Robert Duvall has died

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/movies/robert-duvall-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.MlA.5LIC.JbSiEGzihyVU&smid=url-share

by glimshe • 5 months ago

143 69 5 months ago

nytimes.com

markus_zhang• 5 months ago

Jeez I thought he was long gone. The family will remember your service, Mr. Hagen.

bdcravens4• 5 months ago

He's one of those actors that if you told me he was dead, I wouldn't have been surprised, but then you go to the theater and in some random role, there he is.

hinkley2• 5 months ago

It really messes with me though when someone dies before their last film came out. I watched that Batman movie with a knot in my stomach the whole time.

“He’s so good. But he’s gone. WTF.”

I don’t recall who now but there was some actor whose last film came out more than a year after he died, and that felt messed up and I can’t articulate why.

tokyobreakfast• 5 months ago

He was very underrated in Falling Down, a sleeper of a film everyone should see at least once.

hearsathought• 5 months ago

If we are talking underrated films he was in, my choice would be Deep Impact.

detourdog• 5 months ago

The Apostle is a great movie of his one doesn't hear mentioned a lot.

StoneAndSky• 5 months ago

I don't remember it being a "sleeper"; I recall it stirring quite a bit of controversy at the time. It came out in the pre-Columbine "Going Postal" era. But agreed: it's worth a watch.

browningstreet2• 5 months ago

It’s a smaller movie, given the talent involved, but very interesting. The controversy undermined the viability of its popular legacy.

Kind of like Passengers (half kidding, but the controversy on this one always felt like an inadvertent bend of timeliness).

dcrazy• 5 months ago

I was very surprised to learn that Joel Schumacher directed Falling Down.

stronglikedan• 5 months ago

sleeper

Obligatory, I do not think it means what you think it means.

When that film first debuted, you couldn't throw a rock without hitting someone who knew of it.

threethirtytwo• 5 months ago

We're old. When younger people uncover the greatness of an older movie, from there perspective it's equivalent to uncovering a sleeper.

soupfordummies• 5 months ago

It's just memory-holed to the point of being purposefully buried at this point.

This comment and a similar one on reddit are the only times I've even seen it mentioned anywhere (IRL or otherwise) in 10+ years

Waterluvian• 5 months ago

Falling Down is a brilliant film. I think Duvall’s sober, gentle, unfazed detective is exactly what makes it work.

The entire movie D-FENS is running into people who trigger him or push back and justify his rage. So the whole time you’re rooting for him. He’s the protagonist! And then you get to the end and the detective just doesn’t give him the same response. But you never worry that Duvall is about to be a victim. And I think it’s very difficult to portray a character who is seasoned, gentle, grandfatherly, but doesn’t come off in the slightest as prey.

The movie is a bit of a gut punch because I think it does encourage you to cheer for him sticking it to The Man and the Nazis and the corporations, only to realize ,alongside Douglas, that “I’m the bad guy?”

unethical_ban• 5 months ago

Spoiler!!

D-Fens was mostly right with his anger. Just turned out he never knew how to control it and was an abusive husband, too.

Markoff• 5 months ago

I wanted to write RIP Prendergast, but since you mentioned it I put it here, whole movie flew under radar, masterpiece.

helterskelter• 5 months ago

Don't forget Network.

SirFatty• 5 months ago

Like the other sleeper, Apocalypse Now. :-D

toomuchtodo• 5 months ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Duvall

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000380/

partiallypro• 5 months ago

He has too many great films to list, but one I really like that is lesser by him known nowadays is "Secondhand Lions."

robertcope• 5 months ago

Agreed, absolutely fantastic movie.

xqcgrek2• 5 months ago

why do people venerate actors?

curiousObject• 5 months ago

Actors express the human condition, and that’s more difficult than you think.

To pretend to be a person that you are not, on demand, for months on end, is hard and it demands great empathy and skill.

Rooster61• 5 months ago

Because the service they render brings joy and entertainment to a large multitude of people. It is a higher visibility job than most, and is largely an individual contribution in and of the service they provide

paulcole• 5 months ago

why do people venerate computer scientists?

browningstreet2• 5 months ago

Because they became part of our stories through performance and iterations. We experienced their work.

twoodfin• 5 months ago

Also, stories and those who tell them have been kind of a big deal for us homo sapiens now north of 50,000 years.

asveikau• 5 months ago

People see them on the screen so often they think they know them. I guess the term "parasocial relationship" has been common in the last few years to describe this.

I guess for actors and other types of artist specifically, people relate strongly to the work. It can form the basis for life memories. You remember where you were when you heard a song or saw a movie.

bdcravens4• 5 months ago

The same reason they venerate anyone: common positive experiences.

slibhb• 5 months ago

Why do people like fictional narrative so much? I'm not sure why, other than some platitude like "forming narratives is how people understand the world". But I'm not sure why it follows that fictional narratives are so important to us.

BLKNSLVR• 5 months ago

Because a good story scratches something that's deep and hard to reach.

Because fiction allows an escape from the drudgery that real life can so often be.

Because sometimes fiction is required to inspire us as to what we consider possible in life.

bubblewand• 5 months ago

Very-publicly doing work that lots of people enjoy tends to have that effect.

beej712• 5 months ago

They don't, in particular. They venerate people who have done amazing things.

5555624• 5 months ago

"Atchley do you realize that several Marines were killed by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor while taking craps?" "No, sir." "A fighting man must be vigilant to surprise attack no matter where he is. The survival of our nation depends on the readiness of Marines all over the world. Also more importantly, you only wiped yourself twice - grossly insufficient. Right now, germs with names you can't even pronounce are preparing to launch a devastating attack that will render you helpless in the defense of your country... Do you read me?" (The Great Santini)

pdonis• 5 months ago

Classic. I also love the scene where he tells the squadron of which he's just become CO that they should think of him as God.

ChrisArchitect• 5 months ago

NYT obit: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/movies/robert-duvall-dead...

dang• 5 months ago

Thanks - we've switched to that from https://www.newsweek.com/entertainment/hollywood-legend-robe... above.

justin66• 5 months ago

Peculiar to think he was already forty when THX 1138 came out, 55 (!) years ago.

brightball• 5 months ago

He was a huge Clemson fan.

https://www.tigernet.com/clemson-football/story/legendary-ac...

sgt• 5 months ago

RIP Duval - he inspired me, like he inspired many others. I can't explain why, but his demeanour and sensibility. Recently watched Open Range. Need to watch more of his westerns.

ReptileMan• 5 months ago

RIP Duval - he inspired me too. Recently watched Apocalypse Now.

seanalltogether• 5 months ago

My dad was a big fan of westerns, so Lonesome Dove was a big deal in our house when I was a kid. Sometimes I think about showing them to my son, but I know there's no way he'll have the patience to sit through it all. I'm worried that I might not have the patience either anymore.

Steve62• 5 months ago

I recently read the book for the first time. Fantastic story! The best western I've ever read. Then I watched the miniseries with my wife (also for the first time). Westerns aren't her favorite, but she loved it too. Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones were incredible, the whole cast did a great job, and the costumes and scenery were beautiful. We still make jokes about "We don't rent pigs." :)

We only watched season 1 because that's the one based on the original Lonesome Dove book. They make some changes, but generally only one that makes the show easier to follow. I'd highly recommend anyone to watch it. If you stick with only season 1 it tells a complete story and it's not too long of a commitment. It has everything.

RIP Duvall. You've had many roles, but this is the one I'll remember you for.

garbawarb• 5 months ago

Would you recommend the book or series?

stephc_int13• 5 months ago

Sad that even obituaries are written by AI these days...

beej712• 5 months ago

No kidding. He deserves better.

CharlesW2• 5 months ago

These are written years in advance. It's vanishingly unlikely that this was AI-generated or AI-edited.

NickC25• 5 months ago

Thank you for your work, Don Hagen.

ZoomZoomZoom• 5 months ago

Don't know about the States, but across the pond from there, THX 1138 is not as well known as it probably deserves. I hope the public here can appreciate this Sci-Fi movie and Duvall is great there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THX_1138

jhbadger• 5 months ago

It's known over here (to the degree that it is at all) for being the source of the THX name that Lucas later used for his digital sound system. But the movie is interesting in itself as an early pre-fame Lucas movie.

mbowcut2• 5 months ago

Loved him in Secondhand Lions.

michaelsbradley• 5 months ago

The Apostle is worth watching and rewatching; written and directed by, and starring, and financed by, Duvall.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apostle

pepa65• 5 months ago

I was going to say this, love The Apostle, very few people have seen it.

jaybrendansmith• 5 months ago

Agree. That film really stuck with me.

Rapzid• 5 months ago

Life is short. Shorter for some than others. -Gus

He had a good run.

serf• 5 months ago

everyone is mentioning a movie they remembered or liked his performance in, and the first one that sprang to mind for me, for whatever reason, was Gone in Sixty Seconds.

It's a terrible corny movie (and an even worse remake), but i'm a car person and i'm from the city it takes place in, so it's hard not to like it.

He plays the surrogate-father-figure/sorta-reformed-chop-shopper, and he's wholly authentic. He reminded me of every machine shop owner i've ever met.

smallmouth• 5 months ago

"Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' d*k body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell? The whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday, this war's gonna end."

fillmore• 5 months ago

RIP. I think the last thing I saw him in was Widows.

I logged in to share this Robert Duvall-adjacent story, which got a chuckle from me at the time (read to the end):

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/08/65-year-old-woma...

wolvoleo• 5 months ago

He was so brilliant in apocalypse now <3 His character was so delightfully insane.

The helicopters begging for his surfboard was so funny too. That was just his voice but it means he set up the character so well.

Robert Duvall has died

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