Overview (4)

Born July 7, 1949 in Houston, Texas, USA Birth Name Shelley Alexis Duvall Nickname The Texas Twiggy Height 5' 8" (1.73 m)

Mini Bio (1)

Shelley Alexis Duvall was born in Fort Worth, Texas, the first child to Bobbie Ruth (Massengale, 1929-2020), a real estate broker, and Robert Richardson Duvall (1919-1994), a lawyer. At the time of her birth, her mother was visiting her grandmother in Fort Worth, though Duvall was raised in Houston. During her childhood, Shelley's mother humorously gave Shelley the nickname "Manic Mouse", because she would often run around her house and tip over furniture. Shelley however was more than a mouse, but rather quite the little artist. Her favorite thing to do when she was very young was draw. She also has three brothers: Scott, Shane, and Stewart.



Shelley graduated from Waltrip High School in Texas and at first became a cosmetics salesperson. It was in 1970 when Shelley was discovered by talent scouts at a local party. Director Robert Altman wanted to cast Shelley in a film that he was making during the time. Shelley had experience in acting in high school plays at the time and took Altman's offer and she appeared in her first film Brewster McCloud. Altman was so fascinated by her performance that she appeared in his next films including: McCabe and Mrs. Miller in 1971, Thieves Like Us in 1974, and Nashville in 1975. Aside from these three successful films, Duvall's acting blossomed in her leading role as Mille Lammoroux in 3 Women in 1977. Duvall's acting was so superb that she won Best Actress at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. Shelley also starred as Bernice in Joan Micklin Silver's Bernice Bobs Her Hair in 1976, and had a cameo in Woody Allen's Annie Hall in 1977. In the same year, Shelley also hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live.



When the 1980s hit, Duvall's career was just beginning. She is famously known for playing the role of "Wendy Torrance" in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining with Jack Nicholson. During the making of this film, Kubrick and Duvall would often become very frustrated with each other. The most obvious example is when Kubrick shot the famous "baseball bat scene" with Duvall and Nicholson 127 times, which is the world record for most number of takes in any film set. Despite their differences, Duvall admitted that she learned more from Kubrick than any of her previous films and that she "wouldn't trade the experience for anything." Kubrick also knew that he pushed Shelley and treated her the way he did for a significant reason, as the role of "Wendy Torrance" was even said by Jack Nicholson, "the hardest role anyone has ever had to play."



In January of 1979, Robert Altman would offer Duvall yet another role in one of his films. Only the role was a certain role that Altman believed she was born to play. That certain role was "Olive Oyl" in the real life version of Popeye. Shelley was skeptical at first on accepting the role, due to bad memories as a child of negatively being called "Olive Oyl" in grade school. She fortunately decided to take the role and performed admirably. Shelley also sings several songs in this film. The most famous ones would be "He's Large" and "He Needs Me" which also appeared in the film Punch Drunk Love.



As the 1980s rolled on, Shelley's career never slowed down. She appeared as a supporting actress in Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits in 1981; she played "Susan Frankenstein" in Tim Burton's Frankenweenie (1984) , and co-starred in the hit comedy film Roxanne in 1987 starring Steve Martin. From 1982 to 1986, Shelley continued her filming career but from a different aspect. Since Shelley was 17, she had a collection of a variety of illustrated classic fairy tale books. During the making of Popeye, she showed her collection to Robin Williams. One particular fairy tale she showed Robin was "The Frog Prince". Picturing Robin as the real life Frog Prince, Shelley created Platypus Productions, her own production company. Shelley went to Showtime with the idea for airing a television program that was based on fairy tales. She produced Fairy Tale Theater which Showtime aired that was a hit television series that was based on several classic fairy tales. Fairy Tale Theatre was on television from 1982-1987. Each episode was a one-hour series and there were a total of twenty six episodes, all hosted by Shelley Duvall. Shelley also starred in four out of the twenty six episodes. In 1985, Ms. Duvall created Tall Tales and Legends that was aired for three years until it ended in 1988. Similar to Fairy Tale Theatre, Tall Tales and Legends was also a one-hour series hosted, produced, and guest starred by Duvall. Although it only consisted of nine episodes, Shelley was nominated for an Emmy from the series. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Shelley discovered Think Entertainment; another production company which helped Shelley create more programs and movies that were made for television that aired on common cable channels. Shelley produced three more programs from these production companies that aired on Showtime: Nightmare Classics, Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories, and Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. Her Bedtime Stories program earned her a 2nd Emmy Nomination. Shelley sold Think Entertainment in 1993 and retired as a producer.



Shelley Duvall's later career found her a number of different roles. She appeared in the family comedy Home Fries in 1998 playing "Mrs. Jackson", Drew Barrymore's character's mother. Other comedic films Shelley appeared in were Suburban Commando in 1991, and Changing Habits in 1997. She also had cameos in several TV series' such as: Frasier, L.A. Law, The Ray Bradbury Theater, Wishbone, and several others. Shelley returned to the horror genre when she played "Martha Stewart" in The 4th Floor in 1999 and played the role of "Mrs. Stein" in Big Monster On Campus in 2000; which consisted of both the comedy and horror genre.



Since 2002, Shelley Duvall has not acted in any films, but lives a quiet and peaceful life in Blanco, Texas. She has lived in Blanco since 1994, after her home in Los Angeles got damaged by an earthquake. For the last couple years, there have been several rumors about Duvall being a "recluse" and not being in touch with reality. However, a recent interview in 2010 was conducted by MondoFilm VideoGuide that had heavy proof that Shelley is as normal and aware of reality as ever. She has also noted in this interview that she takes care of several animals at her home in Texas and writes a lot of poetry, and that returning to acting is always a possibility.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Matt Zavislak

Spouse (1)

Bernard Sampson (7 July 1970 - 1977) ( divorced)

Trade Mark (2)

Playing quirky and eccentric characters



Wide eyes, toothy smile, and lanky figure



Trivia (30)



Was romantically involved with Paul Simon from 1976 to 1979. He was the one to tell her she had won Best Actress at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival for her performance in Robert Altman's 3 Frauen (1977). She was intended to star opposite Simon in Die Scheinwerfer erlöschen (1980), which Simon wrote as a vehicle for the two of them while they were together. He broke up with her at the airport as she was about to board a plane to London to begin filming Shining (1980). Simon made the film with Blair Brown

Served as chairman for the Golden ACE committee for the National Cable Television Academy's ACE Awards. [1987]





Inducted into the Home Video Hall of Fame with fellow actress Jane Fonda . [December 1985]

Once lived with 11 dogs, 12 parrots and 58 finches, budgie and cockatiels. [May 1989]





Played chess with Stanley Kubrick between takes on Shining (1980).



Got hooked on cigarettes after having to smoke for her role in Robert Altman's Diebe wie wir (1974).



Turned down the role of Tracy Farrell in Robert Altman's Eine Hochzeit (1978). The role went to Pam Dawber



Owned the film rights to Tom Robbins Cowgirl Blues (1993). Was to write and star in her own film adaptation of the book but the project fell through and she gave up the rights long before Gus Van Sant took over the film rights.

Studied at the renowned Actors Studio in New York during the early 1970 but after only a few classes, found the process too analytical and technical and left to return to her own instinctive and organic approach to acting.





Learned Italian to play Countess Gemini in Portrait of a Lady (1996).

Following the 1994 Northridge earthquake that damaged her Los Angeles home, she left California and since then has lived primarily in Blanco, Texas, where she remains fairly reclusive.





At Stanley Kubrick 's insistence, she and Jack Nicholson performed 127 takes of the baseball bat scene in Shining (1980), which broke a world-record for the most retakes of a single movie scene with spoken dialogue. Duvall said she learned more from working with Kubrick on that film than she did on all her previous films.



Based her characterization of "Olive Oyl" on a combination of Stan Laurel and Mae West



Was in France attending the 1977 Cannes Film Festival when offered the role of Wendy Torrence in Shining (1980).



When she was a teen, she was approached to be in a porn film while out shopping at a drug store. Horrified, she turned the prospect down. The second time she was asked to be in a film, only a few years later, Duvall thought it was another seedy swindle-but it turned out to be a career-making proposal-- Robert Altman 's Auch Vögel können töten (1970).

Granddaughter of cowboy Bill Hall.



Inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame. [2020]



Reported that one of her personal heroines is Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist Maria Sklodowska-Curie. [1980]



Reportedly named after Mary Shelley, English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel 'Frankenstein'; or, 'the Modern Prometheus' (1818).



No relation to Robert Duvall, despite a popular misconception.



Personal Quotes (23)



[on director Terry Gilliam ] Terry is one of those people that everybody wants to please, because he has such a great sense of humor, and he cares so much about his work, that he just makes everyone else care. Terry really is a true artist. In every way, he lives and breathes his work, and enjoys the hell out of it.



[on working with Stanley Kubrick on Shining (1980)] For a person so charming and so likable - indeed lovable - he can do some pretty cruel things when you're filming. Because it seemed to me, at times, that the end justified the means. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. Why? Because of Stanley, and it was a fascinating learning experience. But I wouldn't want to go through it again.

When I turned 18, I felt I was grown up. Then when I was 21, I reflected, "Boy, I was just a kid then; now I'm grown up." The same thing happened when I was 27. It wasn't until I was in my early 30s that I realized it was a futile goal to have. You're never grown up. We're all still dealing with the same hopes, same fears, same dreams that we had as children.



The trick to acting is not to be afraid. If you're not afraid of making mistakes, you usually don't make them.





[on filming Nashville (1975)] Lily Tomlin said we were like twenty-four big kids in a play pen. Which is absolutely true.

Don't let any setback defeat you. The world doesn't end just because one thing goes wrong.





[on her memorable role in Popeye - Der Seemann mit dem harten Schlag (1980)] God, as a child, I was so embarrassed when the kids would call me "Olive Oyl" because it meant you were skinny as a rail, you had sparrow legs, and an Adam's apple. I mean, who wants to admit she was born to play Olive Oyl?



[on working with Woody Allen on Der Stadtneurotiker (1977)] He wanted "Faster! Faster!" That was my main note from him. He likes the dialogue to be fast and for a Texan, especially one who'd only been to New York a couple of times at that point, it was very difficult.



[on filming Shining (1980)] That was a life experience like the Vietnam War probably was for veterans. It was grueling -- six days a week, 12- to 16-hour days, half an hour off for lunch, for a year and one month. The role demanded that I cry for, whew, at least nine of those months. Jack [Nicholson] had to be angry all the time, and I had to be in hysterics all the time. It was very upsetting.

Life is all about movement, and when you stop moving, you're dead! That's my big philosophy -- it's all about motion. Life can change in the blinking of an eye, so you just have to appreciate every minute and keep going.



If I had listened to everyone who told me no, I'd never have gotten anything accomplished. When I really believe in something and someone says, "You can't do it," it just spurs me on.



I might get killed, but I wouldn't die. I'd be born again as another me - or a lampshade, but I'll be on earth - always... (I) believe in everything and everybody existing forever and on and on in the same or other forms.





[on director Robert Altman ] Nobody else calls him "Pirate" 'cept me. That's 'cuz I think he's the bravest, toughest, most imaginative man I've ever met.

Acting isn't difficult. You just do it. Everybody in life acts anyhow, President Nixon, The Pope, even John Lennon.





[on working with Stanley Kubrick ] Well, of course, Robert Altman was almost the only director I'd ever worked with. It was time for me to test my own legs. There was a kind of possessiveness about Bob. He put me in so many of his films, but apart from him, I wasn't getting offered a lot of roles - hardly any, for that matter. It was like he was the only one with any confidence in me. So here was my chance to work with Kubrick.

When I play a character, at that moment nothing else exists. Certainly no theory. I try not to intellectualize.





[on Robert Altman ] Bob is like family, I trust him almost implicitly. He would never do anything to hurt me. Bob won my trust right at the beginning. He encouraged me to be myself, to never take acting lessons or to take myself too seriously.

I struggled to get a decent acting job for years, before finally giving it a rest for a while. It would be great to start all over again, if the right role came along.





There have been many amazing movies in the last decade or so. I always wonder what Stanley Kubrick would have done if he directed Inception (2010) or Donnie Darko (2001). I enjoyed them both.



Tim Burton is just a gem. He is very quiet and shy, believe it or not, but very funny too.

I'm not a fan of CGI, I think it's a bit lazy. Look at what many filmmakers accomplished before it came along!

