Robert Duvall was born on January 5, 1931, in
San Diego, CA, the son of a career military officer who later became an
admiral. Duvall majored in drama at Principia College then
served a two-year hitch in the army after graduating in 1953. Duvall began
making a name for himself as a stage actor in New York, It was his appearance as "Lt. Col. Kilgore" in another Coppola picture,
Apocalypse Now that solidified Duvall's reputation as a great actor.
He got his second Academy Award nomination for the role, and was named by
the Guinness Book of World Records as the most versatile actor in the
worldHis greatest achievement in his immediate post-Oscar period was his
triumphant characterization of grizzled Texas Ranger Gus McCrae in the TV
mini-series "Lonesome Dove" for which he received an Emmy nomination.
He received a second Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in Stalin (1992) (TV), and a
third Emmy nomination playing Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in The Man
Who Captured Eichmann