Geline Salac

AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 17: Actor/director Robert Duvall arrives at the premiere of "Wild Horses" during the 2015 SXSW Music, FIlm + Interactive Festival at the Paramount Theatre on March 17, 2015 in Austin, Texas.   Michael Buckner/Getty Images for SXSW/AFP (Photo by Michael Buckner / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

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"Wild Horses" - 2015 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival

robert duvall

Agence France-Presse

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17712797462321771279745813.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Actor/director Robert Duvall arrives at the premiere of &quot;Wild Horses&quot; during the 2015 SXSW Music, FIlm + Interactive Festival at the Paramount Theatre on March 17, 2015 in Austin, Texas. Michael Buckner/Getty Images for SXSW/AFP Photo by Michael Buckner / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP</div>LOS ANGELES - Robert Duvall, who played the smooth mafia lawyer in &quot;The Godfather&quot; and stole the show with his depiction of a surfing-crazed colonel in &quot;Apocalypse Now,&quot; has died at the age of 95, his wife said Monday.His death Sunday was confirmed by his wife Luciana Duvall.&quot;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,&quot; she wrote.Blunt-talking, prolific and glitz-averse, Duvall won an Oscar for best actor and was nominated six other times. Over his six decades-long career, he shone in both lead and supporting roles, and eventually became a director. He kept acting in his 90s.&quot;To the world, he was an Academy Award-winning actor, a director, a storyteller. To me, he was simply everything,&quot; Luciana Duvall said. &quot;His passion for his craft was matched only by his deep love for characters, a great meal, and holding court.&quot;Duvall won his Academy Award in 1983 for playing a washed-up country singer in &quot;Tender Mercies.&quot;But his most memorable characters also included the soft-spoken, loyal mob consigliere Tom Hagen in the first two installments of &quot;The Godfather&quot; and the maniacal Lieutenant Colonel William Kilgore in Francis Ford Coppola&#x27;s 1979 Vietnam War epic &quot;Apocalypse Now.&quot;The latter, which earned Duvall an Oscar nomination and made him a bona fide star after years playing lesser roles, sees him utter what is now one of cinema&#x27;s most famous lines.&quot;I love the smell of napalm in the morning,&quot; his war-loving character -- bare chested, cocky and sporting a big black cowboy hat -- muses as low-flying US warplanes bomb a beachfront tree line where he wants to go surfing.That character was originally created to be even more over the top -- his name was at first supposed to be Colonel Carnage -- but Duvall had it toned down, demonstrating his meticulous approach to acting.&quot;I did my homework,&quot; Duvall told veteran talk show host Larry King in 2015. &quot;I did my research.&quot;Duvall was sort of a late bloomer in Hollywood -- he was already 31 when he delivered his breakout performance as the mysterious recluse Boo Radley in the 1962 film adaptation of Harper Lee&#x27;s novel &quot;To Kill a Mockingbird.&quot;He would go on to play myriad roles -- a bullying corporate executive in &quot;Network&quot; (1976), a Marine officer who treats his family like soldiers in &quot;The Great Santini&quot; (1979), and then his star turn in &quot;Tender Mercies.&quot;Duvall often said his favorite role, however, was one he played in a 1989 TV mini-series -- the grizzled, wise-cracking Texas Ranger-turned-cowboy Augustus McCrae in &quot;Lonesome Dove,&quot; based on the novel by Larry McMurtry.Film critic Elaine Mancini once described Duvall as &quot;the most technically proficient, the most versatile, and the most convincing actor on the screen in the United States.&quot;<div>- &#x27;A lot of crap&#x27; -</div>Born in 1931, the son of a Navy officer father and an amateur actress mother, Duvall studied drama before spending two years in the US Army.He then settled in New York, where he shared an apartment with Dustin Hoffman. The pair were friends with Gene Hackman as all three worked their way up in showbiz. These were lean times for the future stars.&quot;Hoffman, me, my brother, three or four other actors and singers had a place on 107th and Broadway in Manhattan, uptown,&quot; Duvall told GQ in 2014.Duvall said he had few regrets in his career.But one was turning down the lead part in &quot;Jaws&quot; (which went to Roy Scheider) because he instead wanted to play the salty fisherman, a role that went to Robert Shaw.Director Steven Spielberg told Duvall he was too young for that part.Duvall also admitted he took some jobs just for the money.&quot;I did a lot of crap,&quot; he told The Wall Street Journal in 2017. &quot;Television stuff. But I had to make a living.&quot;Duvall made his home far from the glitz and chatter of Hollywood -- in rural Virginia, where his family had roots.He and his fourth wife, Argentine-born Luciana Pedraza, 40 years his junior, lived in a nearly 300-year-old farmhouse. Duvall never had children.He said he went to New York and Los Angeles only when necessary.&quot;I like a good Hollywood party,&quot; he told the Journal. &quot;I have a lot of friends there. But I like living here.&quot;And of all his storied roles, Duvall says his favorite was indeed that of the soft-hearted cowboy McCrae in &quot;Lonesome Dove.&quot;&quot;That’s my &#x27;Hamlet,&#x27;&quot; he told The New York Times in 2014.&quot;The English have Shakespeare; the French, Moliere. In Argentina, they have Borges, but the Western is ours. I like that.&quot;dw/sst/sms

Robert Duvall, who played the smooth mafia lawyer in "The Godfather" and stole the show with his depiction of a surfing-crazed colonel in "Apocalypse Now," has died at the age of 95, his wife said Monday.

Robert Duvall, who played the smooth mafia lawyer in "The Godfather" and stole the show with his depiction of a surfing-crazed colonel in "Apocalypse Now," has died at the age of 95, his wife said Monday.

'Godfather' and 'Apocalypse Now' actor Robert Duvall dead at 95

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'Godfather' and 'Apocalypse Now' actor Robert Duvall dead at 95

Agence France-Presse

Published Feb 17, 2026 06:09 AM PHT

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