Robert Duvall

SHORTLY after his 75th birthday this past winter, Robert Duvall found himself on the West Coast, so he told his companion of recent years, Luciana Pedraza, "Let's go find my old house." The place is outside San Diego, where his Navy admiral father was stationed for two years before WWII.

Robert Duvall probably won't be making any movies for DreamWorks any time soon. In a CBS "60 Minutes II" interview broadcast Wednesday, the Oscar-winning performer sharply criticized filmmaker and DreamWorks SKG studio co-founder Steven Spielberg for visiting Cuba in November 2002. "Spielberg went down there recently and said, 'The best seven hours I ever spent was actually with Fidel Castro.' Now, what I want to ask him ...

Forty years ago, Robert Duvall made his film debut standing behind a door in "To Kill a Mockingbird." As Gregory Peck's emotionally damaged neighbor, the mysterious mute "Boo" Radley, Duvall loomed in the frame as silently terrifying as an Easter Island statue. In the decades since, the actor has made a brilliant career out of playing isolated men who, whether dispensing advice to the mob or shouting hallelujah with the faithful, are possessed of a violent and singularly American intensity.

Robert Duvall fell from a horse while training for a role in an upcoming western and broke several ribs, a spokeswoman for the veteran actor said Thursday. Duvall, 71, was resting at home after the injury. Doctors expect that he will recover by June when "Open Range," a Walt Disney western co-starring Kevin Costner, is due to begin filming in Alberta, Canada, the spokeswoman said.

In Richard Pearce's poignant, upbeat 1996 film Robert Duvall (right) and James Earl Jones (left) portray Arkansas-born half-brothers who grew up on opposite sides of the color line, discovering late in life that they are both sons of the same black mother. Duvall and Jones give strong performances here, but stealing several scenes from the screen veterans is Irma P. Hall, who portrays the brothers' Aunt T (Showtime Sunday at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.).

The consummate American actor, Robert Duvall has spent a lifetime crafting roles for other filmmakers. Now, in writing and directing "The Apostle," Duvall has created for himself what could be the defining role of his career. In a string that began with "To Kill a Mockingbird" and includes 1982's Oscar-winning performance in "Tender Mercies," Duvall has managed to work for 35 years, through all kinds of cinematic weather, without ever setting a foot wrong.

Robert Duvall, one of America's most versatile and critically acclaimed actors, has brought to life countless memorable characters, ranging from his film debut as the shy, childlike Boo Radley in 1962's "To Kill a Mockingbird" to Tom Hagen, the consigliere in "The Godfather." He won an Oscar as a sympathetic faded country singer in "Tender Mercies" and received an Emmy nomination for his memorable turn as the sexy, aging cowboy Gus McCrae in the classic miniseries "Lonesome Dove."