0in 2014 that it was his mother who “ran the show” growing up.<\/p>\n “It was supposed to be when the military guy comes back, she imperceptively gives him the power to run the family until he goes away again,” Duvall\u00a0said. “He never had it.”<\/p>\n After a brief military stint, Duvall began his acting career with off-Broadway plays in New York City, becoming close\u00a0friends and often roommates with\u00a0up-and-coming actors Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman and James Caan. The impressive stage roles\u00a0landed Duvall a major movie debut, the wordless but memorable Boo Radley in 1962’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.”<\/p>\n But Duvall struggled to stand out, even with significant minor roles such as\u00a01969’s dastardly “Lucky” Ned Pepper, who battled to the death on horses with John Wayne’s one-eyed Federal Marshal Rooster Cogburn in the classic 1969 Western “True Grit,” a role which won Wayne his only Oscar.<\/p>\n He would break out in 1972’s “The Godfather,” as the indecipherable, Irish Hagen,\u00a0the loyal, adopted family consigliere to the Corleone clan. Duvall\u00a0reprised his role in 1974’s lauded sequel “Godfather Part II.”<\/p>\n Describe by People magazine as “Hollywood’s\u00a0No. 1\u00a0No.\u00a02\u00a0lead,”\u00a0\u00a0Duvall didn’t appear in Coppola’s 1990 trilogy-ending\u00a0“The Godfather Part III” after a dispute over his paycheck compared to Al Pacino, who played family head Michael Corleone.<\/p>\n “If they paid Pacino twice what they paid me, that’s fine, but not three or four times, which is what they did,” Duvall told “60 Minutes” of his decision to sit out the finale.<\/p>\n It was his movie-stealing supporting role in Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” that Duvall\u00a0earned\u00a0his most widespread public acclaim. As the shirtless Kilgore, he demanded his men surf even amid\u00a0a fierce battle. Throughout his career, Duvall relished telling variations of fan moments centered around Kilgore’s famed line.<\/p>\n “People come up to me on the street and say, ‘I love the smell of napalm in the morning,’ like I never knew it and had forgotten it after I said it,” Duvall said with a laugh on the Bob Costas<\/a>\u00a0“Later” talk show\u00a0in 1991. “It’s like, ‘Enough’s enough.’ “<\/p>\n Duvall reached cult-level status portraying Texas Ranger\u00a0McCrae in “Lonesome Dove,” based on the Larry McMurtry novels of the same name.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I remember walking into the mess hall one day on \u2018Lonesome Dove.\u2019 I said, \u2018Boys, we\u2019re making a \u201cGodfather\u201d of Westerns,’ ” Duvall told\u00a0the Los Angeles Times<\/a> in 2014.<\/p>\n In 2021, he name-checked the movie to USA TODAY as the performance he was proudest of. “The Western is our genre in the United States of America. The English have Shakespeare, the French have Molie\u0300re, the Russians have Chekhov, but we have the Western,” Duvall said.<\/p>\n