Legendary actor Robert Duvall died on Sunday, ending a storied career that spanned more than six decades. He was 95.
Duvall’s wife, Luciana, shared the news in a Facebook post on Monday morning. “Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time,” she wrote. “Bob passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort.”
Duvall became one of the greatest film stars of his generation with breakout roles in films such as The Godfather, Network, Apocalypse Now, and Tender Mercies—the latter of which netted him an Academy Award for Best Actor. All told, he amassed seven Oscar nods across his career.
In what would be Duvall’s final late-night TV appearance, Stephen Colbert in June 2021 visited the actor and Luciana at their Virginia ranch for an extensive sit-down interview, making him the rare Late Show guest that merited a field trip. Colbert dedicated all of his guest segments to what he called the “extraordinary opportunity” to chat with the icon.
During their conversation—which Colbert is re-airing a portion of this Monday night—Duvall reflected on his performance in the film Network, recounted his years spent living and working with actor Dustin Hoffman, and sparred with Colbert in an acting exercise.
Duvall made his late-night debut back in June 1974, on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, where guest host McLean Stevenson interviewed him six months ahead of The Godfather Part II’s release.
Duvall was a relatively rare sight in late-night for the next couple of decades, but amped up his run of nighttime talk show appearances during the 1990s, appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Later with Bob Costas, and Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
But Duvall was most loyal to David Letterman, appearing twice on Late Night in the 1980s, and seven times on The Late Show between 1993 and 2014.
Duvall’s last in-studio late-night interview came on Late Night with Seth Meyers in 2015, to promote Wild Horses—a film he wrote, directed, and starred in.
Duvall also appeared on Saturday Night Live around that time. Though he never formally hosted, he’s in a small company of stars to have been a credited as “special guest” during someone else’s episode, making several appearances in the 1998 episode hosted by Garth Brooks. The actor squared off against Brooks in the game show sketch “Who’s More Grizzled?!”, and was serenaded by Will Ferrell to the tune of Bob Dylan’s “Lay, Lady, Lay.” Duvall also introduced Brooks’ musical performance.
The west just went south. I will never be the same without ‘ole Gus.
Well that explains why TX rep Talarico was listed as ‘NOT’ a guest for tonight’s episode on the show’s IG Story
My initial assumption was the show trying to avoid the FCC’s recent attempts at censorship
Actually, your initial assumption was right.