Robert Altman’s protegé Shelley Duvall has died aged 75
RIP Shelley Duvall, star of Stanley Kubrick’s, The Shining
Robert Altman’s protegé Shelley Duvall has died aged 75. A star in some of his most celebrated feature films, such as Brewster Mcleod (her screen debut) McCabe & Mrs Miller (with Julie Christie and Warren Beatty) Thieves Like Us, Nashville, Buffalo Bill & the Indians, Popeye (with Robin Williams as Popeye) and Three Women (with Sissy Spacek) for which she won Best Actress at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. All produced during Altman’s ‘Golden Age’ of filmmaking from 1970 until 1980. Duvall’s finest cameo roles were seen in Woody Allen’s 1977 Oscar Winning film Annie Hall, starring Diane Keaton, and in Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits from 1981.
Duvall, however, remains best known for her starring role of 1980 in Stanley Kubrick’s, British-based production of Stephen King’s Horror Story, The Shining, starring Jack Nicholson. A decade after The Shining, Duvall set-up her own Production Company called Think Entertainment, based in Texas, producing and starring in celebrated Cable Syndicated Children’s TV Programming. All going under the banner of ‘Fairytale Theatre’ for which she won two Emmys. She then withdrew from mainstream filmmaking for just over twenty years, but returned last year to star in her final lead role as ‘Mama’ in the award winning film The Forest Hills.
On March 12th, 2020, The Austin Texas Film Society honoured Shelley Duvall at The Annual Texas Film Awards for her work as an Actress, Producer, and Writer. The organisers produced this superb Tribute Reel as a testament to her life’s work, which you can view here
Many people are deemed to be unique, but, in this instance, Shelley Duvall wholly deserves that particular accolade. She remains one-of-a-kind. The female face of 1970’s American Independent Cinema. RIP Shelley Duvall. Long may you be remembered as a shining American film star.
