Award-winning actor Robert Duvall is best known for his portrayals in To Kill a Mockingbird, Apocalypse Now, and the Godfather series.
Born in San Diego, California on January 5, 1931, he served in the United States Army from 1953 to 1954, receiving the National Defense Service Medal. Upon discharge, he studied acting in New York under Sanford Meisner, but struggled looking for work, and at one point worked as a post office clerk.
Robert Duvall’s film debut was as the recluse Boo Radley in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird. In 1969, he played the role of Ned Pepper in the film True Grit, and the next year, he played Major Frank Burns in the film version of MASH. However, he became popular with his portrayal of Tom Hagen in The Godfather, released in 1972, and The Godfather Part II, released in 1974. His performance in the former earned him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in both the BAFTA Awards and the Academy Awards.
Duvall received two more Oscar nominations in the early stages of his career. The first, for Best Supporting Actor, was for the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, in which he made popular the line “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” He was also nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for the 1979 film The Great Santini. He won a Best Actor Oscar for his role as an alcoholic country singer in 1983’s Tender Mercies.
He was also nominated for the Academy Awards for the 1997 film The Apostle, and the 1998 film A Civil Action. He directed the 1997 film The Apostle, where he also plays a preacher wanted by the law, and the 2002 film Assassination Tango, where he stars alongside Rubén Blades and Kathy Baker. In 2007, Duvall won the Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries, for Broken Trail.
