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Hollywood icon Robert Duvall has died at the age of 95.
The Oscar-winning actor passed away 'peacefully' at his home on Sunday in Middleburg, Virginia, his publicist announced.
Duvall was best known for playing Tom Hagen, the consigliere and lawyer for the Corleone family, opposite Al Pacino and Marlon Brando in The Godfather films.
His other acclaimed movies include Apocalypse Now, The Great Santini and Tender Mercies.
Throughout his long career, Duvall worked with several A-List actors, including Steve McQueen, Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Jeff Bridges, Julia Roberts and Angelina Jolie.
The actor's wife, Luciana Pedraza, shared a tribute on Monday via Facebook.
'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, surrounded by love and comfort,' the 54-year-old wrote.
'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 and to the truth of the human spirit they represented.'
The Godfather actor Robert Duvall has died at the age of 95. The actor's wife, Luciana Pedraza, 54, announced the news on Facebook, writing, 'Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time'
Pedraza accompanied her Facebook post with this photo
She ended with: '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.'
The San Diego native worked in the industry for over seven decades.
Duvall began his career as a theater actor in New York City before he worked on TV shows in the 1960s, such as The Defenders, Playhouse 90, and Armstrong Circle Theatre.
He was already 31 years old when he made his feature film acting debut, portraying Boo Radley in the 1962 classic To Kill a Mockingbird.
Other early roles include Captain Newman, M.D. (1963), Bullitt (1968), True Grit (1969), M*A*S*H (1970), THX 1138 (1971), Joe Kidd (1972) and Tomorrow (1972).
Duvall won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as an alcoholic former country music star in the film Tender Mercies (1983).
His other Oscar-nominated films include The Godfather (1972), Apocalypse Now (1979), The Great Santini (1979), The Apostle (1997), A Civil Action (1998) and The Judge (2014).
His role in Apocalypse Now was memorable for the line, 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning.'
His character was over the top as he was often bare-chested, cocky and sporting a big black cowboy hat. 'I did my homework,' Duvall told talk show host Larry King in 2015. 'I did my research.'
Duvall was best known for playing calm, level-headed Tom Hagen in The Godfather films
Duvall, left, with Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II in 1974
The Godfather with Abe Vigoda, Richard Castellano, Marlon Brando, John Cazale, Al Lettiere, James Caan and Duvall
And some of his bigger hit films include The Outfit (1973), The Godfather Part II (1974), The Conversation (1974), Network (1976) and True Confessions (1981).
He also worked with Robert Redford on The Natural (1984), with Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder (1990), with Laura Dern in Rambling Rose (1991), with Michael Douglas in Falling Down (1993), with Michael Keaton in The Paper (1994) and with his friend Billy Bob Thornton on Sling Blade (1996).
In 2000, he co-starred with Jolie and Nicolas Cage in the hit film Gone in 60 Seconds (2000).
And later he was seen in Open Range (2003), Crazy Heart (2009), Get Low (2010), Jack Reacher (2012), Widows (2018) and Hustle (2022).
Duvall was born in San Diego in 1931. His mother was an actress and his father was in the United States Navy.
The family relocated to the East Coast when he was ten, settling primarily in Annapolis, Maryland.
He lacked the concentration to do his schoolwork and nearly flunked out of Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. His despairing parents decided he needed something to keep him in college so he wouldn't be drafted for the Korean War.
'They recommended acting as an expedient thing to get through,' he recalled. 'I'm glad they did.' He flourished in drama classes.
After two years in the Army, he used the GI Bill to finance his studies at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, where he became a roommate of Dustin Hoffman's.
He worked in theater for many years before landing a TV role with The Jailbreak.
His film debut was as Boo Radley in the critically acclaimed To Kill a Mockingbird in 1962, alongside co-star Mary Badham
He had a memorable role in the 1979 classic Apocalypse Now
In the 1983 movie Tender Mercies, which won him an Oscar
With Tom Cruise in the 1990 movie Days Of Thunder
The actor played a cowboy in Broken Trail in 2006
In We Own the Night with Mark Wahlberg in 2007
The star earned a reputation as a strong, very serious actor after working many years on Broadway.
Michael Caine, who co-starred with him in the 2003 Secondhand Lions, once told the Associated Press: 'Before a big scene, Bobby just sits there, absolutely quiet; you know when not to talk to him.'
'When I was doing Colors in 1988 with Sean Penn, someone asked me how I do it all these years, keep it fresh. Well, if you don't overwork, have some hobbies, you can do it and stay hungry even if you're not really hungry,' Duvall told The Associated Press in 1990.
Duvall often said his favorite role was one he played in a 1989 TV mini-series, Lonesome Dove.
He played the grizzled, wisecracking Texas Ranger-turned-cowboy Augustus McCrae. The show was based on the novel by Larry McMurtry.
Film critic Elaine Mancini once described Duvall as 'the most technically proficient, the most versatile, and the most convincing actor on the screen in the United States.'
In Lucky You in 2007 with Sam Farha and Chau Gianga
With Jeff Bridges in the 2009 film Crazy Heart
At the Oscars in 1984 with Shirley MacLaine
Here he is seen in a rare video with his friend Billy Bob Thornton
Between his high-paying jobs in major productions, Duvall devoted himself to directing personal projects: a documentary about a prairie family, We're Not the Jet Set; a film about gypsies, Angelo, My Love; and Assassination Tango, in which he also starred.
Duvall had been a tango dancer since seeing the musical Tango Argentina in the 1980s and visited Argentina dozens of times to study the dance and the culture.
he result was the 2003 release about a hit man with a passion for tango.
His co-star was Pedraza, 42 years his junior, whom he married in 2005.
Duvall in 1953 during his Senior Year at Principia College
Here he is seen far left in the play Ring Round the Moon
Duvall has been married four times and never had any children.
He met his first wife, Barbara Benjamin, while filming To Kill a Mockingbird. They were married from 1964 until 1975.
His second wife was Gail Youngs, to whom he was married from 1982 to 1986.
And his third marriage was to Sharon Brophy, a dancer, from 1991 to 1995.
His fourth wife, Pedraza, is the granddaughter of Argentine aviation pioneer Susana Ferrari Billinghurst.
ROBERT DUVALL'S LOVE LIFE
Robert Duvall had an interesting love life that was in the public eye.
The Oscar-winning actor had four wives from the 1960s until his death on Sunday at the age of 95.
Though he worked with several big-name actresses such as Shirley MacLaine (Terms of Endearment), Sissy Spacek, Barbara Hershey (Falling Down) and Angelina Jolie (Gone In 60 Seconds), he never married a major star.
Instead, he had quieter romances.
His first wife was beauty Barbara Benjamin.
Duvall met his first wife, Barbara Benjamin during the shooting of To Kill a Mockingbird. They were married from 1964 until 1975
His second wife was Gail Youngs, to whom he was married from 1982 to 1986
They met during the shooting of To Kill a Mockingbird when he was in his early thirties.
The two said 'I do' in 1964 but divorced in 1975.
In 1982 he got married for a second time. The lucky lady was beauty Gail Youngs. The marriage lasted only four years as they divorced in 1982.
His third wife professional dancer Sharon Brophy. They wed in 1991 but divorced just four years later in 1995.
In 2005, Duvall married his fourth wife, Luciana Pedraza, when on the set of the 2003 film Assassination Tango, about the life of a hitman who travels to Argentina for a job, as well as his discovery of Argentine tango and his relationship with a woman living there.
Duvall was still married to Pedraza at the time of his death.
And his third marriage was to Sharon Brophy, a dancer, from 1991 to 1995
In 2005, Duvall married his fourth wife, Luciana Pedraza, granddaughter of Argentine aviation pioneer Susana Ferrari Billinghurst
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