In any business, careers rise and fall, and sometimes people step away without any explanation of where they have gone. Now, after years away from the spotlight, The Shining icon Shelley Duvall is back in it for the most depressing reason.
Duvall died at the age of 75 on July 11, 2024 from complications relating to diabetes, resulting in a flood of tributes from across the entertainment industry. Her career began in 1970 with a role in Brewster McCloud. Several collaborations with Robert Altman followed before Duvall landed her perhaps best-known role in The Shining and produced several anthology television series before their current heyday. After working on Mana from Heaven in 2002, she just stopped and nary a word was heard for years.
Then daytime television came a-calling, and the result was not good.
In 2016 Phil McGraw and his team interviewed Duvall on his Dr. Phil show. In the footage, Duvall, then 67, made claims about actor Robin Williams being alive, expressed a sense of paranoia about people looking to hurt her, and said Williams could shape-shift. People were outraged, several attributed her state today to how Stanley Kubrick treated her while filming The Shining. So, what was going on with her?
In 2021, The Hollywood Reporter tracked down Duvall and allowed her to speak on her own terms. In contrast to salacious claims about how she is, her memory, and ability to converse was still sharp. Although she could be gripped by anxiety attacks or unusual and unrealistic topics, the outlet found Duvall could speak easily about her life and career, something she is very proud of. Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich, a fan of The Shining, said all she needed was help, and stigma around these struggles is what made Duvall into a pariah from the industry and a community which previously welcomed her with open arms.
“Unfortunately, on Dr. Phil, the world saw what it’s like to have untreated mental illness. That has helped make Shelley mostly forgotten by Hollywood.”
Later in the article, Duvall disputed the notion Kubrick treated her badly. She says he was warm and friendly. She hinted that what made her leave Los Angeles for a quieter life was general burnout and financial issues of an unexplained nature, then blasted Dr Phil for exploiting her mental health episode. She said he tried to get back in touch with her after by reaching out to her mom with multiple calls.
“I found out the kind of person he is the hard way. My mother didn’t like him, either. A lot of people, like Dan, said, ‘You shouldn’t have done that, Shelley.’ He started calling my mother. She told him, ‘Don’t call my daughter anymore.’ But he started calling my mother all the time trying to get her to let me talk to him again.”
Duvall lived the final years of her life in a protective community around her in the area she calls home. Her legacy is better than it used to be. Up until her death she appeared to be happy, took on some minor acting roles, and enjoyed semi-retirement.
Rest in peace, Shelley Duvall.