American actor, director, and producer Robert Duvall has had an extensive career in film and television since he first appeared in an episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre in 1959. His television work during the 1960s includes Route 66 (1961), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1962), The Twilight Zone (1963), The Outer Limits (1964), The F.B.I. (1965–1969), and The Mod Squad (1969). He was then cast as General Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1979 miniseries Ike. In 1989, he played Augustus "Gus" McCrae alongside Tommy Lee Jones in the epic Western adventure television miniseries Lonesome Dove. The role earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. Three years later, he portrayed Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader Joseph Stalin in the television film Stalin (1992), which earned him another Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Film.

Duvall's first film role was as Boo Radley in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird with Gregory Peck. His other roles in the 1960s included Bullitt with Steve McQueen (1968) and True Grit with John Wayne (1969). In the 1970s, he played Major Frank Burns in M*A*S*H (1970), Tom Hagen in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), Jesse James in The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid (1972), Dr. Watson in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976), Bull Meechum in The Great Santini (1979) and as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore in Apocalypse Now (1979).

In 1983, Duvall was cast as Mac Sledge in the drama film Tender Mercies, which earned him an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actor. He went on to co-star in the films The Natural with Robert Redford (1984), Days of Thunder with Tom Cruise (1990), as Joseph Pulitzer in Newsies with Christian Bale (1992), Falling Down with Michael Douglas (1993), Something to Talk About with Julia Roberts (1995), Sling Blade with Billy Bob Thornton (1996), A Family Thing with James Earl Jones (1996), Phenomenon with John Travolta (1996), and Deep Impact with Téa Leoni (1998). For his role in the 1998 film A Civil Action again with Travolta, he won a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role.

In the 2000s, Duvall had notable roles in the films Gone in 60 Seconds opposite Nicolas Cage (2000), Secondhand Lions co-starring with Michael Caine (2003), Open Range co-starring with Kevin Costner (2003) and in the comedy film Four Christmases opposite Vince Vaughn (2008). He starred in and executive produced the 2006 Western television miniseries, Broken Trail. For that, he won two Emmy Awards, one for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie and the other for Outstanding Miniseries which he shared with the other producers. In 2012, he reunited with Tom Cruise after 22 years in the action thriller film Jack Reacher where he played the character Cash. In 2014, he co-starred with Robert Downey Jr. in the legal drama film The Judge where he played Judge Joseph Palmer, the father of Downey's character.

Acting credits

Film

Film credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Refs.
1962	To Kill a Mockingbird	Boo Radley
1963	Captain Newman, M.D.	Captain Paul Cabot Winston
1965	Nightmare in the Sun	Motorcyclist
1966	The Chase	Edwin Stewart
1968	The Detective	Nestor
1968	Countdown	Chiz
1968	Bullitt	Weissberg
1969	True Grit	Ned Pepper
1969	The Rain People	Gordon
1970	M*A*S*H	Major Frank Burns
1970	The Revolutionary	Despard
1971	THX 1138	THX
1971	Lawman	Vernon Adams
1972	The Godfather	Tom Hagen
1972	The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid	Jesse James
1972	Tomorrow	Jackson Fentry
1972	Joe Kidd	Frank Harlan
1973	The Outfit	Earl Macklin
1973	Badge 373	Eddie Ryan
1973	Lady Ice	Ford Pierce
1974	The Conversation	The Director	Uncredited
1974	The Godfather Part II	Tom Hagen
1975	The Killer Elite	George Hansen
1975	Breakout	Jay Wagner
1976	The Eagle Has Landed	Colonel Radl
1976	The Seven-Per-Cent Solution	Dr. John H. Watson
1976	Network	Frank Hackett
1977	The Greatest	Bill McDonald
1977	We're Not the Jet Set	N/A	Director only; documentary
1978	Invasion of the Body Snatchers	Priest on Swing	Uncredited
1978	The Betsy	Loren Hardeman III
1979	Apocalypse Now	Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore
1979	The Great Santini	Bull Meechum
1981	True Confessions	Detective Sergeant Tom Spellacy
1981	The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper	Gruen
1983	Tender Mercies	Mac Sledge	Also co-producer
1983	Angelo My Love	N/A	Director and producer only
1984	The Stone Boy	Joe Hillerman
1984	The Natural	Max Mercy
1986	Let's Get Harry	Norman Shrike
1986	Belizaire the Cajun	The Preacher
1986	The Lightship	Calvin Caspary
1987	Hotel Colonial	Roberto Carrasco
1988	Colors	Bob Hodges
1990	A Show of Force	Howard
1990	Days of Thunder	Harry Hogge
1990	The Handmaid's Tale	Commander
1991	Rambling Rose	Daddy
1991	Convicts	Soll Gautier
1992	Newsies	Joseph Pulitzer
1992	The Plague	Joseph Grand
1993	Falling Down	Prendergast
1993	Wrestling Ernest Hemingway	Walter
1993	Geronimo: An American Legend	Al Sieber
1994	The Paper	Bernie White
1995	Something to Talk About	Wyly King
1995	The Stars Fell on Henrietta	Mr. Cox
1995	The Scarlet Letter	Roger Chillingworth
1996	Sling Blade	Karl's Father
1996	A Family Thing	Earl Pilcher Jr.	Also producer
1996	Phenomenon	Doc
1997	The Apostle	The Apostle E.F.	Also executive producer, writer and director
1998	The Gingerbread Man	Dixon Doss
1998	A Civil Action	Jerome Facher
1998	Deep Impact	Spurgeon Tanner
2000	Gone in 60 Seconds	Otto Halliwell
2000	The 6th Day	Dr. Griffin Weir
2000	A Shot at Glory	Gordon McLeod	Also producer
2002	John Q.	Lieutenant Frank Grimes
2002	Assassination Tango	John J.	Also producer, writer and director
2003	Gods and Generals	General Robert E. Lee
2003	Secondhand Lions	Hub
2003	Open Range	Boss Spearman
2005	Kicking & Screaming	Buck Weston
2005	Thank You for Smoking	Captain
2007	Lucky You	L.C. Cheever
2007	We Own the Night	Burt Grusinsky
2008	Four Christmases	Howard
2009	Crazy Heart	Wayne	Also producer
2009	The Road	Old Man
2009	Get Low	Felix Bush	Also producer
2011	Seven Days in Utopia	Johnny Crawford
2012	Jayne Mansfield's Car	Jim Caldwell
2012	Jack Reacher	Cash
2014	A Night in Old Mexico	Red
2014	The Judge	Joseph Palmer
2015	Wild Horses	Scott Briggs	Also writer and director
2016	In Dubious Battle	Bolton
2018	Widows	Tom Mulligan
2021	12 Mighty Orphans	Mason Hawk
2022	Hustle	Rex Merrick
2022	The Pale Blue Eye	Jean-Pepe
TBA	The Ploughmen †	Gload	Filming

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television

Television credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Refs.
1959	Armstrong Circle Theatre	Berks	Season 10 Episode 2: "Jailbreak"
1960	Armstrong Circle Theatre	Tony Newman	Season 10 Episode 16: "Positive Identification"
1961	The Defenders	Al Rogart	Season 1 Episode 12: "Perjury"
1961	Shannon	Joey Nolan	Season 1 Episode 10: "Big Fish"
1961	Cain's Hundred	Tom Nugent	Season 1 Episode 6: "King of the Mountain"
1961	Route 66	Roman	Season 1 Episode 25: "The Newborn"
1961	Route 66	Arnie	Season 2 Episode 4: "Birdcage on My Foot"
1961	Naked City	Lewis Nunda	Season 2 Episode 13: "A Hole in the City"
1962	Naked City	L. Francis Childe	Season 3 Episode 23: "The One Marked Hot Gives Cold"
1962	Naked City	Johnny Meigs	Season 4 Episode 6: "Five Cranks for Winter... Ten Cranks for Spring"
1962	Naked City	Barney Sonners	Season 4 Episode 8: "Torment Him Much and Hold Him Long"
1962	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Bart Conway	Season 7 Episode 14: "Bad Actor"
1963	The Defenders	Luke Jackson	Season 2 Episode 24: "Metamorphosis"
1963	Route 66	Lee Winters	Season 3 Episode 18: "Suppose I Said I Was the Queen of Spain"
1963	The Untouchables	Eddie Moon	Season 4 Episode 17: "Blues for a Gone Goose"
1963	The Twilight Zone	Charley Parkes	Season 4 Episode 8: "Miniature"
1963	The Virginian	Johnny Keel	Season 1 Episode 24: "Golden Door"
1963	Stoney Burke	Joby Pierce	Season 1 Episode 23: "Joby"
1963	Arrest and Trial	Morton Ware	Season 1 Episode 10: "Quality of Justice"
1963	The Fugitive	Eric Christian	Season 1 Episode 4: "Never Wave Goodbye: Part 1"
1963	The Fugitive	Eric Christian	Season 1 Episode 5: "Never Wave Goodbye: Part 2"
1964	Kraft Suspense Theatre	Harvey Farnsworth	Season 1 Episode 22: "Portrait of an Unknown Man"
1964	The Outer Limits	Louis Mace	Season 1 Episode 31: "The Chameleon"
1964	The Outer Limits	Adam Ballard	Season 2 Episode 10: "The Inheritors: Part I"
1964	The Outer Limits	Adam Ballard	Season 2 Episode 11: "The Inheritors: Part II"
1965	The Defenders	Bill Andrews	Season 4 Episode 30: "Only a Child"
1965	The Fugitive	Leslie Sessions	Season 2 Episode 16: "Brass Ring"
1965	Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea	Zar	Season 1 Episode 20: "The Invaders"
1965	Combat!	Karl	Season 3 Episode 16: "The Enemy"
1965	The F.B.I.	Joseph Maurice Walker	Season 1 Episode 10: "The Giant Killer"
1966	The F.B.I.	Johnny Albin	Season 2 Episode 5: "The Scourge"
1966	Combat!	Peter Halsman	Season 5 Episode 14: "Cry for Help"
1966	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Frank Reeser	Season 3 Episode 15: "Guilty or Not Guilty"
1966	Hawk	Dick Olmstead	Season 1 Episode 6: "Theory of the Innocent Bystander"
1966	Felony Squad	Allie Froelich	Season 1 Episode 8: "Death of a Dream"
1966	Shane	Tom Gary	Season 1 Episode 9: "Poor Tom's A-Cold"
1966	T.H.E. Cat	Scorpio	Season 1 Episode 9: "Crossing at Destino Bay"
1966	Fame Is the Name of the Game	Eddie Franchot	Television film
1967	Combat!	Michel	Season 5 Episode 25: "The Partisan"
1967	T.H.E. Cat	Laurent	Season 1 Episode 24: "The Long Chase"
1967	The F.B.I.	Ernie Milden	Season 2 Episode 25: "The Executioners: Part 1"
1967	The Time Tunnel	Raoul Nimon	Season 1 Episode 24: "Chase Through Time"
1967	Cimarron Strip	Joe Wyman	Season 1 Episode 8: "The Roarer"
1967	The Wild Wild West	Dr. Horace Humphries	Season 3 Episode 10: "The Night of the Falcon"
1968	The F.B.I.	Joseph Troy	Season 4 Episode 9: "The Harvest"
1968	CBS Playhouse	Dr. Margolin	Season 2 Episode 1: "The People Next Door"
1968	Run for Your Life	Richard Fletcher	Season 3 Episode 19: "Killing Scene"
1968	Judd, for the Defense	Raymond Cane	Season 1 Episode 24: "Square House"
1968	Flesh and Blood	Howard	Television film
1969	The F.B.I.	Gerald Wilson	Season 5 Episode 2: "Nightmare Road"
1969	The Mod Squad	Matt Jenkins	Season 1 Episode 23: "Keep the Faith, Baby"
1979	Ike	General Dwight D. Eisenhower	Television miniseries; aka Ike: The War Years
1983	The Terry Fox Story	Bill Vigars	Television film
1989	Lonesome Dove	Augustus "Gus" McCrae	Miniseries
1992	Stalin	Joseph Stalin	Television film
1996	The Man Who Captured Eichmann	Adolf Eichmann	Television film
1998	Saturday Night Live	Various	Season 23 Episode 14: "Garth Brooks"
2005	American Experience	Narrator	Season 17 Episode 11: "Carter Family: Will the Circle Be Unbroken"
2006	Broken Trail	Prentice Ritter	Miniseries; also executive producer
2012	Hemingway & Gellhorn	Russian General	Television film; uncredited cameo

Theatre

Theatre credits

Year	Title	Role	Playwright	Venue	Refs.
1966	Wait Until Dark	Harry Roat Jr.	Frederick Knott	Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway
1977	American Buffalo	Walter Cole	David Mamet	Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway

Video games

• The Godfather (2006) – voice role of Tom Hagen
• The Godfather II (2009) – voice role of Tom Hagen

See also

• List of awards and nominations received by Robert Duvall

Sources

• Meyer, Janet L. (August 13, 2015). Sydney Pollack: A Critical Filmography. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-0979-9. Retrieved February 1, 2022.