“I fumbled around a bit in my search for something to do until I found my niche,” he told cinema.com.
Robert Duvall started out in the military – like his father – but later began studying drama in New York – a bit like his mother, who was an amateur actor.
In New York, he became friends with Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman, while all three chased even the smallest roles in their – should it turn out – successful attempts to gain a foothold.
Robert Duvall himself really broke through in 1962 with “Don’t Kill a Songbird,” in which a black man during the Depression of the 1930s is accused of raping a white woman in Alabama.
But Duvall got his first major role in 1972 in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather,” in which he played the cold-blooded and loyal adviser of the Corleone mafia family.
The collaboration with Coppola continued with the Vietnam film “Doomsday Now” from 1979, where Duvall played the manic lieutenant colonel Bill Kilgore.
– I love the smell of napalm in the morning, says Duvall in the role of Kilgore in what has become one of film history’s immortal quotes.
– It smelled of victory, he adds about the smell of gasoline after a napalm attack on a hostile position.
Later, in 1983, he played the lead role in “The Last Dream” about an alcoholic country singer who is trying to get back on track.
It won Duvall an Oscar for Best Actor. Six other times he has been nominated without winning the statuette.
He has had other major roles in the 1989 TV series “They Ride to the North”, “The Apostle” from 1997, in which he himself directed and starred, and “The Judge” from 2014.
With his subdued appearance, Robert Duvall has played both leading and supporting roles throughout his more than 60-year career.
But despite his great success, Robert Duvall sees himself more as a character actor than a star.
– I turned to acting because I wanted to be an actor. Not to become a star, Duvall has said according to the film database Imdb.
But is he so happy with his career, the American news media The Daily Beast asked him two years ago.
“Yes and no,” he replied.
– I have done a lot of shit, but I have also done a lot of good things.
Although he has now slowed down, Robert Duvall is active right up to his advanced age. Most recently, he filmed in October for the Netflix movie “Hustle” about a bankrupt basketball talent scout fighting for a comeback.
Robert Duvall is in his fourth marriage married to the 41 year younger Argentine actress Luciana Pedraza. The couple lives on a farm with their horses in Virginia.