Robert Duvall Biography Quotes 31 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Robert Duvall was born on January 5, 1931, in San Diego, California, the son of Mildred Virginia, who had an interest in the theater, and William Howard Duvall, a United States Navy admiral. Because of his father's service, he spent parts of his childhood on or near naval bases before the family settled for stretches in Maryland and the Midwest. Drawn early to performance, he studied drama at Principia College in Illinois, graduating in the early 1950s. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War era and, after his discharge, used the G.I. Bill to move to New York City, where he trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse under the influential acting teacher Sanford Meisner. In New York he fell in with a cohort of aspiring actors that included Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman, friendships that reflected his commitment to craft over glamour.

Stage and Television Beginnings
Duvall built his foundation on the stage, acting Off-Broadway and on regional circuits while taking guest roles on television. Early TV work included appearances on series such as The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, where his understated intensity and clarity of intention were already evident. He made a striking film debut as Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) alongside Gregory Peck. The role was brief but unforgettable, and it hinted at the quiet force he would bring to a wide range of characters. Throughout the 1960s he worked steadily, balancing television, stage, and film, and earning the respect of directors, casting agents, and fellow actors for his precision and lack of pretense.

Breakthrough and the 1970s
The late 1960s and 1970s established Duvall as one of the defining American screen actors. He collaborated with Francis Ford Coppola on The Rain People and reached an international audience as Major Frank Burns in Robert Altman's MASH (1970), a role that revealed his talent for complex, sometimes abrasive men. He starred in George Lucas's THX 1138 (1971), demonstrating a spare, futuristic kind of naturalism rare at the time. His portrayal of Tom Hagen, consigliere to the Corleone family in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), brought him award nominations and cemented his status. Working closely with Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, and director Coppola, Duvall created a character of quiet intelligence and moral ambiguity that stood apart in a film crowded with vivid personalities.

Duvall continued a remarkable run with Sidney Lumet's Network (1976) as a hard-nosed television executive, showing he could embody modern corporate power as easily as he could old-world loyalty. He was equally memorable in True Grit (1969) opposite John Wayne, as well as in Bullitt (1968). He reunited with Coppola for Apocalypse Now (1979) and delivered one of cinema's most indelible portraits of martial bravado as Lt. Col. Kilgore, a role that combined menace, absurdity, and a bizarre form of charisma.

From The Great Santini to Tender Mercies
In The Great Santini (1979), Duvall gave a searing performance as Marine pilot Bull Meechum, one of the signature roles of his career and a benchmark for his ability to inhabit flawed, domineering men with flashes of vulnerability. He then won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Tender Mercies (1983), playing a washed-up country singer seeking redemption. The film, guided by screenwriter Horton Foote, drew on Duvall's love of American music and his gift for unforced, lived-in characterization; he performed songs in the film and set a standard for quiet, deeply human performances.

He moved fluidly across genres in the 1980s, including a turn as a relentless sportswriter in The Natural (1984) for director Barry Levinson and as a veteran police officer in Colors (1988), directed by Dennis Hopper. Each role reaffirmed his range and his discipline, qualities that drew admiration from colleagues like Robert De Niro, with whom he starred in True Confessions.

Director, Writer, and Producer
Alongside acting, Duvall pursued projects behind the camera. He wrote, directed, and starred in The Apostle (1997), a passionately personal film about faith, sin, and charisma in the American South. He self-financed the project, a risk that demonstrated his independence and belief in the material, and the film earned him another Academy Award nomination. He also directed and starred in Assassination Tango (2002), reflecting his deep affection for Argentine culture, and later Wild Horses (2015). His work as a filmmaker underscores a consistent interest in moral complexity, regional cultures, and the rhythms of everyday speech.

Television Highlights
Duvall's impact extended to television. He embodied Augustus Gus McCrae in the landmark miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989), adapted from Larry McMurtry's novel. The character's wit, warmth, and courage showcased the lighter, companionable side of Duvall's screen presence and deepened his association with the American Western. Years later he starred in and executive produced Broken Trail (2006), which earned major awards and reunited him with the Western tradition. He also portrayed historical figures in television films, notably Joseph Stalin, adding to a gallery of sharply etched portrayals.

1990s and 2000s: Veteran Presence
As a mature actor, Duvall remained in demand with filmmakers across generations. He mentored and worked alongside younger stars such as Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder (1990) and Robert Downey Jr. in The Judge (2014). He anchored films like Falling Down (1993) with Michael Douglas, The Paper (1994) for Ron Howard, Phenomenon (1996) with John Travolta, A Civil Action (1998) opposite John Travolta and William H. Macy, and Deep Impact (1998), where his authority lent credibility to large-scale stories. In the 2000s he appeared in Open Range (2003) with Kevin Costner and Secondhand Lions (2003) with Michael Caine, continuing to bring both gravitas and gentle humor to the screen. He supported Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart (2009) and produced the film, underscoring his ongoing commitment to character-driven storytelling.

2010s and Later Work
Duvall starred in Get Low (2010), a reflective drama that allowed him to explore aging, guilt, and legacy with quiet power. He joined Tom Cruise again in Jack Reacher (2012) and played a formidable patriarch opposite Robert Downey Jr. in The Judge (2014), which brought him another Academy Award nomination and affirmed his enduring stature. He continued to appear in notable ensemble projects, demonstrating that his economy of movement and speech remained as compelling as ever.

Personal Life and Interests
Duvall has been married multiple times; he wed Argentine-born Luciana Pedraza in 2005 after many years together. He has often made his home in Virginia and is known for his love of horses, Western history, and music. His enthusiasm for Argentine tango became a hallmark of his off-screen life and informed his film interests. He has supported charitable causes through the Robert Duvall Children's Fund, reflecting a desire to give back to communities in the United States and Latin America. He has no children and has often described acting as the central calling of his life, a craft he approaches with discipline learned from his Navy family upbringing and his rigorous training with Sanford Meisner.

Craft and Legacy
Across a career spanning stage, television, and film, Duvall developed a reputation for authenticity, attention to regional detail, and a refusal to sentimentalize his characters. Colleagues including Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Sidney Lumet, Barry Levinson, and George Lucas trusted him to ground their stories with emotional truth. Working alongside peers such as Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Gene Hackman, and Dustin Hoffman, he helped define a generation of American screen acting rooted in observation and restraint rather than showiness. His gallery of roles - from Tom Hagen and Bull Meechum to Gus McCrae and the redeemed singer of Tender Mercies - forms a coherent portrait of American masculinity in its contradictions: stern yet compassionate, proud yet self-doubting, disciplined yet vulnerable.

Duvall's awards, including an Academy Award and multiple nominations across decades, as well as major honors in television, reflect not only longevity but consistent excellence. More telling than trophies is the influence he has had on directors and actors who prize his reliability, his ear for language, and his uncanny ability to suggest a lifetime behind a single look or pause. Long after the catchphrases and the marquee titles fade, Robert Duvall's legacy endures in the integrity of the work and in the many artists he has inspired.

Our collection contains 31 quotes who is written by Robert, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Justice - Music - Meaning of Life - Aging.

Other people realated to Robert: Mario Puzo (Novelist), Robert Redford (Actor), Sean Penn (Actor), Kevin Costner (Actor), Robert Downey, Jr. (Actor), Paddy Chayefsky (Playwright), Wilford Brimley (Actor), Marisa Tomei (Actress), Tea Leoni (Actress), Lasse Hallstrom (Director)