Kilgore Has Left the Beach: Farewell to Robert Duvall, Dead at 95
by Heath Hansen
Robert Duvall, Academy Award winning actor, and film director, died yesterday in his Virginia home. His wife, Luciana Duvall, was with him in his final moments.
Well known for his iconic roles in Godfather II and III, as well as Gods and Generals, perhaps, among military veterans, his most memorable role was as Lieutenant Colonel William “Bill” Kilgore in the movie Apocalypse Now.
At what has become one of the most famous scenes in the film, Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore encourages some of the troops under his command to surf a few waves during an enemy engagement.
With mortar and small arms fire impacting all around his position, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) questions the timing of the expedition, asking “Don’t you think it’s a little risky for R and R?”
Kilgore quickly glares at Willard, and yells, “If I say it’s safe to surf this beach, Captain, it’s safe to surf this beach!”
The Lieutenant Colonel then stands up, takes off his shirt, grabs the radio, and calls for a napalm strike on the tree line surrounding their position.
After the bombing, he asks a soldier taking cover near him, “Do you smell that?”
“Smell what,” the soldier replies?
“Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that.” Kilgore then squats down to one knee, looks stoically at the soldier, Cav-hat cocked just over the eye line, and shares:
I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn’t find one of ’em, not one stinkin’ dink body. The smell, you know, the gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like…victory.
Perhaps Duvall’s two years of service in the US Army after the Korean War, helped him bring life to the character he played in Apocalypse Now. From 1953 to 1955, while serving at Camp Gordon, Georgia, he was immersed in military life, culture, and lingo – certainly influencing his ability to bring such a unique flare to a field grade officer in Vietnam.
After his discharge at the rank of Private First Class, Duvall utilized his GI Bill benefits to pursue acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York.
Mr. Duvall was 95. May he rest in peace.