Shelley Duvall

Shelley Duvall

Duvall on the set of Bernice Bobs Her Hair in 1976
Born Shelley Alexis Duvall
(1949-07-07) July 7, 1949
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Education South Texas Junior College
Occupation Actress, producer, writer, singer, voice artist, comedian
Years active 1970–2002
Height 5' 8" (1.73 m)
Spouse(s) Bernard Sampson (m. 1970; div. 1974)
Partner(s) Paul Simon
(1976–1978)
Stanley Wilson
(1979–1981)[1]
Parent(s) Bobbie Crawford

Shelley Alexis Duvall (born July 7, 1949)[2] is an American actress, producer, writer, singer, and voice artist. 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 and career

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 fellow actor Robert Duvall).[3] Duvall has three brothers; Scott, Shane, and Stewart.[4]

Career

After leaving school, Duvall sold cosmetics at Foley's and attended South Texas Junior College, where she majored in Nutrition and Diet Therapy. She met Robert Altman when he was shooting his forthcoming film 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 has 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 just nine episodes yet garnered Duvall an Emmy nomination.[7]

While Duvall was producing Faerie 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, 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 signing 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 has 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. 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.[18]

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 and their relationship ended when Duvall introduced Simon to her friend, actress Carrie Fisher; Fisher took up with Simon.[19]

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.[20]

Duvall has always been 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 several pets.[21][22][23]

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"

Discography

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

References

  1. ↑ "Olive's Wasn't the Only 'Popeye' Love Story—Shelley Duvall Snagged a Prince Charming Too". Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Taylor, Clarke (November 6, 1977). "How Did Shelley Duvall Become a Star?". Boca Raton News. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Robert Richardson Duvall". ancestry.com. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  4. ↑ Klemesrud, Judy (March 23, 1977). "Shelley Duvall, An Unlikely Star". New York Times. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  5. ↑ Dingus, Anne (July 1999). "What Part Did Shelley Duvall Beat Out Gilda Radner For?". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  6. ↑ "Season 2: Episode 21". Saturday Night Live Transcripts. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 "Shelley Duvall – Awards". imdb.com. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  8. ↑ Video on YouTube
  9. ↑ "Roles that Drove Actors Over the Edge," Shelly Duvall: The Shining, http://www.looper.com/1970/roles-drove-actors-edge/ Accessed Nov. 3, 2015.
  10. ↑ Ebert, Roger (January 4, 1981). "Shelley Duvall Was Ripe for Role of Olive". N.Y. Times Wire Service. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  11. ↑ Wilson, Earl (November 25, 1981). "It's Thumbs Up for Shelley Duvall". The Milwaukee Sentinel. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  12. ↑ "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues". IMDB.com. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  13. ↑ Nanwalt, Sasha (August 6, 1989). "Television; Shelley Duvall Tries Scaring Up A New Audience". New York Times. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  14. ↑ "Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall...Sweet Dreams by Shelley Duvall". MTV.com. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  15. ↑ "Shelley Duvall Discography". MTV.com. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  16. ↑ "LA Law Season 8 Episode 19 :: "Tunnel of Love"". Youtube.com. Youtube.com. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  17. ↑ "Shelley Duval". IMDB.com. IMDB.com. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  18. ↑ 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.
  19. ↑ 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.
  20. ↑ "Shelley Duvall Announces Plans to Marry This Year". St. Petersburg Times. April 13, 1981. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  21. ↑ Horowitz, Joy (April 21, 1992). "Shelley Duvall and the Tales She Tells to Children". The New York Times.
  22. ↑ "Shelley Duvall". Texas Monthly. 1 July 1999. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  23. ↑ Ebert, Roger. "Interview with Shelley Duvall". Retrieved 11 June 2015.

External links

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