Shelley Duvall
| Shelley Duvall | |
|---|---|
 Duvall on the set of Bernice Bobs Her Hair in 1976 | |
| Born |
Shelley Alexis Duvall July 7, 1949 Houston, Texas, U.S. |
| Education | South Texas Junior College |
| Occupation | Actress, producer, writer, singer, comedian |
| Years active | 1970–2002 |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) |
| Spouse(s) | Bernard Sampson (m. 1970; div. 1974) |
| Partner(s) |
Paul Simon (1976–1978) Stanley Wilson (1979–1981)[1] |
| Parent(s) |
Bobbie Ruth Massengale Robert Richardson Duvall |
Shelley Alexis Duvall (born July 7, 1949)[2] is an American actress, producer, writer, singer and comedian. She began her career in various Robert Altman films in the 1970s, including Brewster McCloud (1970), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), Thieves Like Us (1974), Nashville (1975), and 3 Women (1977), which won her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress. Duvall had a supporting role in Annie Hall (1977) before starring in lead roles in Popeye (1980) and The Shining (1980).
Later, Duvall appeared in Time Bandits (1981), Frankenweenie (1984), and The Portrait of a Lady (1996). She is also an Emmy-nominated producer responsible for Faerie Tale Theatre and other child-friendly programming. Duvall's most recent performance was in Manna from Heaven (2002).
Early life
Shelley Alexis Duvall was born on July 7, 1949, in Houston, Texas, the daughter of Bobbie Ruth Crawford and Robert Richardson "Bobby" Duvall (1919–1995), a lawyer (not to be confused with actor Robert Duvall).[3] Duvall has three brothers; Scott, Shane and Stewart.[4]
After leaving school, Duvall sold cosmetics at Foley's and attended South Texas Junior College, where she majored in Nutrition and Diet Therapy.
Career
She met Robert Altman when he was shooting Brewster McCloud (1970) on location. He offered Duvall a part in the film. She said, "I got tired of arguing, and thought maybe I am an actress. They told me to come. I simply got on a plane and did it. I was swept away."[2] Duvall had never left Texas before Altman offered her a film role. She flew to Hollywood and landed the role of a free-spirited love interest to Bud Cort's reclusive Brewster in Brewster McCloud.[2][5]
1970s
Altman chose Duvall for roles as an unsatisfied mail-order bride in McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), the daughter of a convict and mistress to Keith Carradine's character in Thieves Like Us (1974), a spaced-out groupie in Nashville (1975), and a sympathetic Wild West woman in Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976).
The same year, Duvall left Altman to star as Bernice, a wealthy girl from Wisconsin in PBS’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story Bernice Bobs Her Hair. She also hosted an evening of Saturday Night Live and appeared in 5 sketches: "Programming Change," "Video Vixens," "Night of the Moonies," "Van Arguments" and "Goodnights."[6]
In 1977, Duvall starred as Mildred "Millie" Lammoreaux in Altman's 3 Women. Duvall's performance garnered the award for Best Actress at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival and the LAFCA Award for Best Actress. She appeared in a minor role in Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977).[7]
1980s
Duvall's next role was Wendy Torrance in The Shining (1980) directed by Stanley Kubrick. Jack Nicholson states in the documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures that Kubrick was great to work with but that he was "a different director" with Duvall. Because of Kubrick's methodical nature, principal photography took a year to complete. Kubrick and Duvall argued frequently, although Duvall later said she learned more from working with Kubrick on The Shining than she did on all her earlier films.[8] In order to give The Shining the psychological horror it needed, director Stanley Kubrick antagonized his actors. The film’s script was changed so often that Nicholson stopped reading each draft. Kubrick intentionally isolated Duvall and argued with her often. Duvall was forced to perform the iconic and exhausting baseball bat scene 127 times. Afterwards, Duvall presented Kubrick with clumps of hair that had fallen out due to the extreme stress of filming.[9]
While Duvall was in London shooting The Shining, Altman asked her to play Olive Oyl in his big-screen adaptation of Popeye opposite Robin Williams, a role Roger Ebert believes she was born to play:
Shelley Duvall is a like a precious piece of china with a tinkling personality. She looks and sounds like almost nobody else, and if it is true that she was born to play the character Olive Oyl (and does so in Altman's new musical Popeye), it is also true that she has possibly played more really different kinds of characters than almost any other young actress of the 1970s.[10]
Her role of Pansy in Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits (1981) followed. In 1982, Duvall narrated, hosted and was executive producer of the children's television program Faerie Tale Theatre. She starred in seven episodes of the series; "Rumpelstiltskin" (1983), "Rapunzel" (1983), "The Nightingale" (1983), "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1984), "Puss in Boots" (1985), and "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" (1986). Since the program's first episode "The Frog Prince", which starred Robin Williams and Teri Garr, Duvall produced 27 hour-long episodes of the program. In 1985, she created Tall Tales & Legends, another one-hour anthology series for Showtime, which featured adaptations of American folk tales. As with Faerie Tale Theatre, the series starred well-known Hollywood actors with Duvall as host, executive producer and occasional guest star. The series ran for nine episodes garnered Duvall an Emmy nomination.[7]
While Duvall was producing Fairy Tale Theatre, it was reported that she was to star as the lead in the film adaptation of Tom Robbins’s Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, which starred Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, her sister Cindy Hall and Sissy Spacek.[11] The project was delayed and when it released in 1993 it starred an entirely different cast.[12] She also landed roles in films and television series: the mother of a boy whose dog is struck by car in Tim Burton's short film Frankenweenie (1984), a lonely and timid woman who receives a message from a flying saucer in The Twilight Zone episode "The Once and Future King/A Saucer of Loneliness", and the friend of Steve Martin's character in the comedy Roxanne (1987).
In 1988, Duvall founded a new production company called Think Entertainment to develop programs and television movies for cable channels. She created Nightmare Classics (1989), a third Showtime anthology series that featured adaptations of well-known horror stories by authors including Edgar Allan Poe. Unlike the previous two series, Nightmare Classics was aimed at a teenage and adult audience. It was the least successful series that Duvall produced for Showtime and ran for only four episodes.[13]
1990s
In 1991, Duvall portrayed Jenny Wilcox, wife of Charlie Wilcox (Christopher Lloyd) in the Hulk Hogan action-adventure film Suburban Commando. In October that year, Duvall released two compact discs, Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall... Sweet Dreams that features Duvall singing lullaby songs and Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall... Merry Christmas, on which Duvall sings Christmas songs.[14][15]
The following year, Think Entertainment joined the newly formed Universal Family Entertainment to create Duvall's fourth Showtime original series, Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories, which featured animated adaptations of children's storybooks with celebrity narrators and garnered her a second Emmy nomination. Duvall produced a fifth series for Showtime, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, before selling Think Entertainment in 1993 and retiring as a producer. Duvall's production work gained her six CableACE Awards and one Peabody Award.[7] A year later, Duvall landed a guest spot on the television series L.A. Law as Margo Stanton, a show dog owner and breeder who presses charges against the owner of a Welsh Corgi that mated with her prize-winning Afghan Hound.[16]
She appeared as the vain, over-friendly, but harmless Countess Gemini—sister to the calculating Gilbert Osmond (John Malkovich)—in Jane Campion's 1996 adaptation of the Henry James novel The Portrait of a Lady. A year later, she played a beatific nun in the comedy film Changing Habits and a besotted, murderous, ostrich-farm owner in Guy Maddin's fourth feature Twilight of the Ice Nymphs. The same year she played Chris Cooper's character's gullible wife who yearns for a better life in Horton Foote's made-for-television film, Alone. Duvall continued to make film and television appearances throughout the late-1990s. In 1998, she played Drew Barrymore's mother in the comedy Home Fries and Hilary Duff's aunt in the direct-to-video children's film Casper Meets Wendy. Near the end of the decade she returned to the horror genre with Tale of the Mummy (1998) and The 4th Floor (1999).[17]
2000s
In the 2000s, Duvall accepted minor roles, including the mother of Matthew Lawrence's character in the horror-comedy Boltneck and Haylie Duff's aunt in the independent family film Dreams in the Attic, which was sold to the Disney Channel but was never released.[18] Her most recent acting appearance was a small role in the 2002 independent film Manna from Heaven.
Personal life
Duvall was married to artist Bernard Sampson between 1970 and 1974; the couple divorced as Duvall's acting career accelerated.[19]
While she was shooting in New York for her part in Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977), she met singer/songwriter Paul Simon. They lived together for two years. Their relationship ended when Duvall introduced Simon to her friend, actress Carrie Fisher; Fisher took up with Simon.[20]
Shortly before the release of Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits, it was reported that Duvall and actor Stanley Wilson (who portrayed the town barber in Popeye) were set to marry. However, no further reports were released regarding this.[21]
Duvall is an animal lover, caring for and incorporating many of her favorite pets into original children's stories and songs. In the 1980s and 1990s, she lived in Benedict Canyon in California with her pets.[22][23][24]
Duvall has lived out of public view since her retirement in 2002. She is reported to be living in Blanco, Texas.[25] In November 2016, USA Today reported that she appeared to be suffering from mental illness, and would appear on Dr. Phil on November 18, 2016, seeking help regarding various delusions.[26] Duvall did appear on an episode of the show. Vivian Kubrick, whose father directed Duvall in The Shining, described the interview as "exploitive entertainment" and "appallingly cruel".[27] After the episode aired the non profit Actor Fund contacted her about providing assistance.[28]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Brewster McCloud | Suzanne Davis | |
| 1971 | McCabe & Mrs. Miller | Ida Coyle | |
| 1974 | Thieves Like Us | Keechie | |
| 1975 | Nashville | L. A. Joan | |
| 1976 | Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson | Mrs. Grover Cleveland | |
| 1976 | Bernice Bobs Her Hair | Bernice | Television film |
| 1977 | Annie Hall | Pam | |
| 1977 | 3 Women | Millie Lammoreaux | |
| 1980 | The Shining | Wendy Torrance | |
| 1980 | Popeye | Olive Oyl | |
| 1981 | Time Bandits | Pansy | |
| 1984 | Frankenweenie | Susan Frankenstein | Short film |
| 1984 | Booker | Laura | Short film |
| 1986 | Popples | Television film Executive Producer | |
| 1987 | Roxanne | Dixie | |
| 1987 | Frog | Annie Anderson | Television film Executive Producer |
| 1990 | Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme | Little Bo Peep | Television film |
| 1991 | Suburban Commando | Jenny Wilcox | |
| 1991 | Frogs! | Annie Anderson | Television film |
| 1991 | Stories from Growing up | Television film Executive Producer | |
| 1991 | Backfield in Motion | Television film Executive Producer | |
| 1995 | The Underneath | Nurse | |
| 1996 | The Portrait of a Lady | Countess Gemini | |
| 1997 | RocketMan | Mrs. Randall | Uncredited |
| 1997 | Twilight of the Ice Nymphs | Amelia Glahn | |
| 1997 | Alone | Estelle | Television film |
| 1997 | Changing Habits | Sister Agatha | |
| 1997 | My Teacher Ate My Homework | Mrs. Fink | |
| 1998 | Home Fries | Mrs. Jackson | |
| 1998 | Casper Meets Wendy | Gabby | Direct-to-video |
| 1998 | Tale of the Mummy | Edith Butros | |
| 1999 | The 4th Floor | Martha Stewart | |
| 1999 | Boltneck | Mrs. Stein | |
| 2000 | Dreams in the Attic | Nellie | |
| 2002 | Manna from Heaven | Detective Dubrinski |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Cannon | Liz Christie | Episode: "The Seventh Grave" |
| 1973 | Love, American Style | Bonnie Lee | Episode: "Love and the Mr. and Mrs. |
| 1976 | Baretta | Aggie | Episode: "Aggie" |
| 1982–1987 | Faerie Tale Theatre | Host/Various roles | Creator, Executive Producer |
| 1985–1987 | Tall Tales & Legends | Host/Various roles | Creator, Executive Producer |
| 1986 | The Twilight Zone | Margaret | Episode: "A Saucer of Loneliness" |
| 1989 | Nightmare Classics | Creator, Executive Producer | |
| 1990 | Rockin' Through the Decades | Herself | Television special |
| 1992 | The Ray Bradbury Theatre | Leota Bean | Episode: "The Tombstone" |
| 1992–1993 | Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories | Host/Various roles | Creator, Executive Producer, Writer |
| 1994 | Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle | Creator, Executive Producer | |
| 1994 | L.A. Law | Margo Stanton | Episode: "Tunnel of Love" |
| 1995 | Frasier | Caroline (voice) | Episode: "Dark Victory" |
| 1997 | The Adventures of Shirley Holmes | Alicia Fett | Episode: "The Case of the Wannabe Witch" |
| 1997 | Adventures from the Book of Virtues | Fairy (voice) | Episode: "Perseverance" |
| 1997 | Aaahh!!! Real Monsters | Ocka (voice) | Episode: "Oblina Without a Cause" |
| 1998 | Maggie Winters | Muriel | Episode: "Dinner at Rachel's" |
| 1999 | Wishbone | Renee Lassiter | Episode: "Groomed for Greatness" |
| 1999 | The Hughleys | Mrs. Crump | Episode: "Storm o' the Century" |
| 2016 | Dr. Phil | Self | Episode: November 18 |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 3 Women | LAFCA Award | Best Actress | Won |
| Cannes Film Festival | Best Actress | Won | ||
| NSFC Award | Best Actress | Nominated | ||
| NYFCC Award | Best Actress | Nominated | ||
| 1978 | BAFTA Award | Best Actress | Nominated | |
| 1981 | The Shining | Razzie Award | Worst Actress | Nominated |
| 1984 | Faerie Tale Theatre | Peabody Award | Won | |
| 1988 | Tall Tales & Legends | Emmy Award | Outstanding Children's Program | Nominated |
| 1992 | Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories | Emmy Award | Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) | Nominated |
| 1998 | The Adventures of Shirley Holmes | Gemini Award | Best Performance by an Actress in a Guest Role Dramatic Series | Nominated |
Discography
- Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall...Merry Christmas (1991)
- Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall...Sweet Dreams (1991)
References
- ↑ "Olive's Wasn't the Only 'Popeye' Love Story—Shelley Duvall Snagged a Prince Charming Too". Retrieved 11 June 2015.
- 1 2 3 Taylor, Clarke (November 6, 1977). "How Did Shelley Duvall Become a Star?". Boca Raton News. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
- ↑ "Robert Richardson Duvall". ancestry.com. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
- ↑ Klemesrud, Judy (March 23, 1977). "Shelley Duvall, An Unlikely Star". New York Times. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
- ↑ Dingus, Anne (July 1999). "What Part Did Shelley Duvall Beat Out Gilda Radner For?". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
- ↑ "Season 2: Episode 21". Saturday Night Live Transcripts. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- 1 2 3 "Shelley Duvall – Awards". imdb.com. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
- ↑ Video on YouTube
- ↑ "Roles that Drove Actors Over the Edge," Shelly Duvall: The Shining, http://www.looper.com/1970/roles-drove-actors-edge/ Accessed Nov. 3, 2015.
- ↑ Ebert, Roger (January 4, 1981). "Shelley Duvall Was Ripe for Role of Olive". N.Y. Times Wire Service. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
- ↑ Wilson, Earl (November 25, 1981). "It's Thumbs Up for Shelley Duvall". The Milwaukee Sentinel. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
- ↑ "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues". IMDB.com. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
- ↑ Nanwalt, Sasha (August 6, 1989). "Television; Shelley Duvall Tries Scaring Up A New Audience". New York Times. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- ↑ "Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall...Sweet Dreams by Shelley Duvall". MTV.com. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
- ↑ "Shelley Duvall Discography". MTV.com. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
- ↑ "LA Law Season 8 Episode 19 :: "Tunnel of Love"". Youtube.com. Youtube.com. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- ↑ "Shelley Duval". IMDB.com. IMDB.com. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- ↑ 'Bro Bob'. "Actress Haylie Duff - The Beginning". haileyduff.com. Retrieved 2016-10-03.
... the sad thing was that all these efforts never resulted in the film being sold to anyone.
- ↑ Kort, Michele (December 15, 1991). "Shelley Duvall Grows Up: There's a Lot of the Kid Left in the Tenacious Producer Who Put Cable on the Map and Breathed New Life into Children's TV". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
- ↑ Armstrong, Lois (March 16, 1981). "Olive's Wasn't the Only 'Popeye' Love Story—Shelley Duvall Snagged a Prince Charming Too". People. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
- ↑ "Shelley Duvall Announces Plans to Marry This Year". St. Petersburg Times. April 13, 1981. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
- ↑ Horowitz, Joy (April 21, 1992). "Shelley Duvall and the Tales She Tells to Children". The New York Times.
- ↑ "Shelley Duvall". Texas Monthly. 1 July 1999. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
- ↑ Ebert, Roger. "Interview with Shelley Duvall". Retrieved 11 June 2015.
- ↑ Ten-Tronck's Celebrity Directory. Axiom Infromation Resources. 1 October 2005. pp. 70–. ISBN 978-0-943213-78-1.
- ↑ "'Shining' actress Shelley Duvall tells Dr. Phil she's mentally ill". USA TODAY.
- ↑ http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/shocking-shelley-duvall-interviews-leads-9282337
- ↑ Robb, David. "Shelley Duvall's Controversial Dr. Phil Interview Inspires GoFundMe Page to Help Star". Deadline. Retrieved 22 November 2016.