Although it wasn't that easy to do, it was wonderful working with John Wayne.
Annette Bening was very serious, very real and very truthful. She added wonderful things to the film.
Around my own friends, I like to mess around.
Being a star is an agent's dream, not an actor's.
Everybody likes to win. One of the biggest disappointments was when I didn't get an Emmy for Lonesome Dove. It's political. It can be a popularity contest.
God does guide the lives of individuals and does fill them with the Holy Ghost.
High Noon is a pretty corny movie.
Hollywood is still the mecca for good or bad, but it isn't the beginning or end for filmmaking.
I always thought of myself as a later bloomer, so I like some of my work more later than earlier.
I don't have many people showing up at my door. Very few people come out. When they do, I get a little suspicious. I live way up on a hill, way, way back in the country.
I like to do things that I develop from the ground up.
I love the smell of juice boxes in the morning.
I think you've just got to tell it like it is.
I tried to mix the non-actors with the actors. I didn't want to come in and tell them what to do. I wanted them to show me what they do.
I wanted to show that crime doesn't pay. If you are saved and accept the Lord, you cannot use that as an excuse to avoid punishment.
I was always attracted to these cowboy men when I lived back in Montana as a boy.
I was hesitant to get back on a horse, but the wranglers were very helpful, and after a while, I got in the groove of it.
I wouldn't mind starting to ride some more if I had a really good horse to just work a little bit with every day.
I'll keep on acting 'til they wipe the drool. I like the business. I like to do different parts and diverse characters. I haven't lost my enthusiasm yet!
I'm better than Olivier.
I'm fortunate in that I keep getting some pretty nice offers. Right now I'm not sure what they are, but there are some still coming in.
I'm not really quick with lines. Some people are slower or quicker than other people. Some people have a photographic memory. Just for curiosity I would like one.
In a year and a half, I did four movies.
It's a cyclical thing. When they make one, everyone loves them. Different genres come around in succession. People always welcome the western. It's America's genre.
It's Hollywood. You'll try anything.
It's no big thing, but you make big things out of little things sometimes.
My father's people... are from Fairfax in northern Virginia, just across the Mason-Dixon line. So it was an honour to play Lee, he was a great general.
My uncle always said that I could have been a rancher.
Open Range is an imitation of films that went before rather than the true West.
Over on the Eastern Shore of Maryland at St. Michaels and Oxford? Great crab cakes.
Some religious people might ask why I would make such a movie and emphasize that this evangelical preacher has weaknesses.
Spending two years on my uncle's ranch in Montana as a young man gave me the wisdom and the thrust to do westerns.
That scene was meant to be there. It was the power of the Holy Ghost.
The beginning and the end of the tango is the walk. I practice once a week, twice a week maybe.
The cultural contrast I saw between religions... Catholics have a lot of mediators, going through saints and Mary or whatever. Protestants in general say things to God directly.
The greatest king of Israel, King David, the author of the Psalms, sent a man out to die in battle so that he could sleep with his wife.
The money part is one of the most difficult things. Coppola always said I should do a tango movie. If it hadn't been for him, I don't know where we would have gotten the money.
The shorter the film the more showings you can get and the more money it would make. But some things I didn't want to lose.
There was nothing wrong with shouting at God.
They have a tourniquet on the brain.
To this day, I still think Lonesome Dove is my best part.
Today, everything has to be made by committee, and has to have special effects, but there's always room for good films.
Too many people think that economics is this subject that should wait until the university level. But it can't wait that long.
Very often some of the religious miracle plays you see on television can be very corny, I find. And so simplistic.
We all have a cradle-to-the-grave journey to make and, in between, what do you do? There's got to be something hereafter.
We either accept weaknesses in good people or we have to tear pages out of the Bible.
You get below the Mason-Dixon line and you have some of the best music, culture, the two races, the literature, and it's so rich.
You have a little bit of feeling for everyone you play.
You just can't take a crash course to be a tango dancer in a movie.
You really have to soak up the culture of the people to get it right. If you're making a fiction film, it's entertainment, but you want it to be as real as possible.
[on the reason he didn't appear in The Godfather: Part III (1990):] "If they paid Pacino twice what they paid me, that's fine, but not three or four times, which is what they did. (Francis Ford Coppola) came to my farm, parked his car ... went in the kitchen. (I) said: 'I know you always wanted the crab cake recipe, let me cook it for you.' Oh, he loves to eat, so I cooked the crab cake... and he wrote it down ... and he forgot it, so he called twice. He was ... more concerned that he forgot the crab cake recipe than would I be in Godfather III." [January 8, 2004]
They should keep their mouths shut." - on Hollywood political activist
Being a star is an agent's dream, not an actors.
I don't think he was that great. He was good, but there was Brando, and there was founding member Steven Hill in the Actor's Studio, those were the two guys. James Dean came in third. Dean was talented, obviously. But he died at a good time." [On James Dean
One guy asked me, 'How can you be an actor and be a Republican?'. I can vote either way. But how can you boil it down to political affiliation? All the atrocities against blacks in the South were committed by Democratic sheriffs.
Lived with Luciana Pedraza for seven years before marrying her in 2004. She is 42 years younger than him.
Studied acting with Sanford Meisner at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York.
Fractured several ribs in April 2002 after falling off a horse while rehearsing for role in Open Range (2003).
Served in the U.S. Army (serial #52 346 646) from 19 August 1953 to 20 August 1954, achieving rank of Private First Class and awarded the National Defense Service Medal.
Received star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. [18 September 2003]
Was roommates and good friends with Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman while all were struggling stage actors in New York before any of them struck it big. Among the three, Hoffman and Duvall were known for their ways with the women, and Duvall and Hackman were known for their short fuses, which led to numerous bar fights. The three often bonded over elaborate practical jokes.
Can speak Spanish fluently.
Owns a large estate in rural Virginia, where some skirmishes of the Civil War were fought (he has found shells and other artifacts on the property). Some scenes in Gods and Generals (2003) were filmed on his land.
Being descended from Robert E. Lee, he can actually trace his family back to President George Washington. Washington himself had no biological children, but his wife, Martha Custis, did, and he adopted them after the death of Martha's first husband. Her son, John Custis, had a son of his own, Washington Custis, whose daughter, Mary Custis, was Robert E. Lee's wife. Interestingly, Duvall played Lee in Gods and Generals (2003), opposite Jeff Daniels, who had played Washington in The Crossing (1990).
His favorite city is Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is an avid Tango dancer.
His father was a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy.
Was director Robert Altman's first choice for country singer in Nashville (1975), but he used Henry Gibson instead when Duvall couldn't do it because of the scheduling. (source: Nashville commentary track).
While a struggling actor, he worked at a post office as a clerk but quit after six months. He says he didn't want to be there 20 years later, still working in a post office.
Played ancestor Robert E. Lee in Gods and Generals (2003), when Martin Sheen was unable to reprise the role (due to his commitment to "The West Wing" (1999)).
In Gods and Generals (2003), played ancestor Robert E. Lee. The role was originally played by Martin Sheen in Gettysburg (1993). Duvall and Sheen starred together in the popular Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now (1979).
Appears in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and Tender Mercies (1983), both of which were written by Horton Foote, and both of which earned him an Oscar for "Best Screenplay".
His father was of French Hugenot descent (with the family having immigrated to the U.S. in the 1700s), while his mother was of Anglo-Saxon descent, and is a direct descendant of General Robert E. Lee.
Has been had a role in more American Film Institute Top 100 films (six), than any other actor. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Apocalypse Now (1979), The Godfather (1972), The Godfather: Part II (1974), MASH (1970) and Network (1976)_ . Robert De Niro and James Stewart were each in five.
Shares birthday with Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) co-star Vinnie Jones
By having served in the military, he has earned the right, should he so choose, to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. That cemetery was built on land seized from the estate of Robert E. Lee, from whom he is descended.
His performance as Mac Sledge in "Tender Mercies" (1983) is ranked #14 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
He publicly criticized director Steven Spielberg for flying to Cuba in October 2002, and vowed never to work for Dreamworks studio again.
He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2005.
His performance as Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore in "Apocalypse Now" (1979) is ranked #59 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
A staunch, lifelong supporter of the Republican party, Duvall was personally invited to George W. Bush's inauguration as President in 2001. Duvall attended the ceremony.
Is response to Duvall's criticism of his trip to Cuba, Steven Spielberg defended himself by explaining that he actually went with permission from the American government as a cultural ambassador.
Was considered for the role of Brody in the original Jaws film.
Being a soccer fan, he supports the Argentinian national side.
Born to William Howard Duvall, an U.S. Navy admiral, and his wife Mildred Virginia Hart, an amateur actress.
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