Before he became one of Hollywood's most respected character actors, Robert Duvall was a California-born Navy brat who studied drama at Principia College. After serving in the U.S. Army, Duvall moved to New York in 1955 to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre under Sanford Meisner. There, he shared an apartment with a struggling young actor named Dustin Hoffman and befriended another future star, Gene Hackman.
Though Duvall appeared in more than 140 films across seven decades, he was never the typical leading man. At average height with craggy features and a receding hairline, he didn't fit Hollywood's matinee idol mold. Yet there was something magnetic about his presence—an authenticity that made him impossible to ignore. His performances were marked by technical precision and a chameleon-like ability to disappear into roles, earning him the nickname "the American Olivier" from critic Vincent Canby in 1980.
Duvall's breakthrough came with his portrayal of the reclusive Boo Radley in "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962), a role that required him to convey volumes with minimal dialogue. From there, he became Francis Ford Coppola's go-to actor, appearing in "The Rain People," both "Godfather" films, "The Conversation," and "Apocalypse Now." His Oscar-nominated turn as consigliere Tom Hagen in "The Godfather" established him as one of cinema's most reliable character actors, while his unforgettable Lt. Col. Kilgore in "Apocalypse Now" gave the world the immortal line: "I love the smell of napalm in the morning."
Duvall won Best Actor in 1984 for “Tender Mercies”, playing a down-and-out country singer with remarkable restraint. He earned six additional Oscar nominations throughout his career, including for "The Apostle" (1997), which he also wrote and directed. On television, he won an Emmy for the Western miniseries "Broken Trail" (2006) and earned nominations for "Lonesome Dove" (1989), "Stalin" (1992), and "The Man Who Captured Eichmann" (1996).
Robert Duvall passed away peacefully at his home in Middleburg, Virginia, on February 15, 2026, at age 95. His wife, Luciana, announced his death, calling him "simply everything." President Jimmy Carter posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980—wait, that was John Wayne. Duvall's legacy needs no such honors; his body of work speaks for itself.
Stacker ranked Robert Duvall's 10 best movies from lowest to highest according to IMDb ratings as of February 2026, with ties broken by votes and Metascores. This ranking spans his entire career, from his 1962 debut to his final performance.
Read on to find out if your favorite made the cut.
#10. Network (1976)
Director: Sidney Lumet
IMDb user rating: 8.1
Metascore: 83
Runtime: 121 minutes
In Sidney Lumet's prescient satire about television news, Duvall plays Frank Hackett, a ruthless network executive who embodies corporate greed and moral bankruptcy. While Peter Finch's unhinged anchorman Howard Beale gets the famous "I'm mad as hell!" speech, Duvall's cold-blooded performance provides the film's chilling reality: entertainment has replaced journalism, and ratings trump truth. His scenes crackle with menace, particularly when he clashes with William Holden's principled news producer. Duvall's ability to make villainy feel banal and bureaucratic makes "Network" even more disturbing—and relevant—50 years later.
#9. Tender Mercies (1983)
Director: Bruce Beresford
IMDb user rating: 7.3
Metascore: 76
Runtime: 92 minutes
Duvall won his only Best Actor Oscar for his understated portrayal of Mac Sledge, a washed-up country singer who finds redemption through love and faith. What makes the performance remarkable is what Duvall doesn't do—there are no big emotional outbursts or scenery-chewing moments. Instead, he conveys Mac's pain and gradual healing through subtle gestures and quiet dignity. Duvall even performed his own vocals, lending authenticity to the character's musical past. Written by Horton Foote (who also wrote "To Kill a Mockingbird"), "Tender Mercies" is a gentle, deeply moving film about second chances.
#8. The Conversation (1974)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
IMDb user rating: 7.7
Metascore: 88
Runtime: 113 minutes
Sandwiched between the two "Godfather" films, Coppola's paranoid thriller features Duvall in a small but crucial role as "The Director," a mysterious corporate figure at the center of a surveillance conspiracy. Though Gene Hackman carries the film as obsessive wiretapper Harry Caul, Duvall's brief appearances radiate menace and power. His character's final confrontation with Caul is chilling in its casual cruelty. Released the same year as "The Godfather Part II," "The Conversation" showcased Duvall's range and his ability to make an impact with limited screen time.
#7. The Great Santini (1979)
Director: Lewis John Carlino
IMDb user rating: 7.2
Metascore: 68
Runtime: 115 minutes
Duvall earned his third Oscar nomination playing Bull Meechum, a domineering Marine pilot who terrorizes his family with the same intensity he brings to combat. It's a fearless performance that refuses to soften the character's cruelty—particularly in the infamous basketball scene where Bull humiliates his teenage son. Yet Duvall also finds the wounded warrior beneath the bully, a man whose only language is aggression. The film explores toxic masculinity decades before the term existed, and Duvall's commitment to the character's complexity makes "The Great Santini" both difficult to watch and impossible to forget.
#6. The Apostle (1997)
Director: Robert Duvall
IMDb user rating: 7.2
Metascore: 80
Runtime: 134 minutes
Duvall wrote, directed, produced, and starred in this passion project about Sonny Dewey, a Pentecostal preacher who flees to Louisiana after committing a violent crime and reinvents himself as "The Apostle E.F." It's one of Duvall's most personal films, and his performance is electric—literally, as Sonny conducts revival meetings with genuine fervor. Duvall, who attended church regularly as a child, brings authenticity to the character's faith without condescension or mockery. The film earned him his fifth Oscar nomination and stands as proof that Duvall was as talented behind the camera as in front of it.
#5. Lonesome Dove (1989)
Directors: Simon Wincer
IMDb user rating: 8.7
Metascore: Data not available
Runtime: 384 minutes (miniseries)
Okay, okay. We know this isn't a movie, but we couldn't create a list of Duvall's greatest works and not include the television miniseries, "Lonesome Dove," for Duvall's magnificent portrayal of Augustus "Gus" McCrae, a retired Texas Ranger who embarks on an epic cattle drive from Texas to Montana. Alongside Tommy Lee Jones as his taciturn partner Woodrow Call, Duvall brings warmth, humor, and heartbreak to Larry McMurtry's sprawling Western epic. Gus is a romantic and a philosopher, equally comfortable quoting poetry and facing down danger. The role earned Duvall an Emmy nomination and remains one of his most beloved performances. For many fans, he'll always be Gus McCrae.
#4. Apocalypse Now (1979)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
IMDb user rating: 8.4
Metascore: 94
Runtime: 147 minutes
"I love the smell of napalm in the morning." With that single line, Duvall created one of cinema's most iconic characters: Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore, the surfing-obsessed cavalry commander who bombs a Vietnamese village so his men can catch waves. Kilgore is both terrifying and absurd, a warrior-poet who plays Wagner during helicopter attacks and mourns the end of the war because it means no more surfing. Duvall's performance is pitch-perfect, finding the madness in military logic. His second Oscar nomination was well-deserved, and the character has been endlessly quoted and parodied—the ultimate testament to Duvall's impact.
#3. The Godfather Part II (1974)
Directors: Francis Ford Coppola
IMDb user rating: 9.0
Metascore: 90
Runtime: 202 minutes
Duvall reprised his role as Tom Hagen, the Corleone family's adopted son and consigliere, in Coppola's epic sequel. While Robert De Niro and Al Pacino dominate the screen, Duvall's quiet authority anchors the film's present-day storyline. Tom is the voice of reason in a world descending into chaos, and Duvall conveys his character's growing disillusionment with Michael Corleone's increasingly ruthless leadership. Notably, Duvall did not appear in "The Godfather Part III" because the studio refused to match Al Pacino's $5 million salary—a decision that deprived fans of seeing Tom Hagen's story reach its conclusion.
#2. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Director: Robert Mulligan
IMDb user rating: 8.2
Metascore: 88
Runtime: 129 minutes
Duvall's film debut remains one of his most memorable performances, despite having almost no dialogue. As Boo Radley, the reclusive neighbor who haunts Scout and Jem's imagination, Duvall appears only in the film's final sequence. Standing in the shadows of Scout's bedroom, pale and trembling, he conveys an entire lifetime of isolation and loneliness with his eyes alone. It was playwright Horton Foote who recommended Duvall for the role after seeing him in the one-act play "The Midnight Caller." That recommendation launched one of the greatest careers in American cinema.
#1. The Godfather (1972)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
IMDb user rating: 9.2
Metascore: 100
Runtime: 175 minutes
Duvall's portrayal of Tom Hagen, the Corleone family's German-Irish consigliere, earned him his first Oscar nomination and remains his most iconic role The Godfather (1972) - IMDb. Tom is the calm center of a violent storm, the lawyer who negotiates with studio heads and senators while bodies pile up around him. Duvall brings intelligence and integrity to the character, making Tom both complicit in the family's crimes and somehow separate from them. His scenes with Marlon Brando crackle with unspoken history, while his interactions with Al Pacino's Michael show a man watching his surrogate brother transform into something monstrous. "The Godfather" is ranked #2 on IMDb's Top 250 films, and Duvall's performance is a major reason why.
