
I watched
Tender Mercies (1983) again, recently. It’s one of my favorite “little” movies. I realized as I watched it that
Robert Duvall is one of those actors who make you forget you are watching someone performing a role. He has that special ability to make his characters real. His performances as Boo Radley in
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Jackson Fentry in
Tomorrow (1972), Tom Hagen in the
first two Godfather movies, Frank Hackett in
Network (1976), Lt. Col. Kilgore in
Apocalypse Now (1979), Bull Meechum in
The Great Santini (1979), Mac Sledge in
Tender Mercies, Gus McCrae in
Lonesome Dove (1989), and Sonny Dewey in
The Apostle (1997) rank as some of the finest acting ever put on film. It is an impressive body of work.
He has had several Oscar nominations including one for his performance as a military man

and father in
The Great Santini and he earned his first
Academy Award for Best Actor in
Tender Mercies.
Pick one to watch and see if you don’t agree that he is one of the best. Some of his most acclaimed films are
To Kill A Mockingbird,
M*A*S*H (1970),
Lonesome Dove, The Godfather I and
II,
True Grit (1969),
Apocalypse Now, and the TV miniseries
Lonesome Dove.