Film Fatale: Shelley Duvall and Her Career Defining Roles

Words: Charlotte Amy Landrum

Make it stand out

Shelley Duvall passed away this month in her sleep at her home in Blanco, Texas. Her loss hurts - we will never have another Shelley. Her on screen presence was unique with distinctive doe eyes, toothy smile and a whimsical tone - she stood out against the glitzy Hollywood collective and became a figure for weird girls across the world. I can’t think of a time when I don’t open my apps to a stunning picture of Duvall; her bottom eyelashes pieced together to enhance her dreamy gaze whilst she eats candyfloss, in Vogue photographed by Bert Stern wearing a stunning pink, orange, purple and green ensemble (it was even my phone lock screen for a few years in school). Duvall was effortlessly enigmatic. 

Duvall’s legacy is often tied to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) and particularly the speculation of Kubrick’s cruel treatment of the actress in order to bring out true fear and torment as she played the distressed Wendy alongside a menacing Jack Torrence (Jack Nicholson). Whilst there is no doubt that the filming was strenuous and Duvall was at times under great stress, she did express that Kubrick was “very warm and friendly” to her, as well as stating in a 2001 interview that she “Wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. Why? Because of Stanley. And it was a fascinating learning experience. It was such intense work that I think it makes you smarter.” 

It is insulting to Duvall’s expansive career and character to limit her to clickbait tragedy. Every couple of months, if page views are dry, it seems that some entertainment magazines jump onto the spectacle of a woman who was gentle and kind being broken down by a scheming man. So, let's take a look at Duvall's other works, appreciate what she brought to the screen and recognise the joy she brought to so many.
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My favourite Shelley Duvall film is 3 Women (1977) directed by her longtime collaborator Robert Altman. Duvall plays Millie, a lonely woman who works at a health spa for the elderly in the Californian desert and becomes roommates with her new co-worker, an impressionable teenager called Pinky, played by Sissy Spacek. The film concept came to Altman in a dream: to cast Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek in a film about merged identities set in the bleak badlands. The film evokes the feeling of the type of dream where things almost make sense, but has an undercurrent of unease, surrealism and cryptic symbolism that shakes you for the rest of your waking day.

To put Duvall and Spacek side by side made sense, and others most likely dreamt about this before Altman: both held similar presences in their careers through playing small-town American women who had an air of being an outsider (see: Spacek in Badlands (1973)), whilst also having the ability to dominate the culture through pulling incredible looks and giving forever memorable performances. They were both crucial members of New Hollywood, a period from the late 1960s to the early 1980s where American cinema bloomed with counter cultural stories from a new generation of filmmakers who couldn’t stop watching French New Wave and Ingmar Bergman during their college days. The likes of Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palmer reworked the idea of the classic American film, and of course the whole thing was a boys club, but the era would have been much less interesting without Sissy Spacek spinning a baton outside of her home in Badlands or Shelley Duvall batting her eyelashes in Brewster McCloud (1970).

It felt like Duvall could insert part of herself; funny, joyful and creative. 

3 Women explored complex female relationships and identity pointedly, as Pinky sinisterly adopts poor Millie’s likeness, wearing her hyper-feminine yellow clothing to even changing her name to Mildred. Millie is stood up on dates and is given the cold shoulder by her other female co-workers, yet the teenage Pinky is infatuated by her. Millie and Pinky are sad, strange people who are isolated in the dead desert, accompanied by gorgeous pastel furniture of their little apartment inspired by the women’s magazines that Millie religiously reads. Their lack of sense of self is unsettling, and I think this story dreamt up by Robert Altman one night resonates more than ever for young women today who lose themselves in Pinterest boards and doom scrolling. 

As well as 3 Women, Duvall featured in a number of Altman’s films such as the eclectic and satirical musical Nashville (1975), the live adaptation of Popeye (1980) as Olive Oyl beside Robin Williams, and the fantasy comedy Brewster McCloud (1970). And although Duvall played Wendy in The Shining and Millie in 3 Women like no one else could, these less harrowing roles are where it felt like Duvall could insert part of herself; funny, joyful and creative. 

It seemed that Duvall was born to play Olive Oyl. She had the ability to adopt all the characteristics of a cartoon character, whilst keeping that deeper human quality that you want in an adaptation. Her musical performances of He Needs Me and He’s Large is as funny as it is relatable. Who hasn’t twirled around at night after discovering someone actually fancies you?

“Maybe it's because he's so alone

Maybe it's because he's never had a home”

Despite the constant reiteration of Duvall ‘dropping out’ of society after The Shining, she actually went on to create and produce her own kids show Faerie Tale Theatre inspired by her long time love of fairy tales. Adapting traditional fairy tales into 50 minute segments beside fellow actors such as Robin Williams as the Frog Prince and Carrie Fisher as Thumbelina.  This is also where that “Hello, I’m Shelley Duvall” video compilation comes from and inevitably was made into a TikTok audio. Whilst TikTok is hell on Earth, the amount of love that has been shown for the actress across all ages signals that it has at least given exposure to her other projects and proves her timelessness. 

Duvall was not afraid to show softness, both in her work and in her public appearances, and it is why we love her but also why the industry hurt her. It is clear in her interviews, such as this one from Letterman that they reuploaded after her death as ‘tribute’, that her Texan accent, small town background and earnestness was too much to handle in an environment where cruelty dominates and there is always some guy with his hands in his pockets trying to shout over you. But where Hollywood found a weakness, girls across the internet have found a figure to adore and to be comforted by - a confirmation that it is okay to be a little strange to some, to not wash away where you came from and to be loving despite your environment.