1970–1976: Discovery by Robert Altman and breakthrough On April Fool's Day 1970, Duvall was hosting a party in Houston for her artist boyfriend, Bernard Sampson, when three crew members in town for
Brewster McCloud (1970) pre-production arrived. Intrigued by Duvall's offbeat looks and hyper-enthusiasm, they invited her to pitch Bernard’s paintings the next day to "art patrons". In a surreptitious casting call led by
Robert Altman,
Bert Remsen, and
Lou Adler, they asked her to be part of the feature instead. Altman reflected on casting Duvall: "I was really quite mean to her, as I thought she was an actress. But she wasn’t kidding; that was her. She was an untrained, truthful person. She was very raw in Brewster but quite magic." Filmed in the summer of 1970, Duvall appeared in the film as Suzanne Davis, an
Astrodome tour guide and the free-spirited love interest to
Bud Cort's reclusive Brewster. After filming ended Duvall left Texas for the first time flying across the country with duties to promote the film, appearing in several publications and photoshoots such as
Vogue and
Show Magazine. Though not an immediate success, the film was received positively and brought attention to Duvall. Beatrice Loayza of
The Atlantic believes her character "would've seemed innocuous enough were it not for the actor's hypnotic charms". Following
Brewster McCloud, Duvall became a protégé of Altman. Her first commercial success came with playing the supporting character of an unsatisfied
mail-order bride in
McCabe & Mrs. Miller, released in 1971. It was received negatively upon release but has retrospectively been acclaimed, and it is Duvall's first film to enter the United States
National Film Registry. Her leading role as Keechie, the forlorn daughter of a convict, in
Thieves Like Us followed three years later in 1974. Her experience in
Thieves Like Us made her realize she wanted to take acting seriously. Duvall reflected on this turning point: “Until then it had been a piece of cake. Then I began realizing about technique, began learning, began being a little scared." in
Nashville (1975)|leftDuvall had her
breakthrough for playing Martha, a spaced-out
groupie, in Altman's 1975 ensemble comedy film
Nashville. The film was a major critical and commercial success, becoming the most "talked about American movie" and grossing $10 million.
Keith Carradine, who collaborated with Duvall on
Thieves Like Us and
Nashville, told
Variety: "She had that fascinating physical appearance, there was something slightly off-center and hauntingly beautiful about her. And then she had that extraordinary personality; she was quirky and just utterly enchanting. What you saw on screen, that's just who she was."
Nashville would be her second film selected for the National Film Registry. Also in 1976, Duvall starred as Bernice, a wealthy girl from
Wisconsin, in the
PBS adaptation of
F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story
Bernice Bobs Her Hair.
1977–1981: Critical acclaim and mainstream recognition in 1977 In 1977, Duvall gave what some critics considered to be one of her best performances in Altman's
psychological thriller 3 Women, portraying Mildred "Millie" Lammoreaux, a woman living in a dreary California desert town. Although there was a written screenplay, Duvall, like other cast members,
improvised many of her lines. In spite of the film not being a major box-office success, it received critical acclaim.
Texas Monthly critics Marie Brenner and Jesse Kornbluth praised Duvall for giving an "extraordinary performance".
Michael Sragow of
The New Yorker called her "brilliant: she coins a brand-new caricature of the confident yet clueless single female, then suggests a real person underneath." Robbie Freeling of
IndieWire believed the film succeeded because of Duvall: "it's one of the finest films of the seventies, and Duvall deserves a lion's share of the credit."
Anne Billson at
The Guardian agreed, calling it "peak Duvall" and "quite simply one of the greatest performances of the 1970s." Her performance garnered the
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and the
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, Also in 1977, she appeared in a minor role in
Woody Allen's
Annie Hall, her third film to be added to the National Film Registry, On
Saturday Night Live, she appeared in five sketches: "Programming Change", "Video Vixens", "Night of the Moonies", "Van Arguments", and "Goodnights". Duvall's next role was portraying
Wendy Torrance in the horror film
The Shining (1980), directed by
Stanley Kubrick.
Jack Nicholson said in the 2001 documentary
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures that Kubrick was great to work with but that he was "a different director" with her. Because of his methodical nature,
principal photography took a year to complete. The film's script was changed so often that Nicholson stopped reading each draft. Kubrick antagonized his actors, and he and she argued frequently. He intentionally isolated her and went through exhausting shoots, such as the
baseball bat scene, which she had performed 127 times, although the validity of this story has been questioned. Afterward, she presented Kubrick with clumps of hair that had fallen out due to the extreme stress of filming. For the last nine months of shooting, she said that the role required her to cry twelve hours a day, five or six days a week, and "it was so difficult being hysterical for that length of time". In an interview with
Roger Ebert, Duvall said that making the film was "almost unbearable. But from other points of view, really very nice, I suppose." In a 2001 interview, she later said "I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. Why? Because of Stanley. And it was a fascinating learning experience, it was such intense work that I think it makes you smarter. But I wouldn't want to go through it again." In a 2021 interview with
The Hollywood Reporter, Duvall spoke openly of the emotional toll of the role and the challenges of long days on the set, but said that Kubrick was "very warm and friendly" to her. but she was controversially nominated for
Worst Actress at the
Golden Raspberry Awards' inaugural ceremony; it was rescinded on March 31, 2022, and Golden Raspberries cofounder Maureen Murphy said she regretted nominating Duvall.
The Shining is her fourth and final film to enter the National Film Registry.
Bilge Ebiri of
Vulture wrote: "Looking into Duvall's huge eyes from the front row of a theater, I found myself riveted by a very poignant form of fear. Not the fear of an actor out of her element, or the more mundane fear of a victim being chased around by an ax-wielding maniac. Rather, it was something far more disquieting, and familiar: the fear of a wife who's experienced her husband at his worst, and is terrified that she'll experience it again." Jessica Jalali of
Screen Rant ranked it the best performance of her career, calling her "the heart of the film; she is out of her depth in dealing with her husband's looming insanity while trying to protect her young son, all while being fearful of the malevolence around her". Tim Grierson of
RogerEbert.com similarly called it one of her best performances, writing that "This is no simple "
scream queen" performance as Duvall makes Wendy's terror and determination grippingly, movingly real. Did Kubrick push her to extremes to reach such heights? Perhaps, but the accomplishment is Duvall's, full stop." While Duvall was in London shooting
The Shining, Robert Altman cast her to portray
Olive Oyl in his big-screen adaptation of
Popeye, opposite
Robin Williams. The film was also released in 1980 to commercial success.
Popeye received negative critical reviews upon release, but the reviews have improved over time; Duvall was nonetheless praised for her performance. Roger Ebert wrote: "Duvall is 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." Staff at
Variety agreed that Duvall "makes a delightful Olive Oyl". Better received was
Terry Gilliam's
Time Bandits (1981), where she played a small supporting role. It was critically acclaimed and a box-office success.
1982–1992: Continued success and television projects 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" (1982), "
Rapunzel" (1983), "
The Nightingale" (1983), "
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1984), "
Puss in Boots" (1985), and "
Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" (1986). Before 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 and garnered Duvall an
Emmy nomination. Duvall next landed roles as the mother of a boy whose dog is struck by car in
Tim Burton's short film
Frankenweenie (1984), and as Laura Burroughs in
Booker (also 1984), a biographical television short based on the life of
Booker T. Washington, directed by
Stan Lathan. Of her role in
Frankenweenie, Jacob Slankard of
Collider described Duvall as "the most persuasive tool" Burton had, and believed he succeeded in "calling on an actress who can signal to the audience that she's much more than her initial bearings make her out to be, and that was Duvall's specialty." She next appeared as 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" (1987), and the friend of
Steve Martin's character in the comedy
Roxanne (also 1987). In 1988, Duvall founded a new production company called
Think Entertainment to develop programs and television movies for cable channels. She had started another production company, Platypus, in 1982. She created
Nightmare Classics (1989), a third Showtime anthology series, which 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. in 1990|left In 1990, she played
Little Bo Peep in ''
Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme, which she also produced. In October of the same year, Duvall released two compact discs, Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall... Sweet Dreams,
which feature Duvall singing lullaby songs and Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall... Merry Christmas'', on which Duvall sings Christmas songs. In 1992, 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. Also in 1992, she landed a guest spot on the television series
L.A. Law as a
show dog owner and breeder who presses charges against the owner of a
Welsh Corgi that mated with her prize-winning
Afghan Hound.
1993–2002: Decrease in workload and hiatus 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 was also to star
Mick Jagger,
Jerry Hall, Cindy Hall, and
Sissy Spacek. The project was delayed and, when finally released in 1993, starred an entirely different cast. Also in 1993, Duvall produced a fifth series for Showtime,
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, before selling Think Entertainment in 1993 and retiring as a producer. Duvall next 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. In 1997, 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. In 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. In 1998, she played Mrs. Jackson in the comedy
Home Fries and Gabby in the
direct-to-video children's film
Casper Meets Wendy. Near the end of the decade, Duvall returned to the horror genre with a minor role in
Tale of the Mummy (1998), co-starring
Christopher Lee and
Gerard Butler, and
The 4th Floor (1999), co-starring
Juliette Lewis. In the 2000s, she accepted minor roles, including the mother of
Matthew Lawrence's character in the horror-comedy
Boltneck (2000) 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. After a small role in the 2002 independent film
Manna from Heaven, Duvall took an extended hiatus from acting and public life. In an interview with
People magazine, Duvall said of her retirement: "It's the longest sabbatical I ever took, but it was for really important reasons—to get in touch with my family again."
2022–2024: Brief return and intended comeback '' (2023), her final role After a 20-year absence, it was announced in October 2022 that Duvall would be acting in
The Forest Hills, an
independent horror-thriller film directed and written by Scott Goldberg. The film is about a man "tormented by nightmarish visions after experiencing head trauma in the
Catskill woods." Initially playing a
cameo role, Duvall joined the
ensemble after expressing interest in performing more scenes. She described her acting comeback as "so much fun" and joked that "
Jessica Tandy won an
Oscar when she was 80. I can still win." To
Entertainment Weekly, Goldberg described her as "an amazing actress to work with, and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to direct her." Duvall reportedly experienced discomfort and pains while filming, but she worked this into her performance as a form of
method acting. A trailer for
The Forest Hills was released in November 2022, and it premiered at Smodcastle Cinemas in
Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey in March 2023. A second trailer was released in September 2024, and the film was digitally released in October 2024.
The Forest Hills received negative critic reviews and little attention, but Duvall's involvement received some praise. Paul Lê of
Bloody Disgusting wrote that she "impacts the whole movie" but had too small of a role.
Rue Morgue's Chris Hallock agreed that her appearance was brief, but nonetheless wrote, "her undeniable charisma and commanding presence provides a solemn grounding to the film's chaotic proceedings. The beloved actor looks confident in front of the camera". == Personal life ==