Charlie don’t surf.
Robert Duvall, the chameleon-like Oscar winner whose five-decade career yielded indelible portraits of American masculinity, from Corleone consigliere Tom Hagen to napalm-loving Colonel Kilgore, died peacefully Sunday at his Virginia home. He was 95.
The news was confirmed by his publicist and wife Luciana, who wrote simply: “To me, he was everything.”
With neither leading man looks nor interest in playing one, the wiry Duvall built a career of staggering range.
He debuted as Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird, then spent decades disappearing into roles: a gospel-singing preacher in his passion project The Apostle, philosophical cattle driver in Lonesome Dove, Josef Stalin, itinerant preachers, sadistic fathers.
He earned seven Oscar nominations, winning Best Actor for 1983’s Tender Mercies. When he turned down Godfather III over money, fans mourned the loss.
But Duvall stayed hungry, working into his 80s, earning a final nomination for 2014’s The Judge.
“He gave everything to the truth of the human spirit his characters represented,” Luciana wrote.
