‘The Shining’ actress Shelley Duvall dead at 75
Shelley Duvall, the actress best known for “The Shining,” has died. She was 75.
Duvall died in her sleep from complications from diabetes at her home in Texas, according to her longtime partner, Breakfast Club musician Dan Gilroy.
“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 to the Hollywood Reporter Thursday.
Duvall was born and raised in Texas. In 1970, she met director Robert Altman at a party and he asked her to be in his movie “Brewster McCloud,” which marked her first onscreen role.
“I simply got on a plane and did it. I was swept away,” she said in a past interview.
Duvall went on to star in more 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.”
She talked about collaborating with Altman (who died in 2006) in an interview with the New York Times in 1977. “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,” she said.
Duvall was also in 1977’s “Annie Hall” directed by Woody Allen.
Her biggest role was in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 psychological horror film “The Shining.”
Duvall played Wendy Torrance, who is tormented by her husband Jack (Jack Nicholson). Jack loses his mind as the couple and their son Danny (Danny Lloyd) stay at an isolated hotel in Colorado.
She told People in 1981 that she was “crying 12 hours a day for weeks on end” when making the movie.
“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 added.
She opened up more about the difficult filming experience to the Hollywood Reporter in 2021.
“[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 said. “And full performance from the first rehearsal. That’s difficult.”
She said before filming scenes she would “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 added. “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.’ “
Following “The Shining,” Duvall appeared in “Popeye,” “Time Bandits,” “Suburban Commando,” “The Portrait of a Lady” and more.
She also produced and created various children’s shows, which earned her two Emmy Award nominations.
Duvall retired from acting in 2002 after starring in “Manna From Heaven,” but then returned to the big screen for the 2023 indie horror movie “The Forest Hills,” which marked her final acting role.
In 2016, Duvall revealed her mental health struggles on an episode of “Dr. Phil,” declaring, “I’m very sick … I need help.”
During her appearance, Duvall claimed that her “Popeye” co-star Robin Williams — who died in 2014 — was still alive as a shapeshifter. She also claimed there was a “worrying disc” inside of her.
Gilroy initially didn’t know that she participated in the “Dr. Phil” interview.
“It did nothing for her,” he told the New York Times. “It just put her on the map as an oddity.”
He added: “Things went downhill when she started becoming afraid of things, maybe didn’t want to work. It’s really hard to pin it on any one thing.”
Duvall briefly spoke about the sit-down to THR in 2021. “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,’ ” she said.
A spokesperson for the “Dr. Phil” show released a statement to the outlet in response.
“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 read.
“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.”
In that same 2021 NYT interview, Duvall looked back on her career and her decision to walk away from acting.
“I was a star; I had leading roles,” she told the publication. “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.”
Duvall was married to artist Bernard Sampson from 1970 to 1974. She was then in a two-year relationship with singer Paul Simon. They broke up before Duvall started dating Gilroy in 1989.
Duvall didn’t have any children.
