Obituary: Robert Duvall 1931-2026

You might know him as Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962); perhaps you remember his performance as Frank Burns in M*A*S*H (1970); you can almost certainly picture him wearing a grey fedora hat as Tom Hagen in The Godfather (1972). But if you’re a Sherlockian, you probably remember him best as Dr John H. Watson in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976). Academy Award-winning Actor and filmmaker Robert Duvall has passed away at the age of 95.

The second of three brothers, Robert Selden Duvall (note the middle name, one which Arthur Conan Doyle used for a character in The Hound of the Baskervilles), was born on 5 January 1931 in San Diego, California to a Rear Admiral of the United States Navy and an actress. A self-described “Navy brat,” Duvall did not follow in his father’s footsteps, despite Duvall Sr.’s hopes, saying, “I was terrible at everything but acting.”

Robert Duvall as Dr Watson in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution. 

So, an actor he became, studying at New York City’s Neighbourhood Playhouse School of the Theatre along with future actors Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, and James Caan.

Duvall went on to become a prolific performer, taking on iconic roles in films like True Grit (1969); episodes of television shows like The Twilight Zone (1959-1962); and Broadway plays like Wait Until Dark (1966). His career spanned 63 years, from 1959 – 2022, and his performances garnered him 31 separate awards, including a BAFTA for Apocalypse Now (1979) and an Oscar for Tender Mercies (1984).

It was in the mid-1970s that Nicholas Meyer was asked to adapt his novel The Seven Per-Cent Solution for the screen, with Herbert Ross as the director. The story revolves around Watson getting a drug-addled and delusional Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson) some badly needed help from Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin). According to an interview Meyer submitted to for Shout! Factory’s Blu-ray release of the film, he and Ross wanted to cast a Watson who was antithetical to Nigel Bruce’s bumbling portrayal; instead, they wanted to more closely capture Conan Doyle’s version of the character.

Duvall’s casting was a success. The New York Times called him “one of America’s best actors, who plays the English Dr Watson with such wit and control that it’s difficult to believe he’s ever played an American with equal conviction.”

A more recent review by Empire picks up what Meyers and Ross put down when it calls Robert Duvall a “capable Watson contrasting sharply with Nigel Bruce’s avuncular bumbler…”

Throughout his career, Duvall also wrote and/or directed the occasional feature. His final film was The Pale Blue Eye (2022), a murder mystery featuring the character of Edgar Allen Poe, as Jean Pepe, an expert in the occult.

Duvall died at home on his ranch in Middleburg, Virginia. At press time, no other details had been announced.