Robert Duvall
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Robert Duvall

Robert Duvall

Born Jan. 5, 1931 in San Diego, CA

Despite working regularly in theater, film (“To Kill a Mockingbird”) and TV throughout the 1950s and ’60s, it wasn’t until the early 1970s when he appeared in “MASH” and as consigliere Tom Hagen in “The Godfather” and “The Godfather II” that Robert Duvall hit his stride as a bona fide serious movie star.

Not blessed with conventional leading man looks, Duvall became known for playing an iconic series of manly tough guys, including Lt. Col. Bill (“I love the smell of napalm in the morning”) Kilgore in “Apocalypse Now” and the bullying Lt. Col. “Bull” Meacham in “The Great Santini.”

As country-western singer Mac Sledge in 1983’s “Tender Mercies,” Duvall won his first Oscar (after three previous nominations), followed later that decade by an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe award for his performance in the acclaimed TV miniseries “Lonesome Dove.”

As the years progressed, Duvall eased into hand-in-glove roles as craggy, world weary, and/or warmly wise types in such features as “Days of Thunder,” “Wrestling Ernest Hemingway,” “Sling Blade” and “Secondhand Lions.”

The hardworking actor has also written and directed several films including “The Apostle” and “Assassination Tango,” in which he also starred.

He also earned Oscar nominations for 1997’s “The Apostle” (lead actor) and again, the next year, for “A Civil Action” (supporting actor).

Through his Butcher’s Run Films, Duvall most recently produced the award-winning TV miniseries “Broken Trail” and the Oscar-nominated feature “Crazy Heart.”

The actor has been married and divorced three times. He wed his fourth wife, Luciana Pedraza, in 2005. She is 41 years his junior.

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    Academy Awards

    Year Category Work
    1972 Best Supporting Actor The Godfather Nomination
    1979 Best Supporting Actor Apocalypse Now Nomination
    1980 Best Actor The Great Santini Nomination
    1983 Best Actor Tender Mercies Win
    1997 Best Actor The Apostle Nomination
    1998 Best Supporting Actor A Civil Action Nomination
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    One thought about Robert Duvall

    I am a huge Duvall fan and would just give anything to sit and talk with him over breakfast. He is the best cowboy of all time. He and Tommy Lee are great in Lonesome Dove. Open Range as well with Costner. I know I could be a cowboy in a movie, I even look like one. Just like to know how a peon like me could ever have a chance to meet a Robert Duvall.

    — Darrin Cooper
    April 13, 2011 at 7:36 a.m.

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