Robert Duvall

American actor and filmmaker Website

Approval Rate: 91%

91%Approval ratio

Reviews 23

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  • by

    jman1961

    Thu Jul 02 2009

    It's been a year since the last comment on this guy, but he's one of my favorite actors, and so I must pay my respect. I echo the sentiments of the first poster, Timberwulf. Duvall plays all his parts convincingly by becoming the character. He's turned in many fine performances, and he's one of the few stars that I'll always give the benefit of the doubt to, meaning that I might suspect that a movie he's in may not be very good, but I'll give it a shot simply because he's in it. Oh, and you know he had to have SOME talent; he hasn't been around for getting damn near 50 years on his looks alone, right?

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    spike65

    Fri Jun 20 2008

    "SilverFox" nails it. One of the best actors ever IMO.  He truly delivers the goods.

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    frankswildyear_s

    Wed Apr 30 2008

    One of the best of his generation who improves everything he is in.  He's hardly been in a single turkey and has developed into a very good director.

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    wutisay

    Wed Apr 30 2008

    One of the best actors ever. Brilliant.

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    theman2992

    Sat Mar 08 2008

    Duval is amazing with his talent for acting, he's on my top 50 greatest actor list in my opinion.

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    silverfox

    Mon Jul 30 2007

    It pains me to see Duvall rated lower than so many mediocre actors above. How many of those mediocrities can claim the Academy Award credits that Duvall has: He won Best Actor in Tender Mercies, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in The Godfather, for Best Supporting Actor in Apocalypse Now ["You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning."], for Best Actor in The Great Santini, for Best Actor in The Apostle, which he also directed, and for Best Supporting Actor in A Civil Action. I consider him one of our finest actors ever. So versatile and convincing. Others below have nailed it--when Duvall assumes a role, he becomes the character. Surprisingly, no one has mentioned what I consider to be his finest and most nuanced performance, the one for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor--Tender Mercies. See my review of it here. His career spans a veritable lifetime, from his screen debut in 1962 as ... Read more

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    zappafied

    Tue Nov 28 2006

    Nobody does it better than Duvall...what a treat to watch him do his stuff in Apocalypse Now, The Godfather and The Apostle. I hear he dances a mean Tango too!

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    genghisthehun

    Sun Dec 11 2005

    He is a truly great talent. Gus in "Lonesome Dove" is his climax I would think.

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    james76255

    Tue Sep 13 2005

    In my opinion, Robert Duvall is the best actor I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. He can play anything. A backwoods, redneck from Arkansas, a street smart New York City cop, a lazy cowboy from Texas, a small town doctor, a big city lawyer. He's done it all, and done it incredibly well. Lonesome Dove would not have been the excellent mini-series it was without Duvall (all due respect to Tommy Lee Jones and the others). He made Augustus McCrae the modern version of Hamlet, delivering each line with such ease you believed he was an old, ornery cowboy. There just isn't enough I can say about Duvall. If you haven't seen it, check out The Stars Fell on Henrietta. It's a nice movie, set near where I live, and Duvall is aces again.

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    kattwoman

    Thu May 19 2005

    he did a great job in the godfather movies and colors

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    rixter

    Fri Jul 16 2004

    His performance in Lonesome Dove was one of the finest ever on stage or on screen.

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    louiethe20th

    Sat May 29 2004

    The speeches he gave in Secondhand Lions and Open Range, his brilliance in the Lonesome Dove series, this guy can captivate ya on film.

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    bubbaknowsbest

    Thu Mar 25 2004

    He blows em all away with his performance. This guy has talent to spare.He's been paired with James Earl Jones, Richard Harris and many other fine actors. He truly shines though in Wrestling Ernest Hemingway and The Apostle. I also hear he likes to Tango...

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    damianlebas

    Sun Mar 14 2004

    The comments below have made me rethink my opinion of Duvall. I am starting to wonder whether he really was great in the Godfather, or whther he was made great by soaking up the greatness that leaked copiously from James Caan in the movie. Interesting.

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    raybo67

    Tue Nov 18 2003

    Always convincing!!

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    tvtator

    Mon Nov 10 2003

    Robert Duvall is a fine, solid, superb actor. If you watch To Kill a Mockingbird, his first film and one where he acts without saying a word but conveys his thoughts and emotions effectively and say he's a bad actor, then something is wrong with you.

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    jamestkirk

    Tue Sep 09 2003

    Desinitely one of the greats in Hollywood. has done it all and has been successful. From "The Godfather", "The Great Santini", to "The Apostle", he has been so good.

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    stanuzbeck

    Sat Jul 26 2003

    Robert Duvall is one of the only actors I have ever seen that has convinced me that he is crazy in real life. Almost nobody else can get so deep inside such a wide variety of characters. He completely subordinates his own personality to that of the character. Watching some actors you get an idea of what they are like outside of films, because there is a little part of them in every character they play. Duvall is able to completely change his entire persona into that of a maniac colonel in Vietnam(Apocalypse Now), religious weirdos (MASH and the Apostle), a mafia lawyer (the Godfather), or a kindly old grandfather type (the name escapes me). Brilliant, the male Meryl Streep, but better.

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    cheasapeake

    Thu Oct 10 2002

    I fell in love with him as Gus McCrae when I was only 11-

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    castlebee

    Wed Dec 26 2001

    From Boo Radley (“To Kill a Mockingbird”) to Tom Hagen (“The Godfather”) to Gus McCrae (“Lonesome Dove”) this man has never put in a less than brilliant performance. He is one of the most versatile, gifted actors ever. Actors with that kind of range are completely fascinating to watch and you never have to wonder why they’re doing what they do for a living.

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    macca5da

    Tue Dec 25 2001

    I fell in love with this man in the mini-series 'Ike'. He was fantastic and I've loved him ever since.

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    slayre

    Tue Oct 09 2001

    Augustus Macrae.

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    timberwulf

    Fri Mar 30 2001

    Any and all aspiring actors, and most of the currently acclaimed famous one, need to study this man's work, to see what true acting is. When Duvall assumes a role, he becomes the character. You no longer see Duvall on the screen, only the character is there. THAT is what true acting is. The only actor currently in Duvall's calibur is Gary Oldman. Between the two of them, they have more real talent than the rest of Hollywood combined.