Duvall was born in 1931 in San Diego and began acting in New York during the 1950s.
Among his classmates who studied under acting guru Sanford Meisner were Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman.
Collaboration with Coppola
He had a long-term collaboration with director Francis Ford Coppola. Duvall starred in Coppola's 1969 film "Never Love a Stranger," in the first two "Godfather" films, and in "Apocalypse Now," where his character utters the famous line "I love the smell of napalm in the morning."
For his role as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
He was awarded an Oscar in 1984 for his leading role in the western film “For Grace and For Shame.” After receiving the coveted statuette, he was considered to be afflicted with the “Oscar Curse” and no longer received as many interesting offers - while at the same time demanding substantial payment for his efforts.
This led, among other things, to his not being allowed to return to the role of Tom Hagen in "The Godfather Part III" in 1990. Coppola himself said this on the DVD commentary track when the film was released.
Oldest ever
During the 1990s and 2000s, an aging Duvall made many memorable contributions to film and television. He won a Golden Globe for his role as Joseph Stalin in the TV movie “Stalin.”
In 2015, at the age of 84, he became the oldest actor ever to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the film “The Judge.” However, the record was broken by Christopher Plummer a few years later.
Robert Duvall was married four times, but never had any children. He remained active almost until the end, starring in two films that were released in 2022.
Robert Duvall turned 95.
