My Afternoon With Robert Duvall And Wife Luciana

Comment(0)

Facebook

Twitter

RSS

Monday, August 24, 2009

By Jill Sorenson
CSNwashington.com

Check out photos of Jill's visit to Robert Duvall's ranch here!

When our Marine Corps Marathon producer Colvin Underwood asked me if I wanted to do a story with Academy Award Winning actor Robert Duvall and his wife Luciana at their ranch in The Plains, VA, I said “Yes!” quickly followed by, “And what exactly is the sports connection?”

It turns out the Duvalls’ charity, the Robert Duvall Children’s Fund, is a charity partner with the Marine Corps Marathon. The Fund raises money for impoverished children in Argentina, buying them necessities such as medical supplies and even bathrooms for the mentally ill. So the Duvalls will have a team running the marathon to help raise money and awareness for the RDCF, and the RDCF will also sponsor the Healthy Kids’ Fun Run on Saturday, October 24th. Luciana is running the 10K, well, actually she says, “I’m walking the 10K!”

So there’s the connection… now for the behind the scenes look that didn’t get on camera so you won’t see on my piece. You’ll have to wait until the two weeks leading up to the marathon on October 25th, and during our marathon wrap up show for that.

As Colvin and I drove out 66, we weren’t sure what to expect. I’m not a big Hollywood person, and I don’t get out of my mind excited about interviewing stars or star athletes, but this was big. I mean Robert Duvall is a legend. I had heard and read about the Duvalls, and got the impression they were both pretty down to earth people. So as we turned into the driveway of their 300 acre ranch, in the midst of some of the most beautiful country around, we saw a brown large brick barn, which was well, a typical barn, but more beautiful and clearly very well maintained. Beyond that was another barn and stables for the horses. We pulled up to the second barn which was a lighter brown, almost cream… and again, typical of a ranch. Beyond the second barn was their home, beautiful and country, yet understated, especially compared to some homes of Hollywood stars we are used to seeing. Clearly these two are not your typical Hollywood Stars. Anyone who wants to spend as much time as possible in The Plains amidst the relaxing beauty and away from the craziness that is LA (and I say that with love, since I spent much of my adolescence growing up in Orange County) says a lot.

Their ranch however is right out of a movie set. Rolling hills, full green trees, old stone walls, brown fences and bright green grass all under a gorgeous crystal blue sky dotted with cotton-puff white clouds. No wonder they love this place.

So then Daisy Rosales, Director of RDCF, led us to the “tack room” in that second barn to set up for the interview. And I use the term “tack room” lightly because this was the nicest tack room I have ever seen! Usually tack rooms are pretty dusty, just symptoms of being the place where riders store their saddles and riding gear, to get ready to ride, and where they dress down after riding. Well let me tell you I have never, ever seen a tack room with carpet! And antique looking leather chairs, and a gorgeous antique steel day bed with a pristine white cushion and round pillows atop. And an antique coffee table with steel links for the table portion, and two riding helmets on top. The walls were painted a deep blue, much like I’m sure the sky looks as the sun sets over their ranch. I admired how the Duvalls use antiques and appropriate furnishings for a ranch. Gorgeous and understated.

Luciana walked in first, with her hair pulled back and wearing a white tank with tan riding pants and brown wedge sandals. She is from Argentina (which is where they met) but barely speaks with an accent. Her dark brown eyes showed the Argentinean in her, and she is strikingly beautiful. Robert Duvall walked in unnoticed. All of sudden I looked behind me and there stood Robert Duvall, the legendary actor, in live person. Craziness! He wore casual brown dress pants and brown shirt to match. They looked like the perfect Polo advertisement, all class but no conceit.

Mr. Duvall and Colvin struck up a conversation about barbeque (Colvin’s from Kansas City) and it was a conversation that actually kept going the entire time we were there. In fact the conversation popped up so many times that Luciana regularly said, “Bobby!” to get him to move on to the next question or look at the camera. That was quite amusing. She even snapped a couple of pictures of “Bobby” with Daisy’s camera, and not surprisingly Mr. Duvall was still talking barbeque but looking quite natural in front of the camera.

Conversation, in addition to all things barbeque, flowed easily and both were extremely comfortable in their surroundings and with the subject matters of their RDCF, the Marine Corps Marathon and the importance of military service in general. I got the sense that Mr. Duvall is proudly American and certainly Luciana is grateful for the help Americans have given her country through RDCF. It was an extraordinary day, and pretty awesome to get a peek into the lives of two very talented people. And then realize how amazing that despite the fact that he’s a legend, they’re absolutely down to earth and lovely people. We’ll definitely be seeing more of them come race day!

Tags: marine corps marathon, sorenson