The accomplished actress Shelley Duvall, who has passed away in Texas at 75 years old, was an iconic figure in the budding New Hollywood era that took root in the early 1970s, with its unrefined and irreverent style. With a profound ability for portraying raw emotion, often jarringly candid due to her seeming vulnerability, she validated the shifting perspective that top actresses no longer needed to exhibit a polished, contrived image, a notion influenced by the countercultural wave of the 1960s.
Her most successful blockbuster after receiving praise for her collaborations with Robert Altman, was her role in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). Her career had its peaks and valleys which were emphasised by a tabloid culture that seemed to revel in targeting women who didn’t fit the mould. Despite this, Duvall’s life ended on a reconciliatory note, sealing her legacy as an icon of artistic individuality.
Discovered by Altman and his crew in her native Houston, she was deemed worthy of an audition. Duvall made her screen debut in Altman’s Brewster McCloud and subsequently featured in another six films with the director, including the chilling 3 Women, which resulted in her winning the best actress accolade at the 1977 Cannes film festival. It is noteworthy that Altman consistently cast her in varied roles, never twice in a similar one. She portrayed a fawning fan in the bustling epic Nashville, and a mail-order spouse in the unconventional western McCabe & Mrs Miller, and gave a touching performance as a woman who falls for a bank robber in Thieves Like Us. Her Nashville co-star, Lily Tomlin, commented that her performances in Altman films, particularly Thieves, were “simply extraordinary,” adding, “Her portrayal was endearing, comedic and tragic. It completely moved me.”
After her success in Cannes, Shelley Duvall seemed set for a lasting career, even amidst Hollywood’s growing interest in mainstream Spielberg-style productions. Early in her career, Stanley Kubrick chose her for the role of Wendy, the wife of Jack Nicholson’s deranged character, in ‘The Shining’. As typical of Kubrick’s obsessive approach, the iconic scene of her receding with a baseball bat was reportedly done in a record-breaking 127 takes. Despite indications of hardship, Duvall dispelled rumours that she was subjected to torment by the director. “He was incredibly kind and approachable,” she said. “He spent extensive time with Jack and myself, often engaging in long conversations as the crew waited.”
Shockingly, her stellar performance, now recognized as one of the all-time best, had earned her a nomination for ‘worst actress’ at the inaugural Razzie Awards. Four decades later, the Razzie organisation was forced to retract the nomination. By this time, Duvall had endured a frustrating pattern of misunderstanding and reevaluation.
In the ’90s, she left the Hollywood scene for Texas and, in 2016, she made a distressing appearance on a widely criticised episode of Dr Phil McGraw’s show.
On referring to the experience with McGraw in 2021, Duvall said, “I discovered his true character the hard way. Many people commented, ‘Shelley, you should not have done that.'”
A profile by Seth Abramovitch in the Hollywood Reporter helped to rectify misconceptions about her, portraying Duvall as a gentle woman who gracefully handled past ill-treatment.
It speaks volumes that there was no ‘Shelley Duvall clone’. There was only one, unique Shelley Duvall.