Hear Legendary Actor Robert Duvall Sing Western Classic ‘Cheyenne’

Among his favorite singers, “I like Merle Haggard a lot,” he says. “I worshipped Lefty Frizzell. Way, way back in the army, way back in the Fifties, I used to listen to Lefty and Webb Pierce.”

Duvall calls his Golden Globe-winning role as Augustus McCrae in the acclaimed 1989 TV miniseries, Lonesome Dove, “My Henry the V, my Hamlet. That’s the definitive part for me.” But he goes to lengths to credit To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies screenwriter Horton Foote and The Godfather and The Godfather Part ll director Francis Ford Coppola for their part in his six-decade success story. “I had a career aside from those two, but those two guys, who were very different, really helped my career. Those two gentlemen helped me a lot in the beginning.”

Looking forward, Duvall is eyeing a number of new projects, including the possibility of an adaptation of Steve Harrington’s World War I epic, Remember Ben Clayton for AMC, the network for whom he starred in 2006’s Broken Trail. “I’ve got a few left,” Duvall says, letting out an instantly recognizable laugh. “I’ve got a few left.”