Credit: Warner Bros.Legendary horror actress Shelley Duvall has tragically died at the age of 75.
The actress – best known for playing Wendy Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s psychological horror The Shining (1980) – reportedly passed away today at her home in Blanco, Texas, according to her long-term partner, Dan Gilroy.
“My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us,” Gilroy told The Hollywood Reporter. “Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley.”
According to Gilroy, Duvall passed away in her sleep due to complications from her diabetes. She died just four days after her 75th birthday.
Duvall’s health problems have made headlines for years, especially since Duvall appeared on the talk show Dr. Phil in 2016 and revealed that she’s been suffering from mental illness. “I am very sick,” she said. “I need help.” Her appearance was heavily criticized, with Dr. Phil accused of exploiting Duvall for entertainment.
Multiple high-profile figures came forward to criticize Dr. Phil (who later commented that he had no regrets) in the wake of Duvall’s interview. Years later, Seth Abramovitch – a writer for The Hollywood Reporter – also interviewed Duvall for an interview, on the premise that “I only knew that it didn’t feel right for McGraw’s insensitive sideshow to be the final word on her legacy.”
Duvall’s breakout role was Wendy Torrance, but filming The Shining was notoriously difficult – primarily due to her relationship with Kubrick. The film’s star, Jack Nicholson, commented that Kubrick was “a different director” from Duvall, who was intentionally isolated throughout the shoot and forced to perform multiple takes, sometimes as many as 127 for a single scene.
The role of Wendy Torrance also generally took its toll on Duvall. Portraying the hunted wife of writer Jack Torrance (Nicholson), the last nine months of shooting required her to cry 12 hours a day, with Duvall admitting that it was “it was so difficult being hysterical for that length of time.”
She later also told film critic Roger Ebert that making the film was “almost unbearable. But from other points of view, really very nice, I suppose.”
Aside from The Shining, Duvall was protege to director Robert Altman (who cast her in seven of his films). Her most high-profile role was Olive Oyl, wife to Robin Williams’ eponymous character in Popeye (1980). While the film received negative reviews, Duvall’s performance was widely praised. “Shelley Duvall is like a precious piece of china with a tinkling personality,” wrote Ebert, who also claimed that it was a role she was “born to play.”
Her career was also marked by roles in Nashville (1975), Casper Meets Wendy (1998), and Annie Hall (1977). While filming the latter, Duvall met singer/songwriter Paul Simon. The pair went on to date and lived together for two years until Duvall introduced Simon to her friend, Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher (who was at the very beginning of her Princess Leia journey at the time) and the two started dating.
Duvall retired in 2002, having previously abandoned Los Angeles for her native Texas in 1994. In 2022, it was announced that Duvall was coming back out of retirement to star in an independent horror-thriller film, The Forest Hills (2023), directed and written by Scott Goldberg.
What’s your favorite performance from Shelley Duvall?