“He was a force of nature”: Robert Duvall’s acting mentor was also his hero
Robert Duvall initiated a friendship with the man who had made him want to get into acting in the first place.
Earlier this year, the passing of the great Robert Duvall signified the end of a certain era within American film history. The talented performer held the claim to be one of the final living members of Hollywood’s ‘Golden Age’, starring in classics such as To Kill A Mockingbird and True Grit before the next generation of Tinseltown filmmakers emerged onto the scene.
Making it in the industry is tough enough without some of the best name sin the business to compete with. However, Duvall showed his class when he stepped up to perform alongside some of the best in The Godfather, pitting his talents against the wondrous Marlon Brando and the emerging brilliance of Al Pacino as Tom Hagen, a performance which earned him a nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actor’.
The film also kicked off a friendship between Duvall and writer/director Francis Ford Coppola, who would go on to cast him in both The Conversation and Apocalypse Now.
There were many reasons for Duvall to sign on to The Godfather, as the novel was quite popular and Coppola had been suspected to be an under-the-radar talent. However, Duvall’s primary motivation for accepting the role of Tom was the opportunity to work alongside Marlon Brando, an actor who he considered to be his hero. According to Duvall, Brando had changed the face of acting forever.
“People have heroes and I think you always look up to somebody,” Duvall said. “Brando was unique. It was just who he was, his work. Sometimes the people around him weren’t as good, but he’d carry the movie. Young up-and-coming actors all look up to Brando and his work. He was one of the very best.”
Duvall had first met Brando whilst filming The Chase, and said he was initially taken aback by the actor’s unusual behavior.
“I thought it was gonna be great, we were gonna be like brothers,” Duvall said. “I used to go in his dressing room, but then for two months he wouldn’t say hello. He knows everyone’s dying for him to say good morning to them, but he wouldn’t do that. He was a strange guy that way, but that was part of the deal with him. He was a bit of a prima donna, but he could justify it because he was gifted.”
Despite initially not being able to become close with Brando, the two developed a stronger friendship on the set of The Godfather. Despite the serious nature of the film and its story, Duvall said that he and his co-stars had a surprising amount of fun.
“We all mooned each other,” Duvall admitted. “Pacino too, and Jimmy Caan. We tried to have humour and mess around on set. We’d fool around and Coppola would go, “come on, we’ve gotta be serious,” but he knew it caused relaxation, and I think Brando appreciated that. The Godfather: Part II wasn’t as fun because Jimmy Caan wasn’t around. Brando loved him and his humour.”
Brando and Duvall would work together again when they both appeared in Apocalypse Now, and their careers ended up mirroring one another. Upon Duvall’s death, many publications cited him as the “Brando of his generation.”
