The beloved actress passed away on Thursday, July 11, at her home in Blanco, Texas, as confirmed by her partner.
Shelley Duvall, a star known for her roles in iconic films like The Shining, has died just a few days after celebrating her 75th birthday. Dan Gilroy, her partner, shared that Duvall passed away at home in Blanco, Texas. Reports from The Hollywood Reporter and The New York Times indicate she succumbed to complications from diabetes.
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Gilroy expressed, “My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us. Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley.”
Director Scott Goldberg, who collaborated with Duvall on her final film The Forest Hills in 2023, also opened up. He remarked, “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.”
Born on July 7, 1949, in Fort Worth, Texas, Duvall initially considered a career in science. However, her path changed dramatically when she was discovered by three crew members from director Robert Altman’s 1970 film Brewster McCloud during a party in Houston, where her then-fiancé Bernard Sampson was displaying artwork, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The crew members invited Duvall to what turned out to be a secret casting call for Altman’s film. This led to her first on-screen role in Brewster McCloud.
She continued to work with the director, in films like in 1971’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller, 1974’s Thieves Like Us and 1975’s Nashville.
In an interview in 2023, Duvall mentioned that after working on Thieves Like Us, Altman praised her talent, saying, “I knew you were good, but I didn’t know you were great.” This encouragement inspired her to continue her acting career.
Throughout the 1970s, Duvall appeared in more than a dozen films and TV shows, including a notable role in 1977’s Annie Hall. However, it was her performance in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror classic The Shining that cemented her status as a Hollywood icon.
The Shining, which required a grueling 56-week shoot and set a Guinness World Record for most retakes for one scene with dialogue, featured Duvall and Jack Nicholson in the film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. The production proved to be incredibly challenging.
Duvall shared her experiences from the set with The Hollywood Reporter in February 2021, recalling, “[Kubrick] doesn’t print anything until at least the 35th take. Thirty-five takes, running and crying and carrying a little boy, it gets hard.”
To prepare for emotionally intense scenes, Duvall would listen to sad music or reflect on personal sorrows. But the constant emotional strain took its toll.
“After a while, your body rebels. It says: ‘Stop doing this to me. I don’t want to cry every day.’ Sometimes just that thought alone would make me cry,” she revealed. “I would wake up on a Monday morning so early and realize that you had to cry all day because it was scheduled—I’d just start crying. I’d be like, ‘Oh no, I can’t, I can’t.’ And yet I did it. I don’t know how I did it.” Even Jack Nicholson commended her resilience, noting, ‘I don’t know how you do it.’”
The Shining shot Duvall to stardom. “When somebody recognizes you at a Dairy Queen in Texas, you’re a star,” she said in 1981.
Duvall tallied some 40 more television and film roles in the two-plus decades after The Shining’s release, and she turned toward producing in the ’80s with children’s anthology series like Tall Tales & Legends and Faerie Tale Theatre, the latter of which she convinced stars like Robin Williams, Teri Garr, Jeff Bridges, Mick Jagger and Liza Minnelli to appear on, according to the Los Angeles Times. The series won her a Peabody Award in 1984.
In 1987, she shared, “Producing allows you to take control of your life. You don’t have that kind of control in acting. You don’t have to wait for someone to offer you a part. You can get things going by yourself.”
“I like producing better,” she continued. “Acting doesn’t promote sanity. I don’t ever want to lose my joy in life. I guess I’ve got a bit of the Peter Pan syndrome. I don’t ever want to lose my innocence or my dreams.” Duvall earned two Emmy nominations for her children’s TV productions.
The actress retreated from the public eye after the early 2000s and did not partake in film projects for two decades following 2002’s Manna from Heaven.
In 2016, Duvall appeared on the Dr. Phil show, a move that faced backlash for exploiting her mental health challenges. Reflecting on the experience in 2021, she told The Hollywood Reporter, “I found out the kind of person he is the hard way.”
Duvall made a triumphant return to acting in the 2023 independent horror film The Forest Hills, which was directed remotely by Scott Goldberg. “Acting again—it’s so much fun. It enriches your life,” she shared.
Duvall was previously married to artist Bernard Sampson from 1970 until 1974, and later dated musician Paul Simon in the ‘70s before starting her long-term relationship with Gilroy in the late 1980s.
