Hollywood icon Robert Duvall has died at the age of 95.
He was best known for playing Tom Hagen, the consigliere and lawyer for the Corleone family, opposite Al Pacino and Marlon Brando in The Godfather films.
His other acclaimed movies include Apocalypse Now and The Great Santini.
The actor’s wife, Luciana, announced the news Monday on Facebook, writing, ‘Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time. Bob passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort.’
She added, ‘To the world, he was an Academy Award-winning actor, a director, a storyteller. To me, he was simply everything. His passion for his craft was matched only by his deep love for characters, a great meal, and holding court. For each of his many roles, Bob gave everything to his characters and to the truth of the human spirit they represented.
‘In doing so, he leaves something lasting and unforgettable to us all. Thank you for the years of support you showed Bob and for giving us this time and privacy to celebrate the memories he leaves behind.’
The Godfather actor Robert Duvall has died at the age of 95. The actor’s wife, Luciana, announced the news Monday on Facebook , writing, ‘Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time’; seen in 2000
Duvall’s wife shared this image on Facebook when she announced his passing
The San Diego native worked as an actor for over seven decades.
Duvall began his career as a theater actor in New York City before he worked on TV shows in 1960s such as The Defenders, Playhouse 90 and Armstrong Circle Theatre.
He made his feature film acting debut portraying Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).
Other early roles include Captain Newman, M.D. (1963), Bullitt (1968), True Grit (1969), M*A*S*H (1970), THX 1138 (1971), Joe Kidd (1972) and Tomorrow (1972).
Duvall won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as an alcoholic former country music star in the film Tender Mercies (1983).
His other Oscar-nominated films include The Godfather (1972), Apocalypse Now (1979), The Great Santini (1979), The Apostle (1997), A Civil Action (1998) and The Judge (2014).
And some of his bigger hit films include The Outfit (1973), The Godfather Part II (1974), The Conversation (1974), Network (1976), True Confessions (1981), The Natural (1984), Days of Thunder (1990), Rambling Rose (1991), Falling Down (1993), The Paper (1994), Sling Blade (1996).
In 2000 he worked with Angelina Jolie in the hit film Gone in 60 Seconds (2000).
And later he was seen in Open Range (2003), Crazy Heart (2009), Get Low (2010), Jack Reacher (2012), Widows (2018) and Hustle (2022).
Duvall was best known for playing Tom Hagen in The Godfather films
Duvall, left, with Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather, Part II in 1974
The Godfather with Abe Vigoda, Richard Castellano, Marlon Brando, John Cazale, Al Lettiere, James Caan and Duvall
Duvall was born in San Diego then at a young age he entered the US Army.
Later he attended the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City where he became a roommate of Dustin Hoffman’s.
He worked in theater for many years before landing a TV role with The Jailbreak.
Next came guest roles in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Naked City, The Untouchables, Route 66, The Twilight Zone, Combat!, The Outer Limits, The Fugitive, T.H.E. Cat, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, The F.B.I., and The Mod Squad.
His film debut was as Boo Radley in the critically acclaimed To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).
He had a memorable role in the 1979 classic Apocalypse Now
Seen here in his Oscar-winning role in the 1983 movie Tender Mercies
The actor played a cowboy in Broken Trail in 2006
In We Own the Night with Mark Wahlberg in 2007
He was then in Captain Newman, M.D. (1963), Chiz in Countdown (1968), and Gordon in The Rain People.
Duvall had a small part as a cab driver who drives McQueen around in the film Bullitt (1968).
He was the notorious malefactor “Lucky” Ned Pepper in True Grit (1969), in which he engaged in a climactic shootout with John Wayne’s Rooster Cogburn on horseback.
In the ’70s he was in M*A*S*H and THX 1138.
His first major critical success came portraying Tom Hagen in The Godfather (1972) which landed him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
He also had a role in Francis Ford Coppola’s thriller The Conversation.
In Lucky You in 2007 with Sam Farha and Chau Gianga
With Jeff Bridges in the 2009 film Crazy Heart
The star received another Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Lt. Colonel Kilgore in Apocalypse Now (1979).
He won raves as Frank Hackett in the critically acclaimed film Network (1976) and garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role in The Great Santini (1979).
He also co-starred with Laurence Olivier in The Betsy (1978) and portrayed United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the television miniseries Ike (1979).
Duvall continued appearing in films during the 1980s, including the roles of a detective in True Confessions (1981), a disillusioned sportswriter Max Mercy in The Natural (1984) and Los Angeles police officer Bob Hodges in Colors (1988).
He won an Oscar for Best Actor as country western singer Mac Sledge in Tender Mercies (1983).
In 1989, Duvall appeared in the miniseries Lonesome Dove.
He received Oscar nominations for his portrayals of evangelical preacher Euliss Dewey in The Apostle (1997) and lawyer Jerome Facher in A Civil Action (1998).
He directed Assassination Tango (2002). He portrayed General Robert E. Lee in Gods and Generals in 2003.
At the Oscars in 1984 with Shirley MacLaine
Here he is seen in a rare video with his friend Billy Bob Thornton
Other roles were Days of Thunder (1990), the father of an upper-class Southern family in Rambling Rose (1991), Joseph Pulitzer a newspaper publisher in the Disney musical Newsies (1992), a retiring cop in Falling Down (1993), a Hispanic barber in Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993), a New York tabloid editor in The Paper (1994), a rural doctor in Phenomenon (1996), a father who owns a jumper horse farm in Something to Talk About (1995), an abusive father in 1996’s Sling Blade, and an astronaut in Deep Impact (1998).
He was also in Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), A Shot at Glory (2000), The 6th Day (2000), John Q. (2002), and Open Range (2003).
He was also in Secondhand Lions (2003), Kicking & Screaming (2005), and Lucky You (2007).
Then came We Own the Night (2007), Four Christmases (2008), Get Low (2010), Seven Days in Utopia (2011), and Jack Reacher (2012).
Duvall has been married four times but did not have any children.
Duvall met his first wife, Barbara Benjamin 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 Sharon Brophy, a dancer, from 1991 to 1995.
In 2005, Duvall married his fourth wife, Luciana Pedraza, granddaughter of Argentine aviation pioneer Susana Ferrari Billinghurst.
