THE GODFATHER OF WESTERNS

Robert Duvall talks about the iconic Lonesome Dove, on the cusp of a special cast reunion.

- HENRY C. PARKE

With seven Emmys won, Lonesome Dove is unquestionably television’s most respected Western achievement. The roles were so good, the nominations of Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones as Best Actor, and Diane Lane and Anjelica Huston as Best Actress, may have split the vote and cancelled each other out.

The miniseries had such a profound effect on the filmmakers and actors that many careers are now seen as pre-Lonesome Dove and post-Lonesome Dove. Jones had been a respected film and TV actor for nearly two decades, but Lonesome Dove made him a star. Lane’s performance solidified her transition to adult roles, as was true for Ricky Schroder, who went from teen heartthrob to leading man. With his Emmy win, Simon Wincer went from being an obscure director of Aussie TV episodes to perhaps the most in-demand Westerns director since John Ford.

Duvall, on the other hand, was already a star. Famous for his portrayal of Tom Hagen, the adopted son of Don Corleone, in 1972’s The Godfather and 1974’s The Godfather: Part II, Duvall had been nominated for Oscars in The Godfather, 1979’s Apocalypse Now and The Great Santini, and won the statue for 1983’s Tender Mercies. Millions of schoolkids knew him—and generations of them still do—as Boo Radley in 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird. He had hardly stepped before a TV camera in 20 years, but he knew this would be no ordinary miniseries. “In fact,” he says, “on Lonesome Dove, I walked into the dressing room and said, ‘Boys, we’re making the Godfather of Westerns.’”