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50 interesting facts about actor Robert Duvall.
1. Duvall was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush in 2005.
2. While working to become an actor, he worked as a Manhattan post office clerk.
3. His father, Howard, was a navy admiral.
4. The Duvalls also had a performing and creative background.
5. His mother Mildred studied acting.
6. At Principia College Duvall took up drama and graduated in 1953.
7. Duvall did a stint in the army, serving in Korea.
8. When he returned back to United States Duvall studied under Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York.
9. In early early 1960s, Duvall was roommates with another then struggling actor, Dustin Hoffman.
10. In the film Tender Mercies Duvall wrote and performed his own music.
11. Worked behind the camera as a director and writer.
12. Dustin Hoffman and Duval befriended Gene Hackman.
13. He has passion for dance as well proving it in the movie Assassination Tango which he wrote and directed.
14. Duvall made his on-screen debut in 1962, in the big-screen classic To Kill a Mockingbird where he played Boo Radley.
15. He didn't cultivate a 'star' person off-screen.
16. Duvall was part of the ensemble cast of M*A*S*H in 1970, directed by Robert Altman.
17. Played opposite Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in The Godfather.
18. Duvall is a versatile actor. HE mastered roles in a variety of genres, ranging from the musical, to the sci-fi drama, to the satire.
19. The actor was part of of iconic films and TV projects, including 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' 'Apocalypse Now,' 'The Godfather' and 'Lonesome Dove.'
20. Born in 1931 in San Diego, California, Robert Duvall has become one of America's most acclaimed actors.
21. Has appeared in dozens of films over his decades-long career, both in lead roles and as a supporting player.
22. He has been nominated for several Oscars for his work.
23. Won Oscar for the film Tender Mercies.
24. His middle name is Selden.
25. He worked on small-screen projects as well such as the CBS miniseries Lonesome Dove which was adapted from the 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
26. Duvall has been nominated for several Emmys, winning both a producing and acting award for his work on the 2006 miniseries Broken Trail.
27. Earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor for the drama The Judge where he starred opposite Robert Downey Jr.
28. He has four Golden Globes under his belt.
29. Prior to his television career he began to appear in theater during lat 1950s.
30. Has English, and smaller amounts of French Huguenot, German, Scottish, Swiss-German, and Welsh ancestry.
31. His mother was a relative of American Civil War General Robert E. Lee and a member of the Lee Family of Virginia.
32. His father started at the Navy Academy when he was 16, made captain at 39 and retired as a rear admiral.
33. He had odd jobs such as clerking at Macy's, sorting mail at the post office and driving a truck.
34. Duvall has his own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
35. In 2015, at age 84, Duvall became the oldest person ever to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards, with a nomination for the film The Judge.
36. Duvall has been married four times.
37. Met his first wife, Barbara Benjamin, a former dancer on The Jackie Gleason Show.
38. Duvall's second wife was Gail Youngs, to whom he was married from 1982 to 1986.
39. His third marriage was to Sharon Brophy, a dancer.
40. In 2005, Duvall married his fourth wife, Luciana Pedraza, granddaughter of Argentine aviator pioneer Susana Ferrari Billinghurst.
41. Duvall and his current wife Luciana were both born on January 5. However Duvall is 41 years older.
42. Duvall is also known as a very prolific Argentine Tango dancer, having a Tango Studio in Argentina and in the United States.
43. In 2001, Pedraza and Duvall founded the Robert Duvall Children's Fund (RDCF) to assist families in Northern Argentina through renovations of homes, schools, and medical facilities.
44. Duvall and his wife have been active supporters of Pro Mujer, a nonprofit charity organization dedicated to helping Latin America's poorest women.
45. In May 2009, Duvall spoke for historic preservation against Wal-Mart's proposal to build a store across the road from the entrance to the Wilderness Battlefield national park in Orange County, Virginia.
46. In 2011, he appeared at the Texas Children's Cancer Center charity event "An Evening with a Texas Legend" in Houston, and was interviewed by Bob Schieffer.
47. Duvall can speak Spanish fluently.
48. Buenos Aires in Argentina is his favorite city.
49. His elder brother William Duvall and younger brother John Duvall both appeared as singers in his film Angelo My Love
50. Narrated a video supporting John McCain for the Republican National Convention in 2008.
