2 min readFeb 18, 2026 07:50 AM IST
First published on: Feb 18, 2026 at 07:50 AM IST
Robert Duvall, by temperament, was not the scene-stealing type, once remarking that playing a strong supporting part —“probably… a better part anyway” — was preferable to playing the lead. “You don’t have the weight of the entire movie on your shoulders,” he told The New York Times in a 1979 interview. A surprising sentiment to express in a profession where attention is the main currency. But then, Duvall, who died this week at the age of 95, had talent enough that the beam of the spotlight always, inevitably, found him.
Two iconic roles illustrate how Duvall, despite never being a typical Hollywood leading man, earned his place among the screen greats. In Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979), his brief screen time as the ruthless Lt Col Bill Kilgore captured the nihilism at the heart of the film, encapsulated in one of its most quoted lines: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” It was a finely balanced yet formidable portrayal of evil, and his believability was key — just as it was in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), also by Coppola. In both, Duvall’s portrayal of the calm, reasonable Tom Hagen, consigliere and unofficial member of the Corleone crime family, was the necessary counterpoint to the violent outbursts of other characters.
In these and other roles, including his Oscar-winning turn as a country music has-been in Tender Mercies (1983) and screen debut as Boo Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird (1962), Duvall excelled thanks to his chameleon-like ability. He may not have wanted to carry the whole weight of a film, but his performances, always sure-footed and true to the story, helped lay the foundation for many a cinematic classic.
