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<\/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
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Editor’s note: Robert Duvall<\/a>, the actor best known for “The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now” and “Tender Mercies,” has died. He was 95.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n In his final interview with USA TODAY<\/a>, he told entertainment reporter Patrick Ryan about his 2021 film “12 Mighty Orphans,” his proudest performances and why he wouldn’t retire.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Acting is Robert Duvall<\/a>‘s first love, but football ranks\u00a0a very close second.\u00a0<\/p>\n Someone once said that “American football is the greatest game ever invented, and I would have to go along with that,” says Duvall, 90, who played defensive back on his high school team growing up in St. Louis.\u00a0<\/p>\n So it’s no surprise that the seven-time Oscar nominee (and proud Clemson Tigers<\/a> fan) was drawn to football drama “12 Mighty Orphans.”<\/a> Based on Jim Dent’s 2008 book, the film tells the true story<\/a> of the Mighty Mites, an underdog football team from a Fort Worth, Texas, orphanage that went all the way to the state championships in the 1930s. Luke Wilson<\/a> and Martin Sheen<\/a> play coaches, while Duvall makes a cameo appearance as former orphan Mason Hawk, who helps finance their efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n More: <\/strong>Robert Duvall, ‘Apocalypse Now’ and ‘The Godfather’ icon, dies at 95<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n “It’s a very good human story with a lot of positive notes that make it quite attractive,” Duvall says. “It’s a little part, but I wanted to support this wonderful little film in any way I could.”\u00a0<\/p>\n “Orphans” reunites Sheen and Duvall onscreen for the first time since Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 war epic “Apocalypse Now.”<\/a> That’s one of the countless classic films lining Duvall’s six-decade-longr\u00e9sum\u00e9, including two “Godfather” films, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Tender Mercies” (which earned him\u00a0the 1983 best actor Oscar), and “Network,” co-starring the late Ned Beatty<\/a>, whom he remembers as a “terrific” and “talented guy.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Duvall called up USA TODAY earlier this week from his Virginia home, where he’d just finished lunch and a workout.<\/p>\n Question: What was it like getting back on set with Martin Sheen for your scene in “12 Mighty Orphans”?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Robert Duvall: It’s been many, many years, and we didn’t have much to do. We just kind of had a quick embrace and that was it. We talked a little bit. It was nice to see him again, it really was. We had a good time doing “Apocalypse Now” with the great Francis Ford Coppola.\u00a0<\/p>\n Was Marlon Brando really as\u00a0intimidating as all the stories make him out to be?<\/strong><\/p>\n Duvall: No, I was never intimidated by him\u00a0\u2013 I had great respect for the guy. He was kind of like our “Godfather,” in a way. He’d come down in the jungle in his baby blue Mercedes, do a day’s work and then go home, wherever that was.<\/p>\n