American actor Robert Duvall, known for his roles in The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, has died

“Take me back to the Stone Age!” » In Apocalypse Now (1979), he is the enjoyable Lieutenant-Colonel Kilgore (“kill atrociously”), the leader of a helicopter squadron who, heedless of bullets, all in his passion for surfing, orders his army to capture an ideal wave and, with air support, to napalm the beach. Viet Cong and villagers included. Under his John Wayne-laced Stetson, he symbolizes American imperialism like no other (not even in Coppola’s masterpiece, Brando as Colonel Kurtz, an officer out of service, gone mad and ready to be shot). He gives this character a character that is both grandiose and heroic, buffoonish and murderous. Fascinating in short. The one which earned him the Golden Globe for best supporting actor in 1980.

The consecration, finally, for Robert Selden Duvall, who died at the age of 95 after a magnificent career both on the front of Hollywood studios and independent cinema? Not completely. He had to wait another four years before joining the club of true American giants, the holders of the Oscar for best actor, period. It is thanks to Tender happiness (1983), a country chronicle by Bruce Beresford, which won the statuette. When he puts on this costume of an alcoholic and has-been singer, the actor already has more than twenty years of career. His face is now weathered. But the biggest surprise is that this great laconic singer sings in tune, and even with an Oklahoma accent (for these takes, he traveled the center of the country and listened to a number of local groups). Even Willie Nelson, the Texan icon of the genre, praised the performance, convinced that Duvall was local even though he was born in California and raised on the East Coast (Maryland).

A reactionary mentality

For this Tender Happinesshe found in the script Horton Foote, the playwright who had put him on the stage, in 1958. The play, A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller (adapted the same year in France by Marcel Aymé), launched it on Broadway. Then allowed me to get my first cinema fee, in 1962, in To Kill a Mockingbirdby Robert Mulligan. A classic adapted by Foote from the anti-segregationist novel of the same name. This work was recognized by three Oscars, including one for Gregory Peck who played the leading role. Duvall is Boo Radley, a poor silent wretch, a recluse whom the city hides because he knows everything about the violence of the South. All of Duvall is already there, in this mask of an America that was originally innocent but has become monstrous by its secrets.

Most of his later characters carry around this repression. Hence their regret for the “good old days” and their profound disconnect. Duvall himself, in his rare interviews, has not hidden his reactionary mentality. That doesn’t stop us from listening to what the monster says, whether through his cowboys, his mafiosi or his soldiers. His martial side, rounded chest and close to the grump, Duvall had undoubtedly borrowed from his father, rear admiral of the US Navy. Perhaps also to his mother, actress and relative of General Lee, famous southerner of the Civil War. She gave birth to him in 1931 in San Diego. Surely the person concerned also remembered his military service: two years in a Korea ravaged by a war, a prelude to that of Vietnam.

Robert Duvall knows how to mix things up, taking on when necessary the cowboy’s jacket, the thug’s overcoat, the detective’s putty or the street cop’s cap

Rewarded with a scholarship, the young man enrolled in theater classes in New York in 1955. Good pick: he studies according to the successful method of the Actors Studio, which consists precisely of drawing on his experiences to create emotion. That said, Duvall put this approach into perspective: “No need for crutches when you know how to move in space. » This was the real secret of his presence. In Manhattan, he meets many other budding stars. His roommates, students like him, are even named Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman. Episodic appearances in television series keep him alive. And, to a lesser extent, more or less notable interventions in cinema. Let us cite that of a very cowardly southern bourgeois in The Merciless Pursuit (1966), by Arthur Penn; that of a stoic taxi driver in Bullitt (1968), by Peter Yates; or that of an “outlaw” confronting a John Wayne on his return to A hundred dollars for a sheriff (1969), de Henry Hathaway.

Duvall first worked with Robert Altman during his Moon Objective (1967). Same with Francis Ford Coppola, director in 1969 of Rain people. But, for his part, at the dawn of the new decade, it was his role of Major Frank Burns in the M.A.S.Hby Altman, which opened the way to success. This commander of a military hospital, puritanical and authoritarian, is ridiculed by his troops (they surprise him while he is furiously working on his head nurse). The hippie cause triumphs. But it won’t be for long. Into the dystopia THX 1138 (1971), the first (forgettable) feature film by George Lucas – and produced by Coppola -, where Duvall finally has the leading role, his character only succeeds in extremis in extracting himself from an absolutely Orwellian world.

First nomination with The Godfather

Soon the tie will once again become de rigeur: Coppola offers him as if on a silver platter the character of Tom Hagen, adopted son and advisor to the Godfather in two of the parts of the saga. The role, which allows him to play opposite his revered elder Marlon Brando, fits him like a glove. In 1972, it earned him his first Oscar nomination. Then, in 1979, the collaboration continued: Apocalypse Now will be more than a victory, a vein. Duvall thus keeps the uniform in The Great Santini (1979), where he is once again a grand-guignolesque war hero, an exemplary Marine except that he cannot manage his family like his men (nomination as best actor).

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The figure of the atrabilaire officer could become a cliché during this period. Fortunately, the actor knows how to mix it up, taking on when necessary the cowboy’s jacket, the thug’s overcoat, the detective’s putty or the street cop’s cap. As evidenced by, in the second category, Failure to organize (1973), a little-known gem of a dry and tense thriller by John Flynn, a tribute to the golden age of Hollywood film noir. Or, thirty-four years later, just as nervous The night belongs to usby James Gray. Let us finally note between these two nuggets the good Colors (1988), by Dennis Hopper with Sean Penn, and Bloody Confessions (1981), by Ulu Grosbard, where Duvall plays as a mirror with Robert De Niro, taking even his tics, both embodying two brothers.

Robert Duvall loved the simple people of harsh America, whether urban or rural. He was a child of Faulkner, the novels of Cormac McCarthy or Larry McMurtry

But, by his own admission, westerns are what he prefers to shoot. “For the horses”confessed this happy owner of a ranch in Virginia. On this account, outlaw or vigilante, everything suits him. After John Wayne, didn’t we see him face Clint Eastwood (in Joe Kiddby John Sturges, 1972)? In 1993, Robert Duvall rode as a scout alongside his old friend and almost alter ego Gene Hackman, in Geronimoby Walter Hill. The same year, he was the local detective in charge of investigation in Free fallby Joel Schumacher. This time he’s tracking down Michael Douglas.

In 2003, he was back on his high horse again. In Open Rangeby Kevin Costner. And also in Gods and Generals, by Ronald F. Maxwell, where he plays his ancestor General Lee! In the meantime, he took charge of operations, writing and directing, in 1998, The Preacherwhere he plays a repentant alcoholic in a touching and totally liberated manner. In 2002, he held the reins ofAssassination Tango and, in 2015, Wild Horsesa film that he cut to his size, produced it like a dozen others.

From chain boss to gruff ranger

DuringAssassination Tango (2002), thriller set in the dance world, critical success and new Oscar nomination, Duvall met the actress of Argentinian origin Luciana Pedraza. Since 2005, this on-screen partner has become his second wife. This romantic pas de deux will not erase the “tough guy” in him. As proof, his last appearance on screen, in 2022. In this The Pale Blue Eyeby Scott Cooper, as weathered as he is a multi-medalist, he returned to the West Point military academy.

In general, Duvall liked the simple people of harsh America, whether urban or rural. He was a child of Faulkner, the novels of Cormac McCarthy or Larry McMurtry. With Tommy Lee Jones and his accomplices Godfather (starting with his close friend James Caan), he excelled at handling the lasso in the dust. He will remain one of these gruff rangers, archetypes of the great West. Watch the excellent TV series Lonesome Dove. But Duvall knew how to play everything, capable of playing a chain boss without qualms – Network: Control of television (1976), by Sidney Lumet -, a Stalin from 20 to 73 years old, an Eichmann or even this slaver coldly killing black people who escaped from his plantation (Convicts, by Peter Masterson, released in 1991, and again based on the work of mentor Horton Foote). In short, always giving complexity to his roles, starting with those of villains.