Shelley Duvall, Star of ‘The Shining’ and ‘Nashville,’ Dies at 75
Shelley Duvall, whose lithesome features and quirky screen personality made her one of the biggest film stars of the 1970s, appearing in a string of movies by the director Robert Altman and, perhaps most memorably, opposite Jack Nicholson in “The Shining,” died on Thursday at her home in Blanco, Texas. She was 75.
A family spokesman said the cause was complications of diabetes.
Ms. Duvall wasn’t planning on a film career when she met Mr. Altman while he was filming “Brewster McCloud” (1970); she had thrown a party to sell her husband’s artwork, and members of his film crew were in attendance. Taken with her, they introduced her to Mr. Altman, a director with his own reputation for oddball movies and offbeat casting. He immediately asked her to join the cast, despite her lack of training.
She said yes — and went on to appear in an unbroken string of five more movies directed by Mr. Altman: “McCabe and Mrs. Miller” (1971), “Thieves Like Us” (1974), “Nashville” (1975), “Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson” (1976) and “Three Women” (1977). She also starred as Olive Oyl opposite Robin Williams in “Popeye” (1980).
“I thought: boy, if it’s this easy, why doesn’t everybody act?” she told The New York Times in April.
Her work with Mr. Altman cemented Ms. Duvall’s career; with her gossamer frame and toothy smile, she was the go-to actress for any role that called for an out-of-the-ordinary performance.
She dated Paul Simon and Ringo Starr. She hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 1977. Photos of Ms. Duvall, often wearing a draping, sheer dress and holding a cigarette almost as long and thin as she was, became an enduring image of 1970s celebrity life.
But it was her appearance as Wendy Torrance in “The Shining” (1980) that, for many viewers, remains her most memorable role. In that movie, she and her husband, Jack (Mr. Nicholson), along with their son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), move into a mountainside hotel as caretakers while it is shut down for the winter.
