RIP Shelley Duvall

 

‘The Shining’ star Shelley Duvall dies at 75

Duvall was also known for roles in "Popeye," "Time Bandits" and "Annie Hall."

Today

By Drew Weisholtz

July 11, 2024

 

Shelley Duvall, an actor best known for her portrayal of Jack Nicholson’s wife in “The Shining,” died July 11, her partner since 1989, Dan Gilroy, confirmed to NBC News in a phone call. She was 75.

Gilroy said she died a little after midnight at the home they share in Blanco, Texas.

“She’s gone after much suffering, which I guess is a good thing, which after 34 years … I can’t tell you how much I miss her.”

Gilroy also said Duvall had been in hospice care and bedridden over the last few months while she suffered from complications from diabetes.

Born July 7, 1949, Duvall’s career was given a boost by Robert Altman, whose staff discovered her in Houston in 1970. He directed her in her 1970 film debut before they teamed back up the following year for “McCabe & Mrs. Miller.”

The pair would once collaborate again in 1974’s “Thieves Like Us” and 1976’s Oscar-winning “Nashville.” She again worked with Altman in his 1980 big-screen adaptation of “Popeye,” playing Olive Oyl, opposite Robin Williams’ title character in the comedian’s first feature film.

Duvall enjoyed working with Altman.

“He offers me damn good roles,” she told The New York Times in 1977. “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 also scored her most well-known role in 1980, playing the wife of a writer (Jack Nicholson) who loses his mind during a desolate winter spent in a hotel. The Stanley Kubrick-director horror offering remains classic to this day, but Duvall said Kubrick wore her out.

She told People that Kubrick had her “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.”

The movie elevated her profile, though.

“When somebody recognizes you at a Dairy Queen in Texas, you’re a star,” she said.

Duvall also appeared in the popular sci-fi comedy “Time Bandits,” Woody Allen’s landmark Oscar-winning comedy “Annie Hall” and as Steve Martin’s friend in 1987’s “Roxanne,” a modern take on “Cyrano de Bergerac.”

After appearing in 2002’s “Manna from Heaven,” Duvall would not act onscreen again until 2023’s “The Forest Hills.”

While mostly known for her work in cinema, Duvall also earned two Emmy Award nominations, one for "Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories" and another for "Tall Tales & Legends."

She also recorded the children’s album “Sweet Dreams” in 1981 before she produced, narrated and starred in Showtime’s “Faerie Tale Theatre,” which won a Peabody Award in 1985.

In 2016, her health took center stage when she appeared on “Dr. Phil,” and said she was mentally ill, in an appearance that made headlines for some of the claims she made, including her belief that her "Popeye" co-star Williams was not dead.

“I found out the kind of person he is the hard way,” Duvall said in the interview. “My mother didn’t like him, either. A lot of people, like Dan (Gilroy, her partner), said, ‘You shouldn’t have done that, Shelley.’“

DUVALL, Shelley (Shelley Alexis Duvall)

Born: 7/7/1949, Ft. Worth Texas, U.S.A.

Died: 7/11/2024, Blanco, Texas, U.S.A.

 

Shelley Duvall’s westerns – producer, actress, host:

McCabe & Mrs. Miller – 1971 (Ida Coyle)

Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson – 1976 (Mrs. Cleveland)

Tall Tales & Legends (TV) – 1985-1986 [producer, host]