Robert Duvall: To Virginia, He Was ‘Bobby’
By • February 17, 2026 0 545
By Leland Schwartz
To the world, Robert Duvall was the Hollywood superstar. Out in The Plains, Virginia, where he lived with his wife, Luciana Pedraza, he was “Bobby” and a beloved part of the community.
The 95-year-old Oscar-winning actor died on February 15 peacefully in his Virginia home.
One night, just a few years ago, when a packed Warrenton Town Council meeting was fighting until 2 a.m. over the possibility of Fauquier County getting its first data center, this unassuming resident stood up and ticked through all the reasons the installation would be the beginning of the end. When he was done, he shocked the the whole place which had no clue when he said, “and my name is Robert Duvall.”
One afternoon a local reporter was sitting in the Old Salem café in Marshall at a table near the front door writing a story on an award Duvall had just received; the headline and a picture from The Godfather at the top of the MacBook screen. In walks guess who and the reporter says “Bobby, you will never believe what’s on my screen.”
So Duvall sits down and the reporter asks him what he’s working on, and, yes, in the ’80s, a new western. When the reporter asked him how it was going, Duvall said it was a challenge raising money. The reporter said, “But you’re Robert Duvall!” Duvall looked the reporter in the eye and said, “Son, it’s harder than you think.”
To us locals, Duvall’s greatest performance was in 2017, when he did a video standup for the Piedmont Environmental Council, speaking in support of “protecting Virginia’s land, water and historic resources for current and future generations to enjoy.”
“I love this marvelous landscape, its farms, the Shenandoah, its historic heritage,” Duvall said in the video. “Its beauty has been preserved over the years by many. Together we must continue to protect this landscape, its clean water, its abundant natural resources.”
In the video Duvall said while he played many roles over the years in the movies, his favorite role has been “being me in Virginia.”
