‘The Shining’ star Shelley Duvall dies aged 75

11 July, 2024

Shelley Duvall (Photo by Reg Innell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Shelley Duvall – most known for her role as Wendy Torrance in 1980’s The Shining – has died at the age of 75.

Her passing was confirmed by her long-time partner Dan Gilroy who told The Hollywood Reporter that she died in her sleep of complications from diabetes at her home in Blanco, Texas today (July 11).

“My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us. Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley,” Gilroy told the outlet.

Duvall was known for her work with director Robert Altman, who cast her in 1970’s Brewster McCloud as her first on screen role. From there, she went on to appear in films such as McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), Thieves Like Us (1974) and Nashville (1975).

“Despite being dogged with exaggerations of her treatment on set, Shelley was always vocal about her experience filming The Shining saying she ‘wouldn’t trade it for anything’ because ‘working with loveable Stanley was a fascinating learning experience,’” the official X/Twitter account of the late director Stanley Kubrick wrote. “Our thoughts are with Shelley’s friends and family.”

Scott Goldberg, the director of 2023’s The Forrest Hills which was Duvall’s final film also paid tribute to the late actress. “Shelley leaves behind an amazing legacy and will be missed by so many people, myself included. I am proud of her for overcoming adversity to act again and will always be forever grateful for her friendship and kindness,” he told People.

Sabrina Grdevich of the Netflix series Ginny & Georgia commented on The Hollywood Reporter’s Instagram post about Duvall’s death writing: “Ohhhh how I adored her. Rest sweet Shelley.”

Mike Drucker also paid tribute to the late actress. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon writer took to his official X/Twitter account and tweeted: “Shelley Duvall was such a massive talent and played such a huge role in developing my imagination as a kid. Gonna watch this on loop today. RIP.”

Following the attention she received in Nashville, she was then cast in 1976’s Buffalo Bill and the Indians and 3 Women. Her role in the latter won her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress as well as a BAFTA nomination. Duvall also had a role in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall (1977) as Pam, a journalist for Rolling Stone.

Three years later, Duvall would go on to land the role of Wendy Torrance in Kubrick’s The Shinning, co-starring alongside Jack Nicholson.

Speaking about her role in the film back in December of 1980, Duvall told Roger Ebert: “Going through day after day of excruciating work was almost unbearable. Jack Nicholson’s character had to be crazy and angry all the time. And in my character I had to cry 12 hours a day, all day long, the last nine months straight, five or six days a week. I was there a year and a month, and there must be something to primal scream therapy, because after the day was over and I’d cried for my 12 hours … After all that work, hardly anyone even criticized my performance in it, even to mention it, it seemed like. The reviews were all about Kubrick, like I wasn’t there.”

Terrified Shelley Duvall in lobby card for the film 'The Shining', 1980. (Photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Images)
Terrified Shelley Duvall in lobby card for the film ‘The Shining’, 1980. (Photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Images)

The Shining required more than a year of shooting and saw Kubrick push Duvall to her limit. Some of her scenes in the film required over 100 takes, with the baseball sequence landing in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most takes of a scene with dialogue.

In 1980, she also starred as Olive Oyl in Altman’s Popeye alongside the late Robin Williams. She retired from acting in 2002.

Following her retirement from acting, Duvall lived a reclusive life. In 2016, she appeared on an episode of Dr. Phill which received negative publicity for sensationalizing her struggles with mental health.

In 2021, journalist Seth Abramovitch of The Hollywood Reporter travelled to Texas to interview Duvall, where she looked back at her career. She returned to the big screen in 2022 after two decades away with a role in The Forest Hills.

Duvall is survived by Gilroy and her brothers, Scott, Stewart and Shane.

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