Today marked the passing of actress Shelly Duvall– who was born in 1949 and was best known for her roles in The Shining, 3 Women, Popeye, and Annie Hall, among numerous others.
What’s happening:
- Actress Shelly Duvall has passed away at the age of 75. Movie fans will likely remember her from her role as Wendy Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 Stephen King adaptation The Shining.
- Duvall is also known for her parts in movies by the filmmaker Robert Altman, such as Brewster McCloud, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Thieves Like Us, Nashville, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson, and 3 Women.
- She was also famously cast as Olive Oyl in Altman’s 1980 Popeye movie alongside Robin Williams as the title comic-strip character. This film was a co-production between Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Studios, the latter of which distributed the movie internationally.
- Duvall also starred as Susan Frankenstein in Tim Burton’s 1984 live-action Disney short film Frankenweenie, which was eventually turned into an acclaimed animated feature nearly 30 years later.
- More Disney roles for Duvall were as Little Bo Peep in Mother Goose Rock ‘n’ Rhyme and as Mrs. Randall in RocketMan starring comedian Harland Williams. Other non-Disney roles you may remember her from include Pansy in Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits, Countess Gemini in Portrait of a Lady, and as creator and host of Showtime’s 1980s children’s anthology series Faerie-Tale Theatre.
What they’re saying:
- Lee Unkrich: “Just received the very sad news that Shelley Duvall passed away in her sleep last night at age 75. She had been suffering for a very long time, but now she’s at peace. I just visited her at her home in Texas at the end of April, and gave her a copy of my Shining book. I sat at her bedside and flipped through the pages with her. I relit her cigarettes and helped her eat a meal I went out to get for her. And I hugged her when she became emotional. It was a beautiful visit that I’m grateful we had, and I’ll always cherish the memory.”
- Amy Sedaris: “She was such an inspiration.”
