Shelley Duvall’s Life in Photos: Look Back at the Work of the Beloved Actress

The great Shelley Duvall has passed away at the age of 75 due to complications from diabetes and left behind an incredible career spanning decades as a leading lady, character actress, and even an acclaimed children’s TV producer. She collaborated with Robert Altman on seven films including Popeye, 3 Women, and Nashville, and is likely best known for playing Wendy Torrance in The Shining, who has to protect her and her son’s life from her husband Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) when his sanity deteriorates while watching a remote hotel.

Duvall stopped acting for 20 years, moving out of Los Angeles back to her home state of Texas and filmed her final role in the independent horror film The Forest Hills in 2022. Here, we’ll look back at the venerable legacy Duvall made for herself in 16 photographs.

2) 1974: With Altman at the Cannes Film Festival

Duvall attended the prestigious festival in 1974 for the screening of her then-latest Altman collaboration Thieves Like Us.

3) 1974: With Keith Carradine in Thieves Like Us

Set in 1936, Duvall's character Keechie was the love interest to Keith Carradine's Bowie, a criminal convicted of murder as a teenager who breaks out of prison and starts robbing banks in Mississippi while still on the run from Rangers.

5) 1977: Hosting Saturday Night Live

Duvall was mostly known for her film work in the '70s, but she also began her TV career with guest starring roles in shows like Cannon and Baretta and hosted the historic sketch show SNL in 1977 to flex her comedic chops.

6) 1977: A Deserved Starring Role in 3 Women

Alongside Sissy Spacek and Janice Rule, Duvall did some of her greatest acting work yet in the psychological drama 3 Women, which premiered at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. While the film wasn’t a commercial success, Duvall received the warmest critical acclaim so far in her career, even winning the Best Actress prize at Cannes for her role as the outgoing and talkative health club employee Millie Lammoreaux.

8) 1980: At the Popeye Premiere

With co-star Robin Williams at the premiere of Robert Altman's Popeye, where she played Olive Oyl brilliantly. Note her spinach bouquet and Williams' spinach boutonniere, what an amazing touch.

9) 1982: Bowling at the Grease 2 Afterparty

Duvall didn't appear in the follow-up to this classic movie musical but attended the premiere and stuck around for some bowling at the Brunswick Hollywood Legion Lanes.

10) 1983: Ready to Watch a Movie

Accompanied by her younger brother Stewart Duvall, Duvall is laden with popcorn and soda for a screening of the Australian musical comedy Starstruck, directed by Gillian Armstrong.

11) 1985: Faerie Tale Theatre Cast Party

Duvall was the host and creator of this fairy tale anthology series which aired for six seasons on Showtime from 1982-1987. The show featured adaptations of classic fairy tales including Rumplestiltskin, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel (Featuring Duvall as the princess herself), and Hansel and Gretal, among many more stories you'll surely recognize.

12) 1987: A Definitive Fashion Icon

On and off-camera, Duvall's style and wardrobe choices were phenomenal and remain influential to this day.

14) 1994: At the 15th CableACE Awards

Her series Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories was nominated at this awards show, and she was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and won a Peabody Award for her work in Children's TV. 1994 was Duvall's last year living full-time in Los Angeles, as she and Gilroy would relocate to Blanco, Texas and remain there.

15) 1995: Honoring Robin Williams At the Waldorf Astoria

Duvall attended an event celebrating her Popeye co-star hosted by the Museum of the Moving Image at the historic Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Some of her most notable projects in the '90s before her retirement were roles in Stephen Soderbergh's Underneath, Jane Campion's Portrait of a Lady, and Dean Parisot's Home Fries. She also continued appearing in plenty of children's media until her 2002 retirement.