“The Shining” star Shelley Duvall has died at the age of 75, according to The Associated Press.
Duvall, who shot to international fame when she starred as Wendy Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s iconic 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s horror novel, died in her sleep of complications from diabetes at her home in Blanco, Texas, according to Dan Gilroy, her partner since 1989.
“My dear, sweet, wonderful life, partner, and friend left us last night,” Gilroy said in a statement. “Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away beautiful Shelley.”
Actress Shelley Duvall is seen on the set of “The Shining.” (Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)
Born on July 7, 1949 in Texas, Duvall was discovered at a young age by director Robert Altman, who cast her in “Brewster McCloud” in 1970. She went on to star in a number of his projects, including films “McCabe & Mrs. Miller,” “Thieves Like Us” and the musical comedy “Nashville” in 1975.
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Shelley Duvall died at the age of 75. (Getty Images/Digital Thunderdome)
In 1977, Duvall earned worldwide recognition for her role in Altman’s drama, “3 Women,” for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and earned a nomination for the British Academy Film Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
During a 1977 interview with The New York Times, Duvall said, “[Altman] offers me damn good roles. None of them have been alike. He has a great confidence in me, and a trust and respect for me, and he doesn’t put any restrictions on me or intimidate me, and I love him.”
Shelley Duvall took a significant break from acting much throughout the 2000s. (Getty Images)
It was not until the 1980s when Duvall really made a name for herself with her leading roles as Olive Oyl in Altman’s live-action feature, “Popeye,” and as Wendy Torrance in “The Shining,” with whom she starred alongside Jack Nicholson.
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Detailing her demanding schedule in filming “The Shining,” Duvall told The Hollywood Reporter: “After a while, your body rebels. It says: ‘Stop doing this to me. I don’t want to cry every day.’ And sometimes just that thought alone would make me cry. To wake up on a Monday morning, so early, and realize that you had to cry all day because it was scheduled — I would 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. Jack said that to me, too. He said, ‘I don’t know how you do it.’”
Shelley Duvall, circa 1975. (Getty Images)
Duvall eventually went on to produce a series of children’s shows with her production company, Think Entertainment, including “Faerie Tale Theatre,” “Tall Tales & Legends” and “Nightmare Classics.”
The former actress took a significant break for most of the 2000s, but returned to acting with a role in 2023’s “The Forest Hills.”
“Acting again — it’s so much fun. It enriches your life,” Duvall said during an interview with People magazine that year. “Jessica Tandy won an Oscar when she was 80. I can still win.”
From left to right, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd and Jack Nicholson portrayed a troubled family in “The Shining.” (Photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Images)
Speaking about the difficulties of working in Hollywood, Duvall told the outlet, “You didn’t get paid much — just scale plus 10%. They thought women would just marry and the husband’s going to support them. But that doesn’t happen for everybody.”
Becoming Hollywood’s “unconventional It girl” at the time, she dated celebrities, including Paul Simon and Ringo Starr.
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Fox News Digital’s Stephanie Giang-Paunon and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
