Los Angeles, Sept 19: Robert Duvall has one Oscar, four Golden Globes and now a slab of sidewalk. The star of ``The Godfather'' and ``Tender Mercies'' received a star on the Hollywood walk of fame yesterday. The ceremony took place in front of the Kodak theatre, home of the Academy Awards. ``It's a privilege for me to work as a professional actor. I am very proud of that, and I still got a lot in me before they start wiping away the drool,'' the 72-year-old Duvall, who won a best-actor Oscar for 1983's ``Tender Mercies,'' told the crowd. Actor-screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton called Duvall ``One Of My Heroes And My Mentor.''

He is ``The greatest actor that I have been around and has inspired me in everything I have done,'' Thornton said.


Thornton and Duvall appeared together in 1996's ``Sling Blade.''

Duvall co-stars with Michael Caine in the movie ``Secondhand Lions,'' about two curmudgeonly Texas brothers who agree to raise a nephew, played by Haley Joel Osment.


He also recently appeared as a trail boss in ``Open Range,'' as Gen. Robert E. Lee in ``Gods And Generals'' and as a dancing hit-man in ``Assassination Tango,'' which he also wrote and directed.


Duvall starred in George Lucas' early film ``Thx 1138,'' originated the role of Frank burns in ``M.A.S.H.,'' played the surf-crazed colonel in ``Apocalypse Now'' and was an autocratic military pilot in ``The Great Santini.''
Bureau Report