Robert Duvall

It turns out that the Lee branch of my family is probably not, in fact, related to the Lees of Virginia and therefore Robert Duvall is not, as I’ve referred to him in the past, my cousin Bobby. However, he’s definitely related to a ton of other people, and it’s likely that, if you trace things far enough, we’re related, because that’s how geneaology works. But through his Duvall line, he’s related to Harry S Truman (a cousin of some sort of my kids through their father), Barack Obama, and all sorts of other people. Through his Lee line, he’s among others related to Lee Marvin.

His father, though, was Rear Admiral William Howard Duvall. Duvall the Elder expected his son to follow in his illustrious footsteps; Duvall the Younger did not. He did not go to Annapolis, the school his father had started at age sixteen. He went to Principia College, a liberal arts school somewhat associated with the family’s faith of Christian Science, and mostly fumbled his way to a BA while being kind of lousy at everything but acting. He then served in the Army after the Korean War, stationed stateside in part, it seems, because he was a lousy soldier. He did do some acting, though.

Duvall, like many others, started in the theatre. Specifically he spent several seasons working for the Gateway Playhouse on Long Island. He was rapidly cast in assorted lead roles, even being listed as a popular performer in programs after he’d been there a year or two. From there, he moved on to television, with several of his first performances’ being on the early ‘50s dramatic programs. His television debut was on Playhouse 90, “John Brown’s Raid,” with James Mason as John Brown and also featuring Ossie Davis.

1962 would bring Boo Radley and To Kill a Mockingbird, but while it was a noteworthy role, it didn’t cement his Hollywood career. His television career lasted so long before he was solidly a movie actor that one of his last TV roles (except a handful of prestige performances over the years) was on The Mod Squad. Bullitt and True Grit doubtless helped, but it was his Frank Burns in the movie of MASH and Tom Hagen in The Godfather that really cemented him as a Movie Actor. (Yes, he’s THX in THX-1138, but that is only major in retrospect.) Ten years would go between his TV appearance on The FBI and playing Eisenhower in the miniseries Ike.

Not everything he’s done has been a classic, goodness knows, but my Gods the man has cemented his place in film history. How many film bros can recite the entire “napalm in the morning” speech, after all? For decades, Duvall has been a solid presence in a wide array of films, and honestly there are a couple of nominations he got where I think he deserved the Oscar more than the winner. He’s a brilliant actor, one of the greatest of his generation. Just think about how much weight there is behind the Boo Radley performance, one that is completely expressed in physical acting.