{"id":17,"date":"2026-06-16T15:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niteowldev.com\/?p=17"},"modified":"2026-06-26T03:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T03:38:10","slug":"duvalls-ten-best-performances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niteowldev.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/16\/duvalls-ten-best-performances\/","title":{"rendered":"Duvall\u2019s 10 BEST Performances"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\"Often hailed as the greatest American actor throughout his seventy year career. The New York Times once hailed him as \u201cthe American Olivier\u201d which would have angered Duvall. He candidly criticized Olivier, and the British acting system, he did not care for Olivier\u2019s hammy work. Duvall felt realism and the quest for truth to be essential.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The passing of acting great Robert Duvall leaves a gaping hole on the list of greatest living actors. Meryl Streep is a good choice, as is Daniel Day Lewis but I dare say Duvall will be hard to replace, if in fact it can be done. For sixty years his work on film and television was undeniable remarkable. Sanford Meisner, the acclaimed and beloved acting guru once said \u201cThere are two great American actors, the first is Brando who is past his prime. The other is Robert Duvall.\u201d Meisner said that around 1965 when he had not yet exploded as he did in the seventies. Brando would come back in The Godfather (1972) which ironically was the film that made Duvall a star, placing him on the path to greatness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the years 1972-2022 he was an active actor, both lead and supporting, and leaves the world as one of the few actors to give more than five weak performances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was fortunate to meet and spend time with Duvall, a time I will forever treasure. He laughed easily, he was brutally honest and  Frank, and praised those he admired. I admired him and he loved that I, as a critic, had studied to be an actor, became a director, directed forty two plays and taught Method Acting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going through his array of great performances here are his ten best. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. THE APOSTLE<\/strong> (1997)\u2026Duvall directed, wrote and starred in this film and produced the picture with his own money, a bold, gutsy move. As Sonny, a man ferociously possessed by the Holy Spirit he commits murder before heading into the backwater lands of the Deep American South where he channels his furious energy into creating a church. Duvall I miraculous as the always moving, always talking preacher. This is one of the greatest performance ever put on film, Duvall is near volcanic as Sonny, and the cast around him Farrah Fawcett, Billy Bob Thornton and Walker Goggins are superb. Duvall took a slice of life from the American South and from it forged art.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. LONESOME DOVE<\/strong> (1988)\u2026he told me \u201cthe British can have their Hamlet and Macbeth, I played Augustus McCrae\u201d and he was content with that. As the lazy, brave, fearless, wise old Texas Ranger he was sublime. His scenes with Tommy Lee Jones spoke to a deep, abiding friendship we should all have. His adoration of Laurie was lovely to watch and we wept when he died in the film. Spectacular. his love for women, whiskey, and above all life, is simply a joy to watch. Gus is alive, his eyes sparkle with it right up to his moment of passing. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. APOCALYPSE NOW <\/strong>(1979)\u2026His confident, swaggering Colonel Kilgore struts on the beach after a morning attack talking of how he loves the smell of napalm in the morning. Utter madness but try and take your eyes off of him. Bullets whiz past, bombs go off and he never blinks nor flinches. Nothing can touch him and he knows it. He lives for war\u2026terrifying. His last line before stomping off to combat is said with sadness and regret, \u201cSomeday this war\u2019s gonna end.\u201d As great a film as it is, it never quite recovers from Duvall. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. THE GODFATHER PART II<\/strong> (1974)\u2026a quiet haunting study of pure loyalty as Tom Hagen continues as lawyer to Michael Corleone after the Corleones have moved to Las Vegas. Left if charge of the mafia family after an assassination attempt on Michael fails, but when Michael returns he is not pleased with how Tom handled things. Yet still they are side by side at a Congressional Investigation into Michael, where his loyalty, even when insulted is paramount.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. OPEN RANGE<\/strong> (2003)\u2026This surprising western directed by Kevin Costner was a hit and well reviewed the summer of 2003, with Duvall\u2019s aging free grazer Boss Spearman a stand out. Fearless, honest, he takes on the crooked wealthy cattle man and with Costner\u2019s gun fighting skills conquers all. The friendship between the two men is beautiful to behold, and the admiration the younger gunfighter has for Boss is that with a son would have for their father. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. TENDER MERCIES<\/strong> (1983)\u2026a gentle quiet film for which Duvall won his Academy Award for Best Actor. As a washed up country and western singer fighting the bottle, he is superb as Mac Sledge who gets redemption in a young mother and her son. With a second chance he starts writing songs again, even sings some of them and very well in fact in a mournful, reedy voice. The film plays like a country song, everyone is hurtin\u2019, Duvall is astounding.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. THE GODFATHER<\/strong> (1972)\u2026in his first go round as Corleone lawyer, adopted son, Duvall is magnetic throughout, often without speaking a word. He watched, he makes decisions, he offers advice, but very much in the background. As Tom Hagen, he very much knows his place and is highly trusted by the godfather himself, Vito Corleone. Duvall landed his first Academy Award nomination for his work and win the coveted New York Film Critics Award for best supporting actor. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. BROKEN TRAIL<\/strong> (2006)\u2026Another western made for television, Duvall won another Emmy for Best Actor as the boss of a wagon train who against formidable odds escort a group of Asian women across the violence prairie to ether, safer lives. Duvall is superb as a stoic, decent man ready to give his life for doing the right thing. Once again as the aged, wise older cowboy he is courageous and the voice of reason. A towering subtle performance. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. THE GREAT SANTINI<\/strong> (1980)\u2026As Bull Meechum, Duvall seems to leap from the pages of the superb Pat Conroy book, perfectly brining this difficult character to life. He is a bully, but a loving husband and father lacking the tools to show that love. He is a warrior, a fighter pilot without a war to fight, so he fights everyone around him. His son is his usual target, as Meechum fights to make his son a man, the only way he knows how. He is electrifying.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. STALIN<\/strong> (2001)\u2026Duvall told me during an interview that the role Russian dictator Josef Stalin was the greatest challenge of his career. A lengthy make up job transformed Duvall into Stalin but it was through the eyes he conveyed who Stalin was. Stalin means \u201cStella\u201d in Russian and that steely gaze becomes an imposing, dangerous weapon in the actors hands. He is alarming as Stalin, cruel, ruthless, evil yet believes he is right in doing what he does. When did the systematic massacre of his own people become correct?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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    Often hailed as the greatest American actor throughout his seventy year career. The New York Times once hailed him as \u201cthe American Olivier\u201d which would have angered Duvall. He candidly criticized Olivier, and the British acting system, he did not care for Olivier\u2019s hammy work. Duvall felt realism and the quest for truth to be essential.\u00a0 The passing of acting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-10s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/niteowldev.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/niteowldev.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/niteowldev.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niteowldev.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niteowldev.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/niteowldev.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69,"href":"https:\/\/niteowldev.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions\/69"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niteowldev.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/niteowldev.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niteowldev.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niteowldev.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}