Duvall, Shelley (1949-2024)
The great Shelley Duvall passed away today, and all I can think about are the rougher edges of her story. Her agony on the set of The Shining, that stupid fucking episode of Dr. Phil, her years in the whatever-happened-to wilderness. But I don't want Shelley Duvall to live in my memory as a victim, as someone who was yelled at, ground down, and paraded around as a sideshow. A Cannes Best Actress and Peabody Award winner, let alone of the the iconic American actresses of the 1970s, deserves a better legacy in my head.
Duvall was, in short, the coolest, an instant value-added to any movie she was in, no matter how small the role. What her filmography lacks in volume is made up in pure presence. There is, of course, her god run as part of Robert Altman's stock company in the 1970s, but her idiosyncratic TV work in the 1980s, much of it as the main creative force, is well worth your time and attention. After her heyday, she popped up here and there in the 1990s and 2000s, in projects helmed by everyone from Jane Campion to Steven Soderbergh, and retired in 2002.
Then, 14 years late, that stupid fucking episode of Dr. Phil happened, an episode of television so cruel and callow that Lee Unkrich—the fucking Toy Story guy, who's also Shining superfan number one—tracked her down himself to make sure she was okay.
Broadly speaking, she was. In 2021, Duvall was profiled in the Hollywood Reporter and, for the first time in a long time, she got to tell her side of the stories that loomed over her legend. People loved and will always love Shelley Duvall, but this piece, written by Seth Abramovitch, was key in reminding the world who she was. It made clear as day that behind the big eyes and ingenue roles was a woman tough as Texas leather.
But what will linger with me the longest is the audio of her being coached by Harry Nilsson through her rendition of “He Needs Me,” from Big Swing Hall of Fame film Popeye. Any Altman starring Shelley Duvall is worth your time, but Popeye is kind of a weird miracle. The part of Malta where they shot the movie still looks like that.
“Good, Shelley!”