KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Legendary actor and director Robert Duvall died Sunday at the age of 95. While he starred in many iconic movies over his career that spanned seven decades, one unique role he had brought a bizarre Depression-Era tale from East Tennessee to the silver screen.
Duvall starred in the 2010 movie “Get Low,” in which he plays a 1930s Tennessee hermit named Felix Bush who conspires with a local funeral home director, played by Bill Murray, to throw a “funeral party” for Bush despite the fact that he is still alive.
Actor Robert Duvall dies at 95, wife announces
History-savvy East Tennesseans may know that the film draws heavily on the real-life tale of Felix “Uncle Bush” Breazeale.
According to the East Tennessee Historical Society, Breazeale hosted and attended his own funeral in the Cave Creek community of Roane County in 1938 after making his own coffin from a tree near his home and buying himself a suit at a Knoxville department store. Breazeale actually died in 1943.
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The movie received positive reviews with Duvall and Murray earning praise for their performances. Duvall earned a nomination for Best Actor at the 2011 Critics Choice Awards for his role as Bush…