Shelley Duvall, the wide-eyed actress who won the Cannes Award for 3 Women and starred in the horror classic The Shining has died. She was 75.
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Duvall passed away peacefully in her sleep due to complications from diabetes at her home in Blanco, Texas, according to Dan Gilroy, her life partner since 1989, who informed The Hollywood Reporter.
Duvall gained recognition through her collaborations with director Robert Altman, who cast her in her first screen role in Brewster McCloud. She subsequently appeared in his films McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Thieves Like Us, before joining the ensemble cast of Nashville in 1975.
After gaining attention in Nashville, Altman cast her in Buffalo Bill and the Indians. He then allowed her unique screen presence to shine in 3 Women, a performance that earned her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and a BAFTA nomination.
Duvall starred alongside Robin Williams as Olive Oyl in Altman’s Popeye in 1980. With her rail-thin figure and high-pitched delivery, she was perfectly cast. She also has one of the most memorable moments from the now cult classic film, singing her music number “He Needs Me”.
Stanley Kubrick Pushes Shelley Duvall to Her Limits in ‘The Shining’
Meanwhile, her unnerving portrayal of a health spa worker in 3 Women caught the attention of director Stanley Kubrick. This led him to cast Duvall as Wendy Torrance, the wife of Jack Nicholson’s character, in the film 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s novel The Shining.
The Shining took over a year to film, during which the famously exacting director relentlessly pushed Duvall to her limits. Some scenes demanded more than 100 takes, with the baseball bat sequence earning a place in the Guinness World Records for the most takes of a dialogue scene (148!).
Her other notable roles include Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits (1981) and the comedy Roxanne (1987) alongside Steve Martin.
In the 1980s, Duvall produced a series of children’s anthology shows inspired by classic tales. These included “Faerie Tale Theatre,” “Tall Tales & Legends,” “Nightmare Classics,” and “Bedtime Stories.” The series featured some of the best directors around such as Tim Burton, and Francis Ford Coppola. It also boasted guest stars like Robin Williams, Jamie Lee Curtis, Elliott Gould, Laura Dern, Molly Ringwald, and Ed Asner.
After returning to her hometown in Texas, Duvall appeared in Steven Soderbergh’s The Underneath in 1995 and starred in Jane Campion’s The Portrait of a Lady the following year. She retired from acting in 2002.
In 2023, after a long hiatus, she made her return to acting in the indie horror film The Forest Hills.
She is survived by her partner, the musician Dan Gilroy.