If you were called up to the front of the room to act out a scene from the body of work of one of America’s finest and most productive actors, which scene would you choose?

Gus and Laurie meeting at the run-down brothel in the run-down dot on the map that was Lonesome Dove?

Michael Corleone telling Tom Hagen that he was out as consigliere at the start of the war between the families?

Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore, and the famous declaration of his love of the smell of napalm in the morning?

Fighter pilot Bull Meechum conducting a family inspection?

Sometimes our choices are too many and too varied, and too overwhelming, and if an audience member is called up to walk through a scene with Robert Duvall at a June 12 fundraiser, selecting the scene, not the acting itself, would likely be the hardest part.

“I’ve directed maybe four films, and I find that a non-actor, if they come with a certain sense of what we call ‘actor’s faith,’ to go into something with no bad habits, they can put the professional actor on notice, many, many times,” Duvall said in an interview at his home near The Plains recently.

“When I did my tango movie [‘Assassination Tango’], I put my wife in ... and she stole the movie,” Duvall mused. “She worked for a year getting in shape, I put her with the two top tango guys to learn, and she stole the show, first time acting. I put real people in the movies I directed. They are the gauge that you need.”
Duvall is planning a fundraiser in June that is tentatively titled, according to a circulating press flier, as “The Robert Duvall Lecture Series,” but which might more accurately be billed as simply “An Evening with Robert Duvall.”

The actor remained flexible about how the event might go down. He said he’ll speak about “whatever they want.”

“What I have done that has been successful is, I have somebody up there with me, so rather than me giving a speech, we just start to talk, bouncing things off each other. I did that in San Francisco, and a film critic from New York came out. I had never met him, and we just started talking. Eventually, the audience joins in, and we can go on as long as you like.”

Daisy Rosales, the executive director of The Robert Duvall Children’s Fund, said the event will be “an interactive and intimate” gathering of only about 50 guests.
The event’s likely starting point, at least one that is likely to please the actor, would be to talk about the making of “Lonesome Dove,” which Duvall said is his favorite.

“‘The Godfather’ was better directed,” he said. “Coppola was at his height. But ‘Lonesome Dove’ is a great, great novel, and we had to try to come up to it.
“You can find maybe some weaknesses in it, where in ‘The Godfather’ you can’t find any weaknesses. But the overall arc of that [novel], it is really great writing. ...

“After [filming] was over, I said, ‘I think I can retire now; I’ve done something I felt good about. I said, ‘Let the English play Hamlet and King Lear, I’ll play Augustus McCrae, absolutely one of the greatest characters in literature.”

And on the screen.

As often as the epic is replayed on television, Duvall said he doesn’t ever watch it, and his wife, Luciana, has never seen it.

“I am working on a project now that is kind of a modern-day ... cousin to that character,” he said. “If it goes, then I’m going to go back and watch [‘Lonesome Dove’]. I’ll look at it and ‘Broken Trails,’ too, which I think is just below ‘Lonesome Dove,’ in order to get ready.”

As far as an evening with Robert Duvall is concerned, he said he did one in Dallas to raise money for the charity he founded six or seven years ago, the actor said.

“Our main thing is helping children in northern Argentina, for schools, for autism,” he said. “We also support Pro Mujer, which is a micro-financing institution for the women of South America who go into business with private funds rather than with money from the state. We are also working with children in India with the Father/Daughter Alliance.”

The charity has a branch for helping Haiti, and supports conservation organizations in the United States.

“We’ve done quite a bit,” Duvall said, “but we definitely want to do more.”

Duvall has just finished a new movie, “Get Low,” which is scheduled for release in July.

“They came to me about six years ago with this very unique story about a guy who sets up and goes to his own funeral,” he said. “It’s based on a true story, but fictionalized, about a guy in Tennessee in the ‘30s.

“It’s a Southern tale and a very unique film. My wife says it’s her favorite film since ‘The Apostle.’”

Next up, perhaps, is the Gus McCrae-like project or, perhaps, the starring role in “Don Quixote,” for which director Terry Gilliam is trying to raise money.

“I’ve got a few years left,” Duvall said with a smile; “they’re not wiping the drool yet, so I’m going to give back,” both on-screen, and off.

Event details
When: June 12, 5-7:30 p.m. at a location in Virginia horse country to be announced
Cost: Tickets are $500
More info on the fundraiser: Daisy Rosales at 540-364-3365 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
More info on the charity: http://www.rdchildrensfund.org.