Robert Duvall, who died on Sunday, aged 95, was one such American actor. Winning the Oscar, both as a lead actor and in supporting roles, his most memorable works included To Kill a Mockingbird (a fantastic novel from Harper Lee) and Gone in 60 Seconds. | X @sikkafm
The greatness of an actor is his or her ability to sink into a character in a way that the real he or she becomes unrecognisable. Robert Duvall, who died on Sunday, aged 95, was one such American actor. Winning the Oscar, both as a lead actor and in supporting roles, his most memorable works included To Kill a Mockingbird (a fantastic novel from Harper Lee) and Gone in 60 Seconds. This is not to set aside his characters in Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, and M*A*S*H, among others.
But he was also a great director and storyteller, and his passion for acting was matched by his love for delicious food and meeting people from different walks of life.
What is more, Duvall got some unforgettable lines—as unforgettable as some in another great movie, Casablanca, in which Rick (played by Humphrey Bogart) tells Lisa Lund (a ravishing Ingrid Bergman), “We will always have Paris.” Here are a couple of equally memorable lines from Duvall: “Charlie don’t surf!” and “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
And, of course, he captivated the Academy of Motion Picture Arts to such an extent that he got nominated a multiple number of times and actually clinched a Best Actor award in Tender Mercies—in which he played a former country music star who was forever drunk!
Apocalypse Now (1979), The Great Santini (1979), The Apostle (1997), A Civil Action (1998), and The Judge (2014) fetched him Oscar nods. And his parts were mind-bogglingly varied—a pious preacher, a mad army commander, a corrupt media executive, and a creepy guy who lives in the shadows. And then he turned into a cowboy in so many works—almost like a chameleon changing from one character to another in the wink of an eye. Wow! He was gentle, he was brutish, he was loving, and he was hateful. Such was his performance arc.
Yet, some of his equally marvellous movies, such as Rambling Rose, True Confessions, Falling Down and The Paper, among others, went unsung. But, well, such is cinema—magical and enchanting now, dull and boring then!
