Robert Duvall

Another great has fallen. Robert Duvall, one of my favorite actors, as passed at age 95.

You can probably guess the movie that I first took notice of him. He was very quiet in the role of Tom Hagen in The Godfather. He was Don Corleone's right hand man - his cconsigliere. If you'll notice, when Al Pacino's Michael took his father's place as Godfather, he wasn't loud and impetuous like his older brother Sonny (James Caan). He was quiet and thoughtful - like Tom Hagen. And that served him well, and kept him alive.

I watched The Godfather and Apocalypse Now many times before I paid attention to the ending of To Kill a Mockingbird. I realized that Bo Radley might have been played by Robert Duvall, but I wasn't sure until the era of Google!

Believe it or not, I never saw Tender Mercies, his Oscar winning role, or The Great Santini. I will have to add those to my list for later this year after the Oscars are over.

As a musician that plays tango mainly these days, I appreciated his role in Assassination Tango. I heard he was living in Argentina for a number of years, and learned and mastered tango. I thought that was pretty cool.

I always thought Robert Duvall was a very capable and believable actor, and I'm sad to see him go. But, wow, what a career.