If you appeared in The Godfather, even if it was a relatively small role, chances are that'll take top billing in your obituary. For me though, when I think of Robert Duvall, I think of the man who loved the smell of Napalm in the morning. Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore from Apocalypse Now.
And taking us back to a story I wrote about a couple of weeks back, Bob Duvall also played one of the most famous fictional characters to give his name to a 90s indie band in the 1962 adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird.
And in case you're wondering (as I did), he was no relation to Shelly Duvall from The Shining (although her Dad was called Robert). But he did star in the TV adaptation of Larry McMurtry's western Lonesome Dove... and that gives me an excuse to play another tune by Larry's son, James. And if they ever made a movie out of the song below, Robert Duvall would have been the perfect casting...
Here are a couple of eclectic lyrical references...
At the Hotel Nikko, Robert Duvall suite
My people's eyes through the peep hole
I'm loving you down freak
CNN with no bad news,
Stevie Ray playing the blues,
Robert Duvall in any role,
John 3:16 to a troubled soul.
And then, the main event. Because Robert Duvall could turn his hand to music at times.
Here he is in 1983, in the movie Tender Mercies, in which he played down and out country singer, Mac Sledge...
Here he is with Emmylou Harris, from the soundtrack of the movie The Apostle in 1997...
And here he is, a cappella, in the soundtrack to the excellent 2009 Jeff Bridges movie Crazy Heart...
Rest in peace, Bob.
