Wednesday, February 18 2026 -Robert Duvall, who won an Oscar for “Tender Mercies” and was nominated for his roles in films including “The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now,” and “The Great Santini,” has d!ed. He was 95.
Duvall’s de@th was announced on Facebook via a statement
from his wife, Luciana Duvall.
“Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished
friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time,” she wrote. “Bob passed
away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort. To the world, he was
an Academy Award-winning actor, a director, a storyteller. To me, he was simply
everything.”
She continued, “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.”
In a prolific Hollywood career that spanned nearly six
decades, Duvall deftly alternated between leading and supporting roles,
delivering performances of coiled fury and quiet gravitas. He fully inhabited
each character, whether portraying a ruthless TV executive in “Network” (1976)
or a passionate Pentecostal preacher in “The Apostle” (1997).
He was nominated for seven Academy Awards and seven Golden
Globes. He won the best actor Oscar in 1984 for his turn as alcoholic country
singer Mac Sledge in Bruce Beresford’s “Tender Mercies.”
Robert Seldon Duvall was born Jan. 5, 1931, in San Diego,
California, to an amateur actress and a U.S. Navy rear admiral. He grew up on
Navy bases around the country — including the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis,
Maryland — and graduated from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, in 1953.
He served two years in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.
When Duvall returned to the States, he studied drama under the storied
instructor Sanford Meisner at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse, where his
classmates included Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman and James Caan.
In those years, Duvall made a living working odd jobs around
New York and roomed with Hoffman and Hackman. He appeared in various Broadway
and Off-Broadway plays, including productions of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”
and “A View from the Bridge,” and landed guest spots on popular television
shows such as “The Twilight Zone.”
He did not make his film debut until age 31, taking on the
small but crucial role of Arthur “Boo” Radley in the 1962 adaptation of Harper
Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” He continued to build his reputation throughout
the 1960s, delivering memorable work in the John Wayne flick “True Grit” (1969)
and the Francis Ford Coppola character study “The Rain People” (1969).
In the 1970s, Duvall emerged as one of the key figures of
the “New Hollywood” movement. He frequently collaborated with visionary
directors and helped reshape the face of American movie stardom along with
other unconventional leading men — a group that included Al Pacino, Robert De
Niro and former roommates Hoffman and Hackman.
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