Shelley Duvall’s chatty, matter-of-fact delivery lets eccentric people sound ordinary to themselves. We value her ability to make vulnerability specific: in The Shining, simply sharing a room with Jack looks exhausting.
Fi1m perspective
In the family scenes of The Shining (1980), Shelley Duvall gives us reason to watch Wendy Torrance while Jack Nicholson is being conspicuously alarming. She makes living beside Jack look like daily work, with little prospect of a rest. We felt exhausted for Wendy, because Duvall makes the strain of sharing space with him so plain. Stanley Kubrick’s film is frightening enough without Nicholson making the danger quite so obvious, and his comic flourishes sometimes provide relief we would rather do without. Duvall helps keep the family worth caring about when his performance threatens to make it merely a spectacle.
Robert Altman’s ensembles suited her chatty delivery and instinctive way of performing. She made her screen debut in his Brewster McCloud (1970) and appeared in seven of his films through Popeye (1980), in which she played Olive Oyl. Between them, 3 Women (1977) brought her wider notice as Millie Lammoreaux, a part that made use of her gift for playing self-delusion. Her matter-of-fact manner lets us recognise something familiar in people who might otherwise be presented chiefly as odd. That is a more useful quality than looking unusual, and Altman’s improvisational approach gave it room.
Her tall, thin frame and expressive eyes were conspicuous, but describing them gets us only so far. Some contemporary reviews of The Shining found her performance too hysterical or confined to one note, although later reappraisals have been kinder. The complaint misses the vulnerability she and Danny Lloyd, as Danny, bring to the family scenes. Duvall gives us a reason to stay with Wendy rather than wait for Jack’s next display.
From 1982, she also produced and hosted children’s anthologies, including Faerie Tale Theatre. Her later acting work could involve small parts: in Soderbergh’s The Underneath (1995), she turns up as a nurse. We found that film skilfully made but cold, and her brief presence is one of its small pleasures. She gives us someone worth noticing, though not a reason to overlook how little the central character offers. Start with The Shining, and pay Wendy the attention Nicholson is rather more insistent on getting.
Biography
Shelley Duvall was an American actress. Born in Fort Worth, Texas, she began her film career after being discovered by director Robert Altman, who cast her in Brewster McCloud (1970). She appeared in several of his subsequent films, including McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), Thieves Like Us (1974), Nashville (1975) and 3 Women (1977).
Duvall received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for her performance in 3 Women. Her other notable film roles include Pam in Annie Hall (1977), Olive Oyl in Popeye (1980), Wendy Torrance in The Shining (1980), Dame Pansy in Time Bandits (1981) and Dixie in Roxanne (1987). She also voiced characters in animated projects such as Frankenweenie (1984) and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (1994). Duvall appeared as Nurse in The Underneath (1995). She died in 2024.
