Robert Duvall’s Final Lead Was in Get Low

Robert Duvall was one of the few actors to emerge from Hollywood’s classical era and remain vital across decades. After a notable comeback with The Apostle in 1997, he spent much of the 21st century in scene-stealing supporting roles, but his last lead performance came in Get Low, an idiosyncratic neo-Western thriller set in 1930s Tennessee.

In the film Duvall plays Felix Bush, an enigmatic hermit who shocks his rural community by arranging his own funeral while still alive. The request confounds funeral parlor owner Frank Quinn (Bill Murray) and his young associate Buddy Robinson (Lucas Black), who agree to help amid the economic hardships of the Depression.

Rumors swirl that Felix may have been involved in a crime, and the story deepens when Felix’s former lover Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek) returns to clarify the past. Get Low examines western mythology and the stubborn isolation of an older generation, and Duvall’s performance anchors that exploration.

United States, Tennessee

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