Shelley Duvall, the intrepid, Texas-born movie star whose wide-eyed, winsome presence was a staple in Robert Altman’s films and co-starred in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” has died. She was 75.
Dan Gilroy, Duvall’s longtime companion, revealed Thursday that she died in her sleep at her Blanco, Texas, home. Her acquaintance, publicist Gary Springer, explained that the cause was diabetic problems.
“My dear, sweet, wonderful life, partner, and friend left us last night,” Gilroy wrote in her statement. “There’s been too much pain lately; she’s finally free. Fly away, sweet Shelley.”
Shelley Duvall, Star Of ‘The Shining,’ ‘Nashville,’ Dies At 75
Duvall was attending junior college in Texas when Altman’s crew, preparing to film “Brewster McCloud,” came across her at a party in Houston in 1970. They presented her to the director, who cast her as “Brewster McCloud” and made her his protégé.
Duvall went on to appear in several Altman films, including “Thieves Like Us,” “Nashville,” “Popeye,” “Three Women,” and “McCabe & Ms Miller.”
“He offers me damn good roles,” Duvall told The New York Times in 1977. “They’ve all been unique. He believes in me, trusts and respects me, and does not limit or frighten me, and I adore him. “I remember the first advice he ever gave me: ‘Don’t take yourself seriously.'”
Duvall, thin and gawky, was not the typical Hollywood starlet. But she had a charmingly candid demeanor and projected a unique authenticity. The film writer Pauline Kael dubbed her the “female Buster Keaton.”
In her prime, Duvall was a regular in some of the most important films of the 1970s and 1980s. In “The Shining,” she played Wendy Torrance, who watches in terror as her husband, Jack (Jack Nicholson), goes insane while their family is sequestered at the Overlook Hotel. Duvall’s screaming face, combined with Jack’s axe coming through the door, comprised half of the film’s most memorable image.
Kubrick, a famed perfectionist, was notoriously hard on Duvall while filming “The Shining.” His methods of subjecting her to multiple takes in the most distressing sequences took a toll on the performer. Some perceived Kubrick’s treatment as bordering on torture; one scene was reportedly shot in 127 takes.
Duvall told People magazine in 1981 that she cried “12 hours a day for weeks on end” while working on the picture.
“I will never give that much again,” Duvall declared. “If you want to get into pain and call it art, go ahead, but not with me.”
Duvall withdrew from films almost as rapidly as she appeared in them. By the 1990s, she was retiring from performing and withdrawing from public life.
“How would you feel if people were really nice, and then, suddenly, on a dime, they turn on you?” Duvall informed the Times earlier this year. “You wouldn’t believe it unless it happened to you. That’s why you’re hurt; you can’t believe it’s true.”
Duvall, the oldest of four children, was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on July 7, 1949. Her father, Robert, was a lawyer, and her mother, Bobbie, was in real estate.
Duvall returned to Texas in the mid-1990s. After starring in the comedy “Manna from Heaven,” she abruptly left Hollywood in 2002. Her location became a popular issue among online sleuths. One popular but inaccurate idea was that it was lingering stress from the rigorous shoot for “The Shining.” Another claimed that the damage to her home following the Northridge earthquake was the final straw.
To those who lived in the Texas Hill Country for about 30 years, Duvall was neither in “hiding” nor a recluse; yet, her circumstances were unknown to both the media and many of her former Hollywood colleagues. That changed in 2016 when producers from the Dr. Phil program tracked her down and aired a contentious hour-long interview in which she discussed her mental health difficulties. “I’m really unwell. “I need help,” Duvall remarked on the show, which was heavily condemned for being exploitative.
Shelley Duvall, Star Of ‘The Shining,’ ‘Nashville,’ Dies At 75
“I found out the kind of person he is the hard way,” Duvall said to The Hollywood Reporter in 2021.
THR journalist Seth Abramovitch stated at the time that he went on a pilgrimage to find her because “it didn’t feel right for McGraw’s insensitive sideshow to be the final word on her legacy.”
Duvall attempted to revive her career by starring in the modest horror film “The Forest Hills,” was filmed in 2022 and premiered discreetly in early 2023.
SOURCE | AP
