Robert Duvall Bio
Robert Selden Duvall, born January 5, 1931, in San Diego, California, is an American actor and filmmaker whose work has shaped modern screen acting. With a career spanning seven decades, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. Over the course of his career, Duvall has received an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, four Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Early Life and Background
Robert Selden Duvall was born on January 5, 1931, in San Diego, California, to Mildred Virginia Duvall, an amateur actress, and Virginia-born Rear Admiral William Howard Duvall of the United States Navy. He was the second of three sons, with an older brother, William Jr., and a younger brother, John, who later became an entertainment lawyer. His mother was a relative of American Civil War General Robert E. Lee, and a member of the Lee Family of Virginia, while his father was a descendant of settler Mareen Duvall.
Duvall was raised in the Christian Science religion, a faith he continues to identify with. He grew up primarily in Annapolis, Maryland, the site of the United States Naval Academy, where his father had begun his own career at age sixteen. He attended Severn School in Severna Park, Maryland, and The Principia in St. Louis, Missouri. Duvall later graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, in 1953.
Although his father expected him to attend the Naval Academy, Duvall found his calling elsewhere. He served in the United States Army from August 19, 1953, to August 20, 1954, leaving as a private first class. While stationed at Camp Gordon in Georgia, Duvall acted in an amateur production of the comedy Room Service in nearby Augusta, Georgia, an experience that cemented his interest in performance.
Path to Acting
In the winter of 1955, Robert Selden Duvall enrolled at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City, studying under Sanford Meisner on the G.I. Bill. During his two years there, his classmates included Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, and James Caan, fellow students who would later become major stars in their own right. To support himself, Duvall worked as a Manhattan post office clerk, and he and his classmates took on odd jobs such as clerking at Macy’s and driving trucks.
Duvall began his professional acting career with the Gateway Playhouse, an Equity summer theater based in Bellport, Long Island, New York. His stage debut came in the 1952 season when he played the Pilot in Laughter in the Stars, an adaptation of The Little Prince. Over the following summers, he took on increasingly prominent roles at the Gateway Players, including Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, a performance that the playwright himself attended and that opened doors to television work.
His early television appearances included a first role on Armstrong Circle Theater in 1959, followed by guest spots on programs such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Naked City, The Twilight Zone, and The Fugitive. In 1965, his off-Broadway performance as Eddie Carbone in A View from the Bridge at the Sheridan Square Playhouse earned him an Obie Award. On February 2, 1966, Duvall made his Broadway debut as Harry Roat, Jr. in Frederick Knott’s thriller Wait Until Dark.
Robert Duvall Career
Early Career (1952–1969)
Robert Selden Duvall’s film debut came in 1962 with the role of Boo Radley in the critically acclaimed adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. He was cast on the recommendation of screenwriter Horton Foote, whom Duvall had met during a 1957 production of Foote’s play The Midnight Caller at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Throughout the 1960s, Duvall built his reputation through supporting roles in films including Captain Newman, M.D. (1963), Bullitt (1968), and True Grit (1969), in which he played the notorious outlaw Ned Pepper.
He also drew attention on television during this period, appearing regularly as a guest actor in action, suspense, detective, and crime dramas. His early work earned him a reputation as a dependable and compelling presence on screen.
Breakthrough (1970–1989)
Duvall became an important presence in American films beginning in the 1970s. He drew considerable attention for his portrayal of Major Frank Burns in MASH (1970) and for the title role in THX 1138 (1971). His first major critical success came portraying Tom Hagen in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), with the 1972 film earning him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
By the mid-1970s, Duvall was a top character actor, with People magazine once describing him as Hollywood’s No. 1 No. 2 lead. He received another Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor and won both a BAFTA Award and Golden Globe Award for his role as Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore in Apocalypse Now (1979). His line, I love the smell of napalm in the morning, is regarded as iconic in cinema history. He also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of the hard-boiled Marine Lt. Col. Bull Meechum in The Great Santini (1979).
In 1983, Robert Selden Duvall won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as the alcoholic former country music star Mac Sledge in Tender Mercies, performing his own vocals in the film. In 1989, he appeared in the miniseries Lonesome Dove as Captain Augustus Gus McCrae, a role he has called his personal favorite, earning a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination. He won a Golden Globe Award and earned an Emmy nomination for his performance.
Notable Works and Milestones
Director Francis Ford Coppola praised Duvall as one of the four or five best actors in the world. In 2005, Duvall was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush at the White House. In 2015, at age 84, he became the oldest actor ever nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Judge, a record later surpassed by Christopher Plummer.
Robert Duvall Award Nominations
Across his distinguished career, Robert Selden Duvall has earned numerous award nominations from major industry bodies. He has received Academy Award nominations for The Godfather (1972), Apocalypse Now (1979), The Great Santini (1979), The Apostle (1997), A Civil Action (1998), and The Judge (2014). His television work also brought Emmy nominations for Lonesome Dove (1989), Stalin (1992), and The Man Who Captured Eichmann (1996), along with a BAFTA Award nomination for his role in Network (1976).
Robert Duvall Awards Won
Robert Selden Duvall has received some of the highest honors in film and television. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Tender Mercies (1983), a BAFTA Award for Apocalypse Now (1979), four Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards for Broken Trail (2006), and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He also won an Obie Award in 1965 for his off-Broadway performance in A View from the Bridge and received a National Medal of Arts in 2005.
Robert Duvall Family
Robert Selden Duvall was born to Mildred Virginia Duvall, an amateur actress, and Rear Admiral William Howard Duvall of the United States Navy. He had an older brother, William Jr., and a younger brother, John, who worked as an entertainment lawyer. His mother was a relative of American Civil War General Robert E. Lee, and his father was a descendant of settler Mareen Duvall.
Personal Life
Robert Selden Duvall has been married four times and does not have any children. His first wife was Barbara Benjamin, a former announcer and dancer on The Jackie Gleason Show, whom he met during the shooting of To Kill a Mockingbird. They were married from 1964 until 1975. His second wife was Gail Youngs, to whom he was married from 1982 to 1986. His third marriage was to dancer Sharon Brophy, from 1991 to 1995.
In 2005, Duvall married his fourth wife, Luciana Pedraza, granddaughter of Argentine aviation pioneer Susana Ferrari Billinghurst. He met Pedraza in Argentina, and the couple has been together since 1997. They share a January 5 birthday, with Duvall being 41 years older. Duvall is known as a skilled Argentine tango dancer and has a tango studio in Argentina and in the United States. He also trains Brazilian jiu-jitsu and practices martial arts with his wife.
