(KTLA) – Actress Shelley Duvall, famous for her role in “The Shining,” has died at 75.
Duvall, the intrepid movie star whose wide-eyed, winsome presence was a mainstay in the films of Robert Altman, passed away in her sleep at her Blanco, Texas, home Thursday due to “complications from diabetes,” her partner Dan Gilroy told The Hollywood Reporter.
Duvall and Gilroy have been together since 1986.
“My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us. Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley,” Gilroy told the outlet.
Duvall was attending junior college in Texas when Altman’s staff members, preparing to film “Brewster McCloud,” encountered her at a party in Houston in 1970. She would go on to become Altman’s protégé. She starred in his films “McCabe & Mrs. Miller,” “Thieves Like Us” and “Nashville.”
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FILE – Shelley Duvall is shown on Oct. 27, 1983, in Los Angeles. Duvall, whose wide-eyed, winsome presence was a mainstay in the films of Robert Altman and who co-starred in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” has died. She was 75. (AP Photo/Doug Pizac, File) -
FILE – Shelley Duvall is shown on Oct. 27, 1983, in Los Angeles. Duvall, whose wide-eyed, winsome presence was a mainstay in the films of Robert Altman and who co-starred in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” has died. She was 75. (AP Photo/Doug Pizac, File) -
FILE – Shelley Duvall poses for photographers at the 30th Cannes Film Festival in France, May 27, 1977. Duvall, whose wide-eyed, winsome presence was a mainstay in the films of Robert Altman and who co-starred in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” has died. She was 75. (AP Photo/Jean-Jacques Levy, File) -
FILE – Shelley Duvall, left, and Robert Altman stroll along the Boulevard de la Croisette in Cannes, France, in May 1974. Duvall, whose wide-eyed, winsome presence was a mainstay in the films of Robert Altman and who co-starred in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” has died. She was 75. (AP Photo/Levy, File)
Duvall played characters that were eccentric, different and complicated, which was somewhat rare for the era.
Her performances earned her a Peabody and Cannes Film Festival award, and made her a two-time Emmy nominee.
Her role in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 thriller “The Shining,” alongside Jack Nicholson, made for another memorable performance. That same year, she played Olive Oyl to Robin Williams’ Popeye in a live-action movie about the famous comic character, directed by Altman.
Duvall, the oldest of four, was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on July 7, 1949. Her father, Robert, worked in law, and her mother, Bobbie, in real estate.
Duvall married artist Bernard Sampson in 1970. They divorced four years later. Duvall was in a long-term relationship with musician Paul Simon in the late ’70s after meeting during the making of “Annie Hall.” (Duvall played the rock critic who keeps declaring things “transplendent.”) She also dated Ringo Starr. During the making of the 1990 Disney Channel movie “Mother Goose Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Duvall met the musician Dan Gilroy, of the group Breakfast Club, with whom she remained until her death.
Duvall’s run in the 1970s was remarkably versatile. In the rugged Western “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” (1971), she played the mail-order bride Ida. She was a groupie in “Nashville” (1975), and in “3 Women,” co-starring Sissy Spacek and Janice Rule, Duvall played Millie Lammoreaux, a Palm Springs health spa worker. For her work in “3 Women,” Duvall won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival.
In the 1980s, Duvall produced and hosted a number of children’s TV series, among them “Faerie Tale Theatre,” “Tall Tales & Legends” and “Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories.”
In the mid-1990s, she moved back to the Lone Star State and left Hollywood after making the comedy “Manna from Heaven.”
In 2016, she appeared on the daytime talk show “Dr. Phil” where she revealed that she suffered from a mental illness.
“I’m very sick. I need help,” Duvall said.
However, the episode received major backlash from viewers who called it exploitative.
“I found out the kind of person he is the hard way,” Duvall told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021.
In 2020, Duvall attempted to restart her career by starring in the indie horror film “The Forest Hills.” The movie premiered in 2023.
She told People magazine in 2022: “Acting again — it’s so much fun. It enriches your life. [Jessica Tandy] won an Oscar when she was 80. I can still win,” she said as she winked and laughed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
