American actress Shelley Duvall, known for her role in “The Shining,” has died at the age of 75.
The scene in which she dodges an axe Jack Nicholson enraged in Shining is iconic, her horrified face is just as iconic. Shelley Duval, American actress known for her role in Stanley Kubrick’s film, died this Thursday, July 11 at the age of 75, according to information from Hollywood Reporter.
Having been out of public life for several years, Shelley Duvall died in her sleep from complications of diabetes at her home in Texas. Her partner, Dan Gilroy, announced the sad news to the Hollywood Reporter: “My dear, sweet, wonderful partner and friend has left us. She has suffered too much these last few days, now she is free. Fly away, my beautiful Shelley,” he said. Shelley Duvall last appeared on screen in an episode of the talk show Dr. Phil in 2016, saying she was ‘very sick. I need help.’
Best acting award at Cannes
Shelley Duvall began her career as a young girl in Brewster McCloud in 1970. She was also seen in McCabe & Mrs Miller in 1971, Thieves Like Us (1974), but also in Nashville (1975) and in Three women (1977), for which she received a Best Actress Award at Cannes. She also made a singing appearance in the live-action adaptation of Popeye in front of Robin Williams in the 1980s. It was especially in the films of Robert Altman that she distinguished herself, since she collaborated extensively with the filmmaker.
But her greatest role, the one for which the public remembers her the most, remains without a doubt that of Jack Torrance’s wife in Shining. Although the film gave her international fame, the shooting was very painful to experience. She had said that Stanley Kubrick “made her cry for 12 hours every day for weeks,” she said in 1991.