Robert Duvall’s filmography is nothing short of legendary, boasting titles that are etched in Hollywood’s hall of fame: The Godfather, To Kill A Mockingbird, M*A*S*H, The Conversation, and True Grit, among others.

In Apocalypse Now, he immortalized himself with one of cinema’s most iconic lines. Portraying the unhinged Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore, Duvall stood shirtless amidst chaos, donned in a cowboy Stetson, and famously declared, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning,” as fires roared and shells exploded around him.

Remarkably, Duvall holds the distinction of appearing in more American Film Institute Top 100 films than any other actor. Yet, despite his accolades—an Oscar, a BAFTA, four Golden Globes, and two Emmys—Duvall shied away from the “star” label. “Aw, come on,” he once remarked with his characteristic drawl, “don’t kid me. Who needs it? I got nothing against being a star as long as the part’s right.”

Critics revered him as “the most technically proficient, the most versatile, and the most convincing actor on the screen in the United States.” Another praised him as “the American Laurence Olivier,” a comparison Duvall cherished, having initially drawn inspiration from the esteemed English stage actor.

Robert Duvall, who passed away at the age of 95, leaves behind a legacy of unforgettable performances and a benchmark for acting excellence that remains unmatched.

Another described him as ‘the American Laurence Olivier’ – an accolade Duvall enjoyed because when he started acting he modelled himself on the great English stage star.

‘I used to go up to my room, comb my hair like Olivier and recite soliloquies,’ he said.

No one could have guessed at his Shakespearean pretensions, when he played the gaunt Nazi officer with an eyepatch in The Eagle Has Landed, opposite Michael Caine.

Robert Duvall (pictured) has died aged 95. He is seen here in the 1976 film The Eagle Has Landed as Nazi officer Max Radl

Duvall was Oscar-nominated for his role as Tom Hagen (pictured) in Francis Ford Coppola’s  The Godfather, a role he played opposite Marlon Brando

Duvall as Lieutenant Colonel William ‘Bill’ Kilgore (right) in Apocalypse Now, an epic warm film loosely based on Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness

Announcing his death, ‘peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort,’ his wife Luciana said: ‘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.’

Married four times, he had stepchildren but no children of his own. ‘I guess I’m shooting blanks,’ he joked. ‘[I’ve tried] with a lot of different women, in and out of marriage.’

His first marriage, in 1964, was to a former announcer and dancer on The Jackie Gleason Show, Barbara Benjamin, who had two daughters from a previous marriage.

They split in 1975 and in 1982 he married Gail Youngs, whose three brothers were all actors. He credited her with bringing out a softer side in him, but they divorced four years later.

From 1991 to 1995, he was married to dancer Sharon Brophy, and in 1997 he met Luciana Pedraza, an Argentine woman, who shared his January 5 birthday but was 41 years his junior. 

They both loved the tango, and she collaborated with him on a 2002 movie about a dancing hitman, Assassination Tango. Three years later they were married.

Duvall had been married four times and did not have any biological children. Pictured here with his fourth wife, Luciana Pedraza, who announced her husband’s death on Monday

Duvall (pictured), whose career spanned six decades, received accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, four Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award 

Born in 1931, in San Diego, California, his mother Mildred acted in amateur dramatics and his father William was a rear admiral. Music was his first passion and if he could have achieved any ambition, he said, it would be as a great tenor.

His parents pushed him to study acting as a boy. ‘They may have thought it was a sissy thing to do,’ he shrugged, ‘but they also hoped it would help me with my academic studies. Although I had certain reservations myself, when I started, I found acting sat easily upon me.’

He served more than a year in the US army in Korea, an experience he relived in the 1970 movie M*A*S*H, as the incompetent surgeon Major Frank Burns.

Fame came slowly after he left the army, with a series of stage roles on and off Broadway.

He shared lodgings with both Dustin Hoffman and the late Gene Hackman, and filled gaps between theatre work with jobs at the post office, department store Macy’s and as a night janitor in a university.

After playwright Arthur Miller championed him in A View From The Bridge, he was cast in the TV crime serial Naked City as an armed robber who killed three men in a heist. That, he said, was ‘the catalyst for my career.’

A cascade of other TV parts in classic shows followed: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Untouchables, The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive and many more.

Later, he was recommended to director Robert Mulligan to play the town outcast Boo Radley in 1962’s To Kill A Mockingbird, opposite Gregory Peck.

Bigger roles came gradually, including a supporting part in The Chase, with Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda and Robert Redford in 1966, and three years later in John Wayne’s last great film, True Grit.

Duvall was born in 1931, in San Diego, California. As a boy (pictured), his parents pushed him to study acting

Duvall (left) as Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird, his 1962 feature film debut

Duvall (pictured) went onto star in classic shows including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Untouchables, The Twilight Zone and The Fugitive

 ‘I don’t mind playing second leads or character parts,’ he said with characteristic modesty, ‘because I don’t want to carry all that load of being the star. I actually think I am pretty average in most ways: average macho, average strong [5ft 11in and 11-and-a-half stone], but not average as a performer. 

‘When I act I don’t want to be average at all. Then, I want to be best, because it is a dog-eat-dog profession.’

Slowly, he became the big dog, nominated for an Oscar (opposite Brando again) as the lawyer Tom Hagen in The Godfather parts I and II, earning Bafta and Oscar nominations in 1972. He was up for a Bafta again in 1977, as the ruthless TV executive Frank Hackett in Network.

The following year, he co-starred with his idol, Laurence Olivier, in The Betsy. And then came Apocalypse Now, bringing a Bafta win and another Oscar nomination.

‘I am glad fame came late,’ he reflected. ‘Ten years ago, I doubt if I could have handled it. It seems more comfortable today. I am a late bloomer and maybe a late bloomer lasts longer.’

Then came a pet project that turned into a triumph. Tender Mercies was written by Horton Foote, who had helped him 20 years earlier, and Duvall fought to get the film made. Rejected by Hollywood, it was financed by a British company, Thorn EMI.

He played an alcoholic former redneck singer, Mac Sledge, who finds redemption with a Vietnam war widow (Tess Harper). Duvall wrote several of the songs, indulging his love for country music.

The film became a critical success, earning Duvall an Academy Award as Best Actor and Best Screenplay for Foote.

Despite his powerful portrayal of alcoholism, Duvall didn’t drink, do drugs or smoke. His focus on acting remained total throughout the next 40 years. In 1997, he pursued another personal project, The Apostle, which he wrote and directed. It earned him another Best Actor nomination, as the charismatic Pentecostal preacher Sonny Dewey.

He also played his ancestor (on his mother’s side) Robert E. Lee in the Civil War epic Gods And Generals in 2003. He continued working into his 90s.

‘Listen, I’ve been in some rotten movies,’ he told the Daily Mail, more than 40 years ago – though he didn’t specify which, and any film buff would be hard pushed to name them.

‘But I never gave a bad performance, understand me? I get hired because I can do a good job. And I get hired a lot.’