Robert Duvall's Final Role Came In An Overlooked Christian Bale Netflix Movie

It's only mid February, and the list of actors who have died in 2026 so far has already received several additions that hit like a punch to the guts. The month brought news that Robert Duvall, a Hollywood legend, was dead. Despite being in his 90s, however, Duvall stayed pretty busy until close to the end — including releasing two movies in 2022. That year would mark his final screen credits, with the last one being the Netflix thriller "The Pale Blue Eye."

For a movie produced by and starring Christian Bale, as well as featuring an impressive supporting cast that includes Duvall, Gillian Anderson, Toby Jones, and others, "The Pale Blue Eye" came and went with little fanfare. It received a lukewarm — though still mostly positive — critical reception, and netted an award nomination for its visual effects, but it just didn't seem to make an impact otherwise. Which is disappointing, given that it would end up becoming Duvall's final acting role.

Adapted from the 2006 novel of the same name, "The Pale Blue Eye" is about a Romantic era detective (Bale) who has to solve a series of murders at a military academy. He is aided by a young cadet from the school named — but who is not yet the writer of legend — Edgar Allen Poe (Harry Melling). Duvall has only a few minutes of screen time, but he brings a mountain of gravitas to the role of Jean-Pepe, a character whose decades of knowledge and impressive library of books prove crucial to the case. 

"The Pale Blue Eye" actually marks the second time that Bale and Duvall appeared in a film together, with the previous being one of the best family movies of all time. That movie was "Newsies," the 1992 Disney musical that starred a still-teenaged Bale playing opposite Duvall's version of famed newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer. 

Duvall and Bale nearly shared the screen one other time between "Newsies" and "The Pale Blue Eye." The 2013 crime drama "Out of the Furnace" was directed by Scott Cooper, who would later direct "Eye" for Bale. But only Bale appeared in the previous film. Duvall was sought for a role but ultimately didn't sign on to the project.