Robin Roberts, Dawn Porter want people to know about Pat Summitt’s caring nature
Poster for ‘Breaking Glass: The Pat Summitt Story’ (ABC News Studios)
The story of legendary Tennessee Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt is told in Breaking Glass: The Pat Summitt Story, now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. The documentary follows her journey through her coaching career and features many of the people she impacted. Director Dawn Porter says it also highlights an often overlooked aspect of her legacy.
“Something I think people don’t talk about enough is Pat invited a number of Black women into the University of Tennessee to play for her when that wasn’t that common,” she says. “She didn’t make a big deal of it. … She invited the best players.”
One of those players was WNBA star Candace Parker, who still carries lessons she learned under Pat’s leadership.
“I talked with Candace Parker, who played for Pat, and she said that they were required as Lady Vols to sit in the front row in the classroom. Candace says to this day, when she’s somewhere, she sits in the front row,” says executive producer Robin Roberts. “There were many life skills … that had nothing to do with basketball, but still stays with all these women … decades later.”
With so many meaningful moments embedded in the documentary, Robin hopes viewers walk away understanding how deeply Pat cared.
“I hope people will realize how much she truly cared, not just about the Tennessee Lady Vols, not just about women’s basketball, but how much she truly, truly cared and how she saw you,” she says. “When you were in front of Pat Summitt, you thought you were the only person on earth. She made you feel important. She made you feel seen and heard.”
Dawn adds, “I hope people understand that she was a leader through and through, and she just treated everybody the same. … She was not a person who was only caring about the superstars. She cared about everybody.”
Actor Robert Duvall poses for a portrait during the 87th Academy Awards nominee luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Feb. 2, 2015 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Jeff Vespa/Getty Images)
Robert Duvall, the Academy Award-winning actor known for roles in some of American cinema’s greatest films, including The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, has died at age 95.
“Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time. Bob passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort,” read a statement posted on the actor’s official Facebook page by his wife, Luciana.
A statement from Duvall’s representative confirmed the actor’s death, reading in part, “Academy Award winning actor Robert Selden Duvall passed away peacefully in his home in Middleburg, Virginia, the evening of Sunday, February 15, 2026, with his wife Luciana Duvall by his side. He was 95.”
Duvall brought a signature naturalism to the roles he played, an unmannered style that infused his myriad characters with a calm intensity – a counterpoint to his self-confessed often hot-tempered on-set disposition – and earned him a reputation as one of his generation’s finest actors. Beginning with his memorable film debut as Boo Radley in 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird, in which he didn’t utter a word, Robert Duvall went on to appear in more than 90 films over the next seven decades, working with some of Hollywood’s most celebrated filmmakers and performers.
Duvall shared the screen as the outlaw Ned Pepper opposite John Wayne in 1969’s True Grit, originated the role of Maj. Frank Burns in Robert Altman’s 1970 dark comedy M*A*S*H, and starred in the title role in Star Wars creator George Lucas’ 1971 directorial debut, THX 1138. Duvall also played Corleone family consigliere Tom Hagen in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather and The Godfather Part II opposite his acting hero, Marlon Brando, and had a pivotal role as the ruthless network VP Frank Hackett in the acclaimed 1976 media satire Network.
As the shirtless, cowboy hat-wearing Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore in Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now, Duvall delivered the film’s most oft-quoted line: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” Four years later, Duvall won the Academy Award for best actor for playing Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music star attempting to make amends, in Tender Mercies.
Other career highlights included playing cynical sportswriter Max Murphy in the 1984 Robert Redford baseball fable The Natural; NASCAR crew chief Harry Hogge opposite Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in the 1990 action hit Days of Thunder; Sgt. Martin Prendergast, the retiring LAPD officer who spends his final day on the job pursuing Michael Douglas’ unhinged character in 1993’s Falling Down; and a criminal court judge accused of murder who’s defended by his estranged son, played by Robert Downey Jr., in the 2014 legal drama The Judge.
Of all his many celebrated acting roles, however, Duvall repeatedly said his favorite was that of retired Texas Ranger Augustus “Gus” McCrae in the 1989 TV Western miniseries Lonesome Dove. The series was one of several TV projects in which Duvall starred. Others included playing the title role in 1992’s HBO film drama Stalin, for which he won a Golden Globe – his fourth lifetime win – and the 2006 AMC Western miniseries Broken Trail, which earned Duvall a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor, in addition to another for producing the series.
In total, Duvall was nominated for seven Academy Awards, the final three for his performances in 1997’s The Apostle, which he also wrote and directed; 1998’s A Civil Action, co-starring with John Travolta as a corrupt corporate attorney; and 2014’s The Judge. His nomination for The Judge, at age 84, then made him the oldest actor ever nominated in the best supporting actor category, until Christopher Plummer, at age 86, was nominated three years later for All the Money in the World.
Other notable later films in which Duvall appeared include The Handmaid’s Tale in 1990, 1996’s Sling Blade, 1998’s sci-fi action thriller Deep Impact, Crazy Heart in 2009 – this time with Jeff Bridges playing a down-on-his luck country singer – and as a shooting range owner in the 2012 Tom Cruise hit Jack Reacher.
In addition to his Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe wins, Robert Duvall won a BAFTA and a Screen Actors Guild Award, the former for Apocalypse Now and the latter for A Civil Action, as well as dozens of other critical and popular award nominations and wins. He was also awarded the National Medal of Arts by then-President George W. Bush in 2005.
Duvall was married four times, most recently in 2005 to Luciana Pedraza, who survives him. He had no children.
Sophie Turner as Lara Croft in ‘Tomb Raider.’ (Jay Maidment for Prime Video. Image captured on the backlot of the ‘Tomb Raider’ production stages.)
Sophie Turner is the new Lara Croft.
With the Tomb Raider reboot series officially in production, Amazon MGM Studios has released a first-look image of the former Game of Thrones star looking the part of the iconic video game character.
Turner looks ready for adventure, sporting a green tank top, black shorts, red-tinted sunglasses and Croft’s signature gun holsters.
The series, from showrunner Phoebe Waller-Bridge, also stars Sigourney Weaver and Jason Isaacs. It’s set to air on Prime Video.
Turner is the latest actress to take on the role of Lara Croft. Angelina Jolie previously played the part in 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and its sequel, 2003’s The Cradle of Life. Alicia Vikander took over the role in the 2018 reboot, Tomb Raider.
Yerin Ha as Sophie Baek and Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton in season 4 of ‘Bridgerton.’ (Liam Daniel/Netflix)
(SPOILER ALERT) Dearest gentle reader, do make haste toward your nearest Netflix account, as part 2 of Bridgerton season 4 is finally available to stream.
This fairy-tale fourth season has centered around Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and Sophie Baek’s (Yerin Ha) love story.
While there are many references to the book that inspired this season — Julia Quinn’s An Offer from a Gentleman — perhaps none were as highly anticipated as the scene where the main lovers intimately bathe together.
Thompson and Ha spoke to ABC Audio about what it was like to bring that moment to life in the season’s eighth episode.
“There was so many logistical obstacles we had to overcome that I think we just tried to have as much fun with it as possible,” Ha said. “Very quickly the pressure of getting it right and the pressure of making sure the fans were happy with it was put off to the side because we were thinking, ‘How do I stay above water?'”
Thompson laughed, before chiming in, “How do I not drown?”
The actor continued, saying although he knows fans were looking forward to the scene, he doesn’t “really buy into this idea of having to live up to anything” from the books.
“Bridgerton is absolutely a show that wants to meet the fans where they are, but is also a show that’s trying to surprise people as well and bring people where they don’t expect,” Thompson said. “I don’t feel that pressure because I think it’s not our job to deliver what people want. Our job is just to tell this story in the way that we can.”
