Beloved Actress Shelley Duvall, Known for ‘The Shining,’ Dies at 75 – One America News Network
OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
11:41 AM – Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Actress Shelley Duvall, who is well remembered for her roles in movies like The Shining and Popeye, has passed away. She was 75-years-old.
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According to her longtime partner, musician Dan Gilroy of Breakfast Club, Duvall passed away peacefully in her sleep at her Texas home from complications related to diabetes.
The Hollywood Reporter stated that Shelley and Dan began dating in 1989 after working together on the Disney Channel film Mother Goose Rock ‘n’ Rhyme. Dan played “Gordon Goose” in the movie, and Shelley played “Little Bo Peep,” which is said to have improved their relationship off-screen.
“My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us. Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley,” Gilroy, 77, said on Thursday in a statement.
Duvall was born in Fort Worth, Texas. Her first onscreen appearance came when she was approached by filmmaker Robert Altman at a party in 1970 and he asked her to appear in his film Brewster McCloud.
“I simply got on a plane and did it. I was swept away,” she said in a previous interview.
A number of Altman’s movies, including McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Thieves Like Us, Nashville, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson, and 3 Women, would go on to feature Duvall’s incredible acting talents.
She had discussed working with Altman, who passed away in 2006, in a 1977 New York Times interview.
“He offers me damn good roles. None of them have been alike. He has a great confidence in me, and a trust and respect for me, and he doesn’t put any restrictions on me or intimidate me, and I love him,” Duvall said.
Another notable film that featured Duvall was Woody Allen’s 1977 movie Annie Hall.
Nonetheless, her most notable performance came when she starred in director Stanley Kubrick’s psychological horror film The Shining in 1980.
Duvall’s character, Wendy Torrance, is a wife and mother who is tormented by her husband, played by actor Jack Nicholson. While the couple stays at a remote Colorado hotel with their son Danny (Danny Lloyd), Jack begins to lose his mind and his grip on reality, edging closer and closer to insanity.
However, while filming the movie, Duvall admitted to People Magazine back in 1981 that she was “crying 12 hours a day for weeks on end.”
“I will never give that much again. If you want to get into pain and call it art, go ahead, but not with me,” Duvall asserted.
In 2021, she spoke in greater detail to the Hollywood Reporter about the challenging experience of filming that particular thriller.
“[Kubrick] doesn’t print anything until at least the 35th take. Thirty-five takes, running and crying and carrying a little boy, it gets hard,” she stated. “And full performance from the first rehearsal. That’s difficult.”
In order to force her mentality to become a more genuine representation of the film’s character, Duvall further stated that she would consistently “listen to sad songs.”
“Or you just think about something very sad in your life or how much you miss your family or friends. But after a while, your body rebels,” Duvall continued. “It says: ‘Stop doing this to me. I don’t want to cry every day.’ And sometimes just that thought alone would make me cry. To wake up on a Monday morning, so early, and realize that you had to cry all day because it was scheduled — I would just start crying. I’d be like, ‘Oh no, I can’t, I can’t.’ And yet I did it. I don’t know how I did it. Jack said that to me, too. He said, ‘I don’t know how you do it.’“
Duvall also starred in a number of films after The Shining, including Popeye, Time Bandits, Suburban Commando, The Portrait of a Lady, and others.
In addition, she created and produced a number of children’s programs, for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards.
After starring in Manna From Heaven, Duvall announced her acting retirement in 2002. However, she later made a comeback to the big screen in the independent horror film The Forest Hills in 2023, which served as her last performing appearance.
Back during a 2016 Dr. Phil appearance, Duvall discussed her mental health issues, saying, “I’m very sick… I need help.”
In the Dr. Phil appearance, Duvall asserted that actor Robin Williams, her co-star on Popeye who died in 2014, was still alive and was a “shapeshifter.” Duvall also claimed that she had a “worrying disc” inside of her body.
“I found out the kind of person he [Phil McGraw] is the hard way. My mother didn’t like him, either. A lot of people, like Dan, said, ‘You shouldn’t have done that, Shelley,’ ” Duvall later said after the Dr. Phil appearance.
In response, a representative for the Dr. Phil show sent out a statement.
“We view every Dr. Phil episode, including Miss Duvall and her struggle with mental illness, as an opportunity to share relatable, useful information and perspective with our audiences. We don’t attach the stigma associated with mental illness which many do. With no one else offering help, our goal was to document the struggle and bring amazing resources to change her trajectory as we have for so many over 19 years,” the statement said. “Unfortunately, she declined our initial offer for inpatient treatment that would have included full physical and mental evaluations, giving her a chance to privately manage her challenges. After many months of follow-up, in collaboration with her mother, she ultimately refused assistance. We were of course very disappointed, but those offers for help remain open today.”
During the same 2021 New York Times interview, Duvall reflected back on her acting career and her choice to give it up.
“I was a star; I had leading roles,” she said. “People think it’s just aging, but it’s not. It’s violence. How would you feel if people were really nice, and then, suddenly, on a dime they turn on you? You would never believe it unless it happens to you. That’s why you get hurt, because you can’t really believe it’s true.”
From 1970 until 1974, Duvall was wed to artist Bernard Sampson. After that, she dated legendary musician Paul Simon of the group Simon & Garfunkel for around two years before meeting Duvall Gilroy in 1989. Duvall never had any children.
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