Shelley Duvall

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Shelley Duvall
Shelley Duvall Bernice Bobs Her Hair 1977.JPG
Duvall in Bernice Bobs Her Hair, 1977
Born
Shelley Alexis Duvall

(1949-07-07) July 7, 1949 (age 72)
Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1970–2002
Works
Full list
Spouse(s)
Bernard Sampson
​
​
(m. 1970; div. 1974)​
Partner(s)Paul Simon (1976–1978)
Dan Gilroy (1989–present)

Shelley Alexis Duvall (born July 7, 1949) is a former American actress and television producer, who is known for her portrayals of distinct, eccentric characters. Her accolades include a Cannes Film Festival Award, a Peabody Award and nominations for two BAFTA Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards.

Duvall began her acting career in the 1970s, appearing in various films by director Robert Altman, including Brewster McCloud (1970), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), Thieves Like Us (1974) and Nashville (1975), the latter of which brought her recognition. She had her breakthrough with the thriller 3 Women (1977), also directed by Altman, for which she earned critical acclaim, receiving the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and also earning a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She also had a supporting role in Annie Hall (1977). In the 1980s, Duvall starred in lead roles as Olive Oyl in Altman's Popeye (1980) and Wendy Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's horror film The Shining (1980). She subsequently appeared in Terry Gilliam's fantasy film Time Bandits (1981), the short comedy horror film Frankenweenie (1984), and the comedy Roxanne (1987).

Duvall ventured into producing television programming aimed at children and youth; she created, hosted and appeared in Faerie Tale Theatre (1982–1987) and Tall Tales & Legends (1985–1987), the latter of which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 1988, followed by the young adult-aimed horror series Nightmare Classics (1989), which she created and produced. In the 1990s Duvall continued to appear in film, including supporting roles in Steven Soderbergh's thriller The Underneath (1995) and the Henry James adaptation The Portrait of a Lady (1996), directed by Jane Campion. Her last performance was in Manna from Heaven (2002), after which she retired from acting.

Early life[]

Shelley Alexis Duvall was born on July 7, 1949,[1] in Fort Worth, Texas,[2][3] the first child of Bobbie Ruth Crawford (née Massengale, 1929–2020), a real estate broker, and Robert Richardson "Bobby" Duvall (1919–1994), a cattle auctioneer-turned-lawyer (not to be confused with actor Robert Duvall, to whom Shelley is not closely related).[3][4] Duvall has three younger brothers: Scott, Shane, and Stewart.[5]

Duvall spent her first years living in various locations throughout Texas due to her father's work, before the family settled in Houston when she was five years old.[3] Duvall was an artistic and energetic young child, eventually earning the nickname "Manic Mouse" from her mother.[6] She also became interested in science at a young age, and as a teenager aspired to become a scientist.[3] After graduating from Waltrip High School in 1967,[7] Duvall sold cosmetics at Foley's and attended South Texas Junior College, where she majored in nutrition and diet therapy.[6]

Career[]

1970s[]

Duvall alongside Keith Carradine in Nashville (1975)

Around 1970, she met Robert Altman at a party while he was shooting Brewster McCloud (1970) on location in Texas.[3] Several crew members on the film were fascinated by Duvall's upbeat presence and unique physical appearance, and asked her to be part of the feature.[3] Duvall reflected on committing to the project: "I got tired of arguing, and thought maybe I am an actress. They told me to come. I simply got on a plane and did it. I was swept away."[1] Duvall had never left Texas before Altman offered her a role. She flew to Hollywood and subsequently appeared in the film as the free-spirited love interest to Bud Cort's reclusive Brewster.[1][8]/

Altman subsequently chose Duvall for roles as an unsatisfied mail-order bride in McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), and the daughter of a convict and mistress to Keith Carradine's character in Thieves Like Us (1974). Next, Duvall appeared as a spaced-out groupie in Altman's ensemble comedy Nashville (1975), which was a critical and commercial success, and a sympathetic Wild West woman in Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976). The same year, Duvall left Altman to star as Bernice, a wealthy girl from Wisconsin in PBS's adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story Bernice Bobs Her Hair (1976).[9] She also hosted an evening of Saturday Night Live and appeared in five sketches: "Programming Change", "Video Vixens", "Night of the Moonies", "Van Arguments" and "Goodnights".[10]

In 1977, Duvall starred as Mildred "Millie" Lammoreaux in Robert Altman's psychological thriller 3 Women, portraying a woman living in a dreary California desert town. Although there was a written screenplay, Duvall, like other cast members, improvised many of her lines.[11] In spite of the film not being a major box-office success, it received critical acclaim,[12] and Duvall's performance was lauded by critics. Texas Monthly critics Marie Brenner and Jesse Kornbluth praised Duvall for giving an "extraordinary performance". Her performance garnered the award for Best Actress at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival and the LAFCA Award for Best Actress, as well as a BAFTA nomination.[13] She next appeared in a minor role in Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977).

1980s[]

Duvall in 1977

Duvall's next role was that of Wendy Torrance in The Shining (1980), directed by Stanley Kubrick. Jack Nicholson states in the documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures that Kubrick was great to work with but that he was "a different director" with Duvall. Because of Kubrick's methodical nature, principal photography took a year to complete. The film's script was changed so often that Nicholson stopped reading each draft. In order to give The Shining the psychological horror it needed, Kubrick antagonized his actors, and Kubrick and Duvall argued frequently. Kubrick intentionally isolated Duvall, and she was forced to perform the exhausting baseball bat scene 127 times. Afterwards, Duvall presented Kubrick with clumps of hair that had fallen out due to the extreme stress of filming.[14] In an interview with Roger Ebert, she said making the film was "Almost unbearable. But from other points of view, really very nice, I suppose."[15]

Reception of Duvall's performance in The Shining has been mixed; initially, it was critically panned, earning Duvall a Golden Raspberry nomination, however in more recent years she has received praise for it, as Vulture Magazine wrote in 2019: "...looking into Duvall's huge eyes from the front row of a theater, I found myself riveted by a very poignant form of fear. Not the fear of an actor out of her element, or the more mundane fear of a victim being chased around by an ax-wielding maniac. Rather, it was something far more disquieting, and familiar: the fear of a wife who's experienced her husband at his worst, and is terrified that she'll experience it again."[16]

When Duvall was in London shooting The Shining, Robert Altman cast her to portray Olive Oyl in his big-screen adaptation of Popeye, opposite Robin Williams. The film was a critical and commercial success,[17][18] and Duvall was praised for her performance. Film critic Roger Ebert stated that it was a role she was "born to play": "Shelley Duvall is like a precious piece of china with a tinkling personality. She looks and sounds like almost nobody else, and if it is true that she was born to play the character Olive Oyl (and does so in Altman's new musical Popeye), it is also true that she has possibly played more really different kinds of characters than almost any other young actress of the 1970s."[19]

Her role of Pansy in Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits (1981) followed. Shortly before the release of the film, it was reported that Duvall and actor Stanley Wilson (who portrayed the town barber in Popeye) were set to marry. However, no further reports were released regarding this.[20] In 1982, Duvall narrated, hosted and was executive producer of the children's television program Faerie Tale Theatre. She starred in seven episodes of the series; "Rumpelstiltskin" (1982), "Rapunzel" (1983), "The Nightingale" (1983), "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1984), "Puss in Boots" (1985), and "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" (1986). Since the program's first episode "The Frog Prince", which starred Robin Williams and Teri Garr, Duvall produced 27 hour-long episodes of the program. In 1985, she created Tall Tales & Legends, another one-hour anthology series for Showtime, which featured adaptations of American folk tales. As with Faerie Tale Theatre, the series starred well-known Hollywood actors with Duvall as host, executive producer, and occasional guest star. The series ran for nine episodes and garnered Duvall an Emmy nomination.

While Duvall was producing Faerie Tale Theatre, it was reported that she was to star as the lead in the film adaptation of Tom Robbins’s Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, which was to star Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, Cindy Hall and Sissy Spacek.[21] The project was delayed and when finally released in 1993, starred an entirely different cast. She also landed roles in films and television series: the mother of a boy whose dog is struck by car in Tim Burton's short film Frankenweenie (1984), and as Laura Burroughs in Booker (also 1984), a biographical television short based on the life of Booker T. Washington, directed by Stan Lathan.[22] Next, Duvall appeared a lonely and timid woman who receives a message from a flying saucer in The Twilight Zone episode "The Once and Future King/A Saucer of Loneliness", and the friend of Steve Martin's character in the comedy Roxanne (1987).

In 1988, Duvall founded a new production company called Think Entertainment to develop programs and television movies for cable channels. She created Nightmare Classics (1989), a third Showtime anthology series that featured adaptations of well-known horror stories by authors including Edgar Allan Poe.[23] Unlike the previous two series, Nightmare Classics was aimed at a teenage and adult audience.[23] It was the least successful series that Duvall produced for Showtime and ran for only four episodes.[23]

1990s[]

In 1991, Duvall portrayed Jenny Wilcox, the wife of Charlie Wilcox (Christopher Lloyd) in the Hulk Hogan action-adventure film Suburban Commando.[24] In October that year, Duvall released two compact discs, Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall... Sweet Dreams that features Duvall singing lullaby songs and Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall... Merry Christmas, on which Duvall sings Christmas songs.[25][26]

The following year, Think Entertainment joined the newly formed Universal Family Entertainment to create Duvall's fourth Showtime original series, Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories,[27] which featured animated adaptations of children's storybooks with celebrity narrators and garnered her a second Emmy nomination. Duvall produced a fifth series for Showtime, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, before selling Think Entertainment in 1993 and retiring as a producer. Duvall's production work gained her six CableACE Awards and one Peabody Award. A year later, Duvall landed a guest spot on the television series L.A. Law as Margo Stanton, a show dog owner and breeder who presses charges against the owner of a Welsh Corgi that mated with her prize-winning Afghan Hound.[28]

Duvall subsequently appeared as the vain, over-friendly, but harmless Countess Gemini—sister to the calculating Gilbert Osmond (John Malkovich)—in Jane Campion's 1996 adaptation of the Henry James novel The Portrait of a Lady. A year later, she played a beatific nun in the comedy film Changing Habits and a besotted, murderous, ostrich-farm owner in Guy Maddin's fourth feature Twilight of the Ice Nymphs. The same year she played Chris Cooper's character's gullible wife who yearns for a better life in Horton Foote's made-for-television film, Alone. Duvall continued to make film and television appearances throughout the late-1990s. In 1998, she played Drew Barrymore's mother in the comedy Home Fries and Hilary Duff's aunt in the direct-to-video children's film Casper Meets Wendy. Near the end of the decade, she returned to the horror genre with a minor role in Tale of the Mummy (1998), co-starring Christopher Lee and Gerard Butler,[29] and The 4th Floor (1999), co-starring Juliette Lewis.[30]

2000s[]

In the 2000s, Duvall accepted minor roles, including as the mother of Matthew Lawrence's character in the horror-comedy Boltneck (2000) and as Haylie Duff's aunt in the independent family film Dreams in the Attic, which was sold to the Disney Channel but was never released.[31] Her most recent acting appearance was a small role in the 2002 independent film Manna from Heaven. Duvall has lived out of public view since her retirement in 2002.

Personal life[]

Duvall married artist Bernard Sampson in 1970.[3] Their marriage disintegrated as Duvall's acting career accelerated, leading to their divorce in 1974.[3]

While she was shooting Annie Hall in New York in 1976, Duvall met singer/songwriter Paul Simon. The couple began a relationship and lived together for two years. Their relationship ended when Duvall introduced Simon to her friend, actress Carrie Fisher; Fisher took up with Simon.[32]

Duvall has been in a relationship with musician and former Breakfast Club lead vocalist Dan Gilroy since 1989. The pair began their relationship while co-starring in the Disney Channel show Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme, which was also produced by Duvall.[33]

After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Duvall relocated from her Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, home to Blanco, Texas.[34][35][36] Duvall stated that when she returned to her home state of Texas in 1994 to shoot the Steven Soderbergh film The Underneath, she made the decision to move back to the state. Eight years later, in 2002, she retired from acting after 32 years in the business.[33]

In November 2016, Duvall agreed to be interviewed by Phil McGraw on his daytime talk show Dr Phil. After the show aired, USA Today reported that Duvall appeared to be suffering from a mental illness.[37] The segment received significant criticism from the public, with many suggesting that Duvall was being exploited.[38] Vivian Kubrick, daughter of director Stanley Kubrick, posted an open letter to Dr. Phil on Twitter,[39] while actress Mia Farrow tweeted that it was "upsetting and unethical to exploit Shelley Duvall at this vulnerable time in her life".[40] Director Lee Unkrich also saw the episode, and was able to locate her in 2018. The two have become friends, and Unkrich has stated that Duvall remains very proud of her career.[33]

In February 2021, Seth Abramovitch, a writer for The Hollywood Reporter located Duvall for an interview stating that "I only knew that it didn't feel right for McGraw's insensitive sideshow to be the final word on her legacy."[41] In the extensive interview, Duvall stated that the show had repeatedly reached out to offer inpatient treatment but that she had declined. The article noted that her memory was "sharp and full of engrossing stories".[42] With regard to The Shining, Duvall spoke of the emotional toll of performing the role of Wendy Torrance and the challenges of long days on the set, but stated that Kubrick was "very warm and friendly" to her. Anjelica Huston, who was dating Jack Nicholson at the time, believed that Duvall was fully committed to the role and had even rented a small apartment in order to be close to the set.[33]

Filmography[]

Main article: Shelley Duvall filmography

Discography[]

  • Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall...Sweet Dreams (1991)
  • Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall...Merry Christmas (1991)

Awards and nominations[]

Year Work Award Category Result
1977 3 Women Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Actress Won
Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Won
National Society of Film Critics Best Actress Runner-up
New York Film Critics Circle Best Actress Runner-up
1978 BAFTA Award Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated
1981 The Shining Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Actress Nominated
1984 Faerie Tale Theatre Peabody Award Herself Won
1988 Tall Tales & Legends Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Children's Program Nominated
1992 Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) Nominated
1998 The Adventures of Shirley Holmes Gemini Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Guest Role Dramatic Series Nominated

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Taylor, Clarke (November 6, 1977). "How Did Shelley Duvall Become a Star?". Boca Raton News. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  2. ^ Colacello, Bob; Warhol, Andy (November 30, 2016) [1981]. "Shelley Duvall Before 'The Shining'". Interview. Archived from the original on August 14, 2019.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Kort, Michele (December 15, 1991). "Shelley Duvall Grows Up: There's a Lot of the Kid Left in the Tenacious Producer Who Put Cable on the Map and Breathed New Life into Children's TV". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles.
  4. ^ Kleiner, Dick (July 12, 1992). "Ask Dick". Santa Maria Times. Santa Maria, CA. p. C2 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Klemesrud, Judy (March 23, 1977). "Shelley Duvall, An Unlikely Star" (PDF). The New York Times.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "Shelley Duvall". Biography.com. The Biography Channel. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  7. ^ "Waltrip Alumni Association, Inc. - Shelley Duvall - Actress/Producer". www.waltripalumni.org.
  8. ^ Dingus, Anne (July 1999). "What Part Did Shelley Duvall Beat Out Gilda Radner For?". Texas Monthly. Archived from the original on May 27, 2014. Retrieved May 25, 2014.
  9. ^ Hischak, Thomas S. (2014). American Literature on Stage and Screen: 525 Works and Their Adaptations. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-786-49279-4.
  10. ^ "Season 2: Episode 21". Saturday Night Live Transcripts. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  11. ^ Sterritt, David. "3 Women: Dream Project". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  12. ^ "Movie Reviews". The New York Times. November 23, 2020. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  13. ^ "BAFTA Awards Search: 1978 Film Actress". BAFTA Awards. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  14. ^ "Roles that Drove Actors Over the Edge", Shelly Duvall: The Shining, http://www.looper.com/1970/roles-drove-actors-edge/ Accessed 3 November 2015.
  15. ^ Ebert, Roger (December 14, 1980). "Interview with Shelley Duvall". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on April 23, 2015.
  16. ^ Ebiri, Bilge (November 8, 2019). "The Discomforting Legacy of Wendy Torrance". Vulture. Retrieved November 22, 2020.
  17. ^ "Popeye". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  18. ^ "Gene Siskel Movie Review—POPEYE + Peanuts Cartoon (12-12-80)". Chicago Tribune. December 12, 1980. p. 31. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  19. ^ Ebert, Roger (January 4, 1981). "Shelley Duvall Was Ripe for Role of Olive". The New York Times.
  20. ^ "Shelley Duvall Announces Plans to Marry This Year". St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, Florida. April 13, 1981.
  21. ^ Wilson, Earl (November 25, 1981). "It's Thumbs Up for Shelley Duvall". The Milwaukee Sentinel.
  22. ^ "Booker (1984)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on August 14, 2019.
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b c Nanwalt, Sasha (August 6, 1989). "Television; Shelley Duvall Tries Scaring Up A New Audience". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 4, 2014. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
  24. ^ "Shelley Duvall Filmography". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on August 14, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  25. ^ "Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall...Sweet Dreams by Shelley Duvall". MTV. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  26. ^ "Shelley Duvall Discography". MTV. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  27. ^ "Shelley Duvall turns to entertainment for children". Entertainment Weekly. May 15, 1992. Archived from the original on September 9, 2017. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  28. ^ "LA Law Season 8 Episode 19 :: "Tunnel of Love"". Youtube.com. Youtube.com. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  29. ^ "Talos, the Mummy". Screen Daily. April 25, 2000. Archived from the original on May 9, 2020.
  30. ^ McDonagh, Maitland. "The 4th Floor". TV Guide. Archived from the original on May 9, 2020.
  31. ^ Bro Bob. "Actress Haylie Duff - The Beginning". haileyduff.com. Retrieved October 3, 2016. ... the sad thing was that all these efforts never resulted in the film being sold to anyone.
  32. ^ Armstrong, Lois (March 16, 1981). "Olive's Wasn't the Only 'Popeye' Love Story—Shelley Duvall Snagged a Prince Charming Too". People. Archived from the original on April 16, 2014.
  33. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Abramovitch, Seth (February 11, 2021). "Searching for Shelley Duvall: The Reclusive Icon on Fleeing Hollywood and the Scars of Making 'The Shining'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  34. ^ Horowitz, Joy (April 21, 1992). "Shelley Duvall and the Tales She Tells to Children". The New York Times.
  35. ^ "Shelley Duvall". Texas Monthly. July 1, 1999.
  36. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Interview with Shelley Duvall". Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  37. ^ "'Shining' actress Shelley Duvall tells Dr. Phil she's mentally ill". USA Today. November 16, 2017. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  38. ^ De Moraes, Lisa (November 18, 2016). "'Dr. Phil' Airs Hour Of Ill & Confused Shelley Duvall For November Sweep Broadcast, Triggering Hollywood Outrage". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 23, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  39. ^ Kubrick, Vivian. "My Letter to you Dr Phil". Twitter. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  40. ^ Farrow, Mia. "To Dr. Phil". Twitter. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  41. ^ Lattanzio, Ryan (February 13, 2021). "Shelley Duvall Recalls Troubling 'Dr. Phil' Interview, Finding Out Who He Was 'the Hard Way'". IndieWire. Penske Business Media, LLC. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  42. ^ Dawn, Randee. "Shelley Duvall speaks out on controversial 'Dr. Phil' interview, 'Shining' trauma". Today. NBC. Retrieved February 25, 2021.

External links[]

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