Hollywood has lost one of its most commanding screen presences.
Oscar-winning icon Robert Duvall has died at 95. His wife, Luciana Pedraza, confirmed the heartbreaking news Monday, revealing the legendary actor passed away peacefully at their ranch in Virginia.
“Yesterday, we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time,” she wrote in an emotional Facebook tribute. “Bob passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort.”
No cause of death has been released.
Duvall became a household name playing cool-headed consigliere Tom Hagen in The Godfather — a performance that helped define one of the most iconic films in cinematic history. He later took home the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as a washed-up country singer in Tender Mercies, proving his range went far beyond mob dramas.
In total, Duvall earned seven Oscar nominations over his decades-long career, with his final nod coming in 2015 for The Judge.
But for many fans, one unforgettable line cemented his place in movie history. As Lt. Col. Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, he delivered the now-legendary quote:
“I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
It’s still quoted nearly five decades later.
Born in 1931 and raised primarily in Annapolis, Maryland, Duvall’s first film role was as the reclusive Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird. By the mid-1970s, he had become one of Hollywood’s most respected leading men.
Director Francis Ford Coppola once called him “one of the four or five best actors in the world.” Praise didn’t get much higher than that.
Later in his career, Duvall portrayed Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Gods and Generals — a role that held personal meaning, as his mother was related to the historic Virginia general.
Duvall was married four times but had no children. He wed Argentina-born Luciana Pedraza in 2005. Together, they founded The Robert Duvall Children’s Fund, supporting charitable causes close to their hearts.
To fans, he was a Hollywood titan.
To his wife, he was simply “everything.”
With his passing, the film world loses not just an Oscar winner — but one of the last towering giants of classic American cinema.
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