Known as an onscreen chameleon throughout an acting career that spanned seven decades, Robert Duvall stood out in such enduring classics as The Godfather, Network and Apocalypse Now. Having earned seven Oscar nominations prior to his Feb. 15 death at 95, his lone win came with 1983’s Tender Mercies, an indie drama that endured a contentious shoot.
Director Bruce Beresford’s film starred Duvall as Mac Sledge, an alcoholic, has-been country singer who connects with a widow (Tess Harper, in her film debut) and her son in rural Texas. The cast included Betty Buckley, Wilford Brimley and an early career Ellen Barkin. Horton Foote — the Oscar-winning scribe of 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird, which marked Duvall’s feature debut — wrote the script, but the project had trouble finding a director as several passed. Australian filmmaker Beresford, who was known for 1980’s Breaker Morant and would later helm Driving Miss Daisy, landed the gig despite having never been to the Lone Star State. But he saw parallels in the isolation of the Outback to that of Waxahachie, Texas, where Tender Mercies filmed. Duvall was the top choice for the lead, and he spent weeks mingling with locals and playing with country bands before production.
Famously outspoken with directors, Duvall frequently clashed with Beresford on set while pushing for a more improvisational approach.
“He’s ferocious sometimes, and he’d lose his temper often,” Beresford has said. For his part, Duvall noted of Beresford in a 1985 biography, “He has this dictatorial way of doing things with me that just doesn’t cut it.”
Susan Aston, who appears in the feature, recalls the pair butting heads over Duvall’s insistence that he perform his own songs, a battle the actor ultimately won. “They went back and forth, and things stopped for more than a minute,” Aston tells THR.
The movie struggled to find a distributor until landing at Universal, and rocky test screenings led to a small release. Hitting theaters March 4, 1983, Tender Mercies made $8.4 million ($27.5 million today), with THR’s review deeming it “a gem” and noting that “Duvall is the icing on the cupcake.” Despite their differences, Beresford told THR after Duvall’s death, “I knew from the very beginning that he was giving an amazing performance.”
This story appeared in the Feb. 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
