Iconic ‘70s Actress, Shelley Duvall, Passes Away at 75
The star is remembered for her great performances in films such as Popeye, The Shining, and 3 Women.
Shelley Duvall, the wide-eyed actress known for her role as Wendy Torrance in The Shining and who won the Cannes actress award for Robert Altman‘s 3 Women, died at 75 on Thursday, July 11 in Blanco, Texas.
Her partner Dan Gilroy told The Hollywood Reporter and Variety that she passed away at home from complications from diabetes.
Gilroy told The Hollywood Reporter, “My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us. Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley.”
Duvall was born on July 7, 1949 in Fort Worth, Texas and considered pursuing a career in science before being “discovered” by crew members on director Robert Altman’s 1970 film Brewster McCloud. The crew members invited Duvall to a secret casting call for Altman’s movie under the pretense of an event featuring “art patrons” attended by the director. This led to Duvall’s first on-screen appearance in Brewster McCloud. The actress went on to work with Altman in films like McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), Thieves Like Us (1974), and Nashville (1975).
“After Thieves Like Us, Robert looked at me and said, ‘I knew you were good, but I didn’t know you were great,” Duvall said in a 2023 interview with People. “It’s the reason I stuck with it and became an actress.”
Throughout Duvall’s career, she went on to appear in more than a dozen movies and television shows over the course of the ’70s, including her most famous role in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror film The Shining based on the Stephen King novel by the same name.
The film made Duvall a household name and she amounted approximately 40 more television and film roles in the two-plus decades after the release of The Shining. She later turned to producing in the ’80s with children’s series like Tall Tales & Legends and Faerie Tale Theatre which stars like Robin Williams, Mick Jagger, Jeff Bridges, and Liza Minnelli appeared on, and in 1984, the series won her a Peabody Award.
The actress then stepped out of the spotlight and did not work in movies for 20 years after the release of the 2002 film, Manna from Heaven. She made her return to the film industry in 2023 with the movie The Forest Hills which she filmed remotely and was directed over Zoom by writer-producer-director Scott Goldberg.
She is survived by her brothers Scott, Stewart, Shane, and life partner, Gilroy.
