In 2005, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
Though he had been acting for two decades, it was The Godfather that cemented his place among Hollywood’s elite. Director Francis Ford Coppola cast him as Tom Hagen, the quiet, calculating consigliere to the Corleone family, alongside Al Pacino and Marlon Brando. Duvall’s restrained performance made him an essential presence in the epic saga.
“Stars and Italians alike depend on his efficiency, his tidying up around their grand gestures, his being the perfect shortstop on a team of personality sluggers,” critic David Thomson wrote. “Was there ever a role better designed for its actor than that of Tom Hagen in both parts of ‘The Godfather?’”
In Apocalypse Now, also directed by Coppola, Duvall delivered one of cinema’s most indelible performances as Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore, a surfing-obsessed cavalry officer amid the chaos of war. His line — “I love the smell of napalm in the morning” — became one of the most quoted in film history.
Coppola once said of him: “Actors click into character at different times — the first week, third week. Bobby’s hot after one or two takes.”
