Shelley Duvall
This likely isn’t breaking news to anyone who receives such alerts on their phones, but Shelley Duvall, the lanky, googly-eyed brunette who played opposite Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” — among many other unforgettable roles — died today due to complications from diabetes.
What one might not know is that Duvall was born in Fort Worth in 1949; a small bit of Fort Worth trivia I often enjoy sharing. But this would be Duvall’s only tie to Cowtown — I’ve previously had spirited debates over whether one’s birthplace constitutes a hometown. Regardless, she was far more than just an honorary Fort Worthian.
Staying true to such roots, Duvall was known as an unconventional movie star — her unusual looks even being categorized as homely and awkward. But, according to a 1977 New York Times interview, she didn’t let such blunt observations phase her. “I don’t think such remarks are cruel. That’s some people’s opinion. I know I’m not your stereo-type American beauty.” The writer, Ricki Fulman, went on to describe Duvall as a “real person.” “She speaks in a refreshingly real manner. Even her name is her real one.” Sounds like an honest-to-goodness Fort Worthian to us.
But the all-encompassing “Texan” is far more applicable for Duvall. Thanks to her father’s work as a cattle auctioneer-turned-lawyer, Duvall spent a good portion of her childhood hopping around the state. Her family would eventually settle in Houston, which is where her career took off when famed director Robert Altman discovered her while casting his 1970 film “Brewster McCloud.” Then working in the cosmetics department at a Foley’s, Duvall had met some of the film’s crewmembers while at a party to promote her then-husband’s art career. The director was clearly taken with Duvall’s happy-go-lucky demeanor and unconventional looks. To put it in a word, she would become his muse.
As Anne Dingus once wrote in a Texas Monthly piece from 1999, “No other character actress is quite as memorable as Shelley Duvall.” While her role as Wendy Torrance in Kubrick’s horror flick might be her most iconic, her partnership with Altman was no doubt her most prolific, yielding six films, including “Thieves Like Us,” “Nashville,” “3 Women,” and “Popeye,” in which she played the titular character’s love interest, Olive Oyl. Of the latter, Roger Ebert proclaimed it a role Duvall was “born to play.” Duvall would also receive the award for Best Actress at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival for her leading role in “3 Women.”
As movie roles dried up in the 80s and 90s, Duvall would pivot to producing children’s shows for cable television, which garnered her two Primetime Emmy nominations and a Peabody Award. Then, sometime in the early 2000s, Duvall left Hollywood and took refuge in the Texas Hill Country — which to Tinseltown is “off the face of the planet” — and never looked back.
But thanks to her enduring performances in iconic films, interest and speculation regarding her disappearance never waned. This would culminate in a highly criticized interview aired on “Dr. Phil” in 2016. No longer the rail thin, bubbly muse of Altman, it became clear in a very public manner that Duvall was struggling with mental illness.
Recently, a slew of profiles from the likes of The Hollywood Reporter and The New York Times, have done their part to repair Duvall’s image. The long-form pieces portrayed a thoughtful, kind woman who takes pride in her storied career and rejects notions that deep-seated trauma from her time on the set of “The Shining” had led to her Hollywood exit. Instead, it was to care for her brother who had been diagnosed with spinal cancer.
“Its’ the longest sabbatical I ever took,” she told Elaine Aradillas of People in February 2023. “But it was for really important reasons — to get in touch with my family again.”
In 2019, Duvall would receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women Film Critics Circle. And, in 2020, she was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame. Last year, Duvall returned to movies with “The Forest Hills,” on which she received second billing.
“I wanted to act again,” Duvall told Saskia Solomon of The New York Times when asked why she took on the project. “And then this guy kept calling, and so I wound up doing it.”
According to the film’s director, Scott Goldberg, “She was 100% a natural. It was as if time never passed.”
