30 Beautiful Photographs of a Young Shelley Duvall From the 1970s

Shelley Alexis Duvall (born July 7, 1949) is an American retired actress and television producer, known for her portrayals of distinct, eccentric characters. Born in Texas, she began acting after being discovered by director Robert Altman, who was impressed with her upbeat presence, and cast her in the black comedy film Brewster McCloud (1970). Despite her hesitance towards becoming an actress, she continued to work with Altman, appearing in McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) and Thieves Like Us (1974). Her breakthrough came with Altman’s cult film Nashville (1975), and she earned widespread acclaim with the thriller 3 Women (1977), also directed by Altman, for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and earned a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Duvall played a supporting role in the comedy Annie Hall (1977), and went on to star in several lead roles, which include appearing as Olive Oyl in Altman’s Popeye (1980) and Wendy Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s horror film The Shining (1980), the latter of which is considered to be her signature performance, polarizing critics and audiences. She subsequently appeared in Terry Gilliam’s fantasy film Time Bandits (1981), the short comedy horror film Frankenweenie (1984) and the comedy Roxanne (1987). She ventured into producing television programming aimed at children and youth; she created, hosted and appeared in Faerie Tale Theatre (1982–1987) and Tall Tales & Legends (1985–1987), the latter of which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 1988.

Following the young adult-aimed horror series Nightmare Classics (1989), which she created and produced, Duvall sporadically worked in acting, notably playing supporting roles in Steven Soderbergh’s thriller The Underneath (1995) and the Henry James adaptation The Portrait of a Lady (1996), directed by Jane Campion. Her last performance was in Manna from Heaven (2002), after which she retired from acting. Duvall has since kept out of the public media, keeping her personal life generally private, however her health issues following The Shining have earned significant media coverage. (Wikipedia)