The ‘Shining’ actress, protégé of Robert Altman, was 75 years old

Shelley Duvall in 1977’s “3 Women”

Courtesy of the Everett Collection

Shelley Duvall, the skinny, piercing-eyed girl who starred in seven films directed by her mentor, Robert Altman, and who dodged the axe wielded by an unhinged Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick The Brilliantdied on Thursday. She was 75 years old.

Duvall died in her sleep of complications from diabetes at her home in Blanco, Texas, said Dan Gilroy, her life partner since 1989. The Hollywood Reporter.

“My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend has left us. Too much suffering lately, now she is free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley,” Gilroy said.

In November 2016, a disheveled Duvall appeared on an episode of the syndicated talk show Dr. Phil and revealed that she suffered from mental illness. “I’m very sick. I need help,” she said. Four years later, THRSeth Abramovich visited him for a memorable story.

Before fleeing Hollywood for her native Texas in the mid-1990s, Duvall had a thriving career as a versatile, one-of-a-kind actress and as the head of her own production company, Think Entertainment, which created innovative, star-filled children’s programming for cable television that earned her two Emmy nominations.

While attending college in her hometown of Houston, Duvall was discovered by Altman staffers and convinced to take a drug test. She later made her screen debut as Suzanne Davis, a flirtatious teenage Astrodome tour guide, in Brewer McCloud (1970).

A decade later, Duvall sang and starred alongside Robin Williams as the iconic comic strip character Olive. Oilthe strong-willed damsel in distress in Altman’s live-action adaptation of Popeye.

In the meantime, the child star collaborated with Altman as a mail-order bride in McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971); as the woman who has a love affair with bank robber Keith in Mississippi Carradine In Thieves like us (1974); as LA groupie Joan, fond of mini-pants and platform shoes, in Nashville (1975); as the wife of President Grover Cleveland in Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976); and like Millie The loverA fantasizing attendant at a Palm Springs senior health spa in 3 women (1977).

Ask by The New York Times In 1977, she explained why she chose to continue working with Altman: “He gives me really good roles. None of them are alike. He has great confidence in me, he respects me, he doesn’t restrict me or intimidate me, and I love him.”

“I remember the first piece of advice he gave me: ‘Don’t take yourself so seriously.’ Sometimes I feel uncomfortable. egocentricand then suddenly this advice comes to mind and I laugh.

Altman once noted that Duvall “was capable of swinging the pendulum on all sides: charming, silly, sophisticated, pathetic, even handsome.”

She won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her portrayal of Millie.

For the film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel The BrilliantDuvall said she was put through her paces during the 13 months of filming in England. In the horror classic, she plays Wendy Torrance, a beleaguered woman who spends a harsh winter at the desolate Overlook Hotel with her writer husband (Nicholson) – who is slowly going mad – and their young son (Danny Lloyd).

Kubrick made her “cry 12 hours a day for weeks” she said in an interview with 1981 People review. “I’ll never give this much again. If you want to immerse yourself in pain and call it art, go ahead, but not with me.

Before a scene, she told Abramovich in January 2021 that she would put on a Sony Walkman and “listen to sad songs. Or you think about something really sad in your life or how much you miss your family or your friends. But after a while, your body rebels. It says, ‘Stop doing this to me. I don’t want to cry every day.’ And sometimes, just that thought would make me cry. Waking up on a Monday morning, so early, and realizing that you had to cry all day because you had to, I would start crying. I was like, ‘Oh no, I can’t, I can’t.’ And yet, I did it. I don’t know how I did it. Jack told me that too. He said, ‘I don’t know how you do it.’”

According to one report, she was forced to perform her iconic baseball bat scene an exhausting 127 times.

Memorable every time she appears on screen, Duvall has also performed a spacious Rock journalist in Woody Allen’s film Annie Hall (1977); appears as Pansy in amusing scenes with Michael Palin in Terry Gilliam’s film Time Bandits (1981); and played Dixie, Steve Martin’s supportive friend in Roxanne (1987).

Roger Ebert wrote in 1980 that Duvall “looks like almost no one else and talks like no one else…and has probably played more truly different types of characters than almost any other young actress in history.” 1970s.

“In all her roles, there is an openness about her, as if nothing had come between her open face and our eyes – no camera, dialoguethe makeup, the way of acting — and she spontaneously embodies the character.

She returned to film in 2022 after two decades of absence with a role in The forest hills.

Shelley Alexis Duvall was born in Fort Worth on July 7, 1949, the oldest of four children (and the only girl). Her parents, Bob, a livestock auctioneer turned attorney, and her mother, Bobbie, a real estate agent, brought the family to Houston when she was 5. She attended South Texas Junior College, where she studied to be a research scientist and became interested in nutrition.

At a party she threw for her fianceartist Bernard Sampson, she met members of Altman’s crew while they were in town for filming Brewer McCloudThey took her to meet director and producer Lou Adler, and they offered this awkward 20-year-old with a jagged upper jaw a role in the film.

Duvall, who had never traveled outside of Texas, initially declined but later agreed to do a screen test. “I got tired of talking and thought, ‘Maybe I’m an actress,'” she said.

Her resume would then include F. Scott Fitzgerald Bernice cuts her hair (1976) for PBS, Frankenweenie (1984), Change your habits (1997), Homemade fries (1998), Jeanne Campion Portrait of a Lady (1996), Suburban Commando (1991) and, in her last acting appearance for a while, Manna from heaven (2002).

In 1981, Duvall recorded Sweet Dreamsa children’s music album, and a year later Showtime bought his project which turned into a 26-episode Peabody Award-winning series Fairy Tale Theaterof which she was the executive producer, narrator and in which she appeared.

Three years later, she created Tales and legendsa one-hour anthology series, also for Showtime, which featured adaptations of American folk tales.

In both shows, Duvall persuaded The leading stars like Williams, Teri GarrEric Idle, Jeff Bridges, Mick JaggerLisa Minnelli and Vanessa Redgrave to work on a large scale. Both series have also been big sellers on video.

In 1987, she launched Think Entertainment, specializing in family entertainment such as Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories (with personalities like Bette MediumMichael J. Fox and Dudley Moore reciting classic children’s stories) and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggleand she produced television films, notably that of ABC The backfield in motionwith Roseanne and Tom Arnold.

Duvall married Sampson during the filming of Brewer McCloudbut they divorced after four years in 1974, shortly after arriving in Los Angeles.

She later dated musician Paul Simon, whom she met in New York around the time of Annie Hall (He also made a cameo appearance in the film). They lived together on Central Park West until he left her for his girlfriend, Carrie Fisher. (She said he broke the news to her as she was about to board the Concorde for London to work on The Brilliantand she cried the whole flight.)

Duvall also lived with Stan Wilson, who played Oscar the barber in Popeyebefore meeting singer-drummer Dan Gilroy, a member of the pop group Breakfast Club who had previously been Madonna’s boyfriend.

She and Gilroy fell in love after starring in the 1990 Disney Channel movie Rock’n’Rhyme by Mother GooseShe is also survived by her brothers, Scott, Stewart and Shane.

Seth Abramovich contributed to this report.