‘The Shining,’ ‘Nashville’ star Shelley Duvall dies at 75
Shelley Duvall, the Texas-born movie star whose wide-eyed, beguiling presence was a staple of Robert Altman’s films and who co-starred in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” has died at 75.
Shelley Duvall, the fearless, Texas-born movie star whose wide-eyed, beguiling presence was a staple in Robert Altman’s films and who co-starred in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” has died. She was 75.
Duvall died in his sleep Thursday at his home in Blanco, Texas, his longtime partner Dan Gilroy said. His friend and publicist Gary Springer said the cause of death was complications from diabetes.
“My sweet, loving, amazing life, partner and friend left us last night,” Gilroy said in a statement. “She has suffered tremendously for some time, now she is free. Fly away beautiful Shelley.”
Duvall was attending junior college in Texas when members of Altman’s crew, preparing to film “Brewster McCloud,” met her at a party in Houston in 1970. They introduced her to the director, who cast her in “Brewster McCloud” and made her his protégé.
Duvall appeared in Altman’s films including “Thieves Like Us”, “Nashville”, “Popeye”, “Three Women” and “McCabe and Ms. Miller”.
“He offers me … good roles,” Duvall told The New York Times in 1977. “None of them are the same. He has great confidence in me, and he has trust and respect for me, and he doesn’t put any restrictions on me or intimidate me, and I love him. I remember the first advice he gave me: ‘Don’t take yourself seriously.'”
Slender and ungainly, Duvall was not a traditional Hollywood starlet. But she had a charming, direct demeanor and an uncanny naturalness about her. Film critic Pauline Kael called her “the female Buster Keaton.”
At her peak, Duvall was a regular star in some of the defining films of the 1970s and 1980s. In “The Shining,” she played Wendy Torrance, who watches her husband Jack (Jack Nicholson) go insane while their family is isolated at the Overlook Hotel. It was Duvall’s screaming face that made up half of the film’s most iconic image, along with Jack’s axe coming through the door.
But Duvall disappeared from movies as quickly as she appeared. By the 1990s, she began retiring from acting. Her last film role was in 2002’s “Manna From Heaven.” Duvall retreated from public life. Earlier this year, she gave her first interview in several years.
“How would you feel if people were really nice and then all of a sudden, all of a sudden” — she snapped her fingers — “they turn against you?” Duvall told the Times. “You would never believe it until it happens to you. So you feel hurt, because you really can’t believe it’s true.”