Robert Duvall, an acclaimed and prolific actor celebrated for his complex, rugged roles in films like “The Godfather,” died on Sunday at age 95.

The Hollywood giant died peacefully in his Virginia home “surrounded by love and comfort,” his wife Luciana said in a statement released Monday.

“His passion for his craft was matched only by his deep love for characters, a great meal, and holding court,” she wrote. “For each of his many roles, Bob gave everything to his characters and to the truth of the human spirit they represented. In doing so, he leaves something lasting and unforgettable to us all.”

Duvall’s career spanned six decades, during which he accumulated many directing, producing and acting credits. He continued to work until late in his life, acting alongside Martin Sheen in 2021’s “12 Mighty Orphans,” a film about a football team at an orphanage in 1930s Texas, and appearing in 2002’s “Hustle.”

The Oscar-winning actor was active in the Republican Party, standing out in an industry famous for its liberalism.

But in the years since he publicly endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012, Duvall aired his frustration with the socially conservative direction of the current GOP. In 2014, he said he would “probably vote independent next time.” He stayed silent about politics during Donald Trump’s campaign and presidency.

Born in San Diego, California, Duvall began his career in the theater and appeared in productions throughout the 1950s. His first significant big-screen role was a critically acclaimed performance as the reclusive Boo Radley in the 1962 adaptation of Harper Lee’s classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

He went on to become one of the most prized and distinctive actors in the 1970s and won accolades for many performances, including those in “M*A*S*H” (1970), “THX 1138” (1971), “Network” (1976) and “The Great Santini” (1979). Over time, he cultivated a rugged personality when playing a long list of complex characters.

Duvall is perhaps best known for playing Tom Hagen, Al Pacino’s steady-handed consigliere in director Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather” (1972) and “The Godfather: Part II” (1974).

In recent colorful interviews, Duvall described the fun he and his fellow actors James Caan and Marlon Brando had mooning people during the filming of the first iconic movie.

Duvall was also well known for playing Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore in Coppola’s dark, Vietnam War epic, “Apocalypse Now” (1979). The character’s disturbingly cavalier ― even revelrous ― attitude toward violence personified the dehumanizing effects of war. Surveying a Vietnamese beach as American helicopters strafed the jungle and village around him, a bare-chested Kilgore famously said, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”

Some of Duvall’s other notable work includes roles in “The Natural” (1984), “Colors” (1988) and “The Apostle” (1997), the latter of which he also directed.

Duvall was nominated for seven Academy Awards but won only once, for his role in the 1983 film “Tender Mercies,” in which he played a country singer dogged by personal demons while trying to start his life anew. The actor sang several of the original songs in the film, including some he wrote himself.

Duvall later drew praise for a supporting role in “Crazy Heart” (2009), the heartbreaking tale of a washed-up country singer staging a comeback. The appearance was an implicit homage to Duvall’s earlier work, since the life of the film’s protagonist resembled that of his character in “Tender Mercies.”

The legendary actor said his favorite role was Gus McRae, an aging cowboy in the Old West in the popular 1989 television miniseries, “Lonesome Dove.” He told The New York Times in 2014 that he considers the series his “Hamlet,” in no small part because of his love of the classic Western film genre.

“The English have Shakespeare; the French, Molière. In Argentina, they have Borges, but the Western is ours,” he told the Times. “I like that.”

When “Lonesome Dove” first came out, a Times critic gave the series a mixed review, but heartily endorsed Duvall’s performance.

“Mainly, there is Robert Duvall, who makes a simple, sentimental creation seem complex, heroic, always human and altogether enjoyable,” the Times critic wrote.

Duvall is survived by his wife Luciana, an Argentinian actor and director. They lived together for many years on a 360-acre farm in Fauquier County, Virginia.

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