Superstar character actor Robert Duvall, 95, died on Feb. 15. Duvall was one of the hordes of “ordinary-looking” actors who became stars in the 1960s and ’70s; he eventually starred (or costarred) in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Chase, Bullitt, True Grit, M*A*S*H, The Godfather, The Conversation, Network, The Eagle Has Landed, Apocalypse Now, The Great Santini, Rambling Rose, Sling Blade, and Jayne Mansfield’s Car, among many others. Duvall was born into a military family, but “I was terrible at everything but acting—I could barely get through school.” He worked his way up through local theater, hitting Broadway in Wait Until Dark and American Buffalo. Though he eventually became a movie star, TV was his real springboard; he appeared in countless guest spots through the’60s, eventually chasing his old roommates Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman to success. “I always considered myself as a character actor,” Duvall said. “I always try to be versatile to show different sides of human experience.” The scandal-free Duvall added that “A young actor once asked me, ‘What do you do between jobs?’ I said, ‘Hobbies, hobbies, and more hobbies.’ It keeps you off dope.”
