Yahoo News Shelley Duvall’s Best Performances, from ‘The Shining’ to ‘3 Women’
From the moment she appeared on screen, Shelley Duvall had an inherent, if unconventional, star quality. Recruited by Robert Altman to play a supporting role in his bizarro “M*A*S*H” follow-up “Brewster McCloud,” Duvall had no formal acting training or experience the first time she walked onto a movie set; she was a student at a junior college studying nutrition and diet therapy, who had never even left the state of Texas. But with her effortlessly charming performance in the film, she proved herself a natural.
What made Duvall such a brilliant actor? Part of it is her distinctive appearance: she was beautiful, but not generically so, with high cheekbones and large, expressive eyes that made her face a canvas to project emotions onto, be it terror or longing or despair. She had a knack for playing into the eccentricities and oddities of her characters, adding an offbeat charm that made her performances distinct. She had a lightness that made her excel with comedy, but she equally had the chops to play dramatic roles. Regardless of the size of her role or the tone of the film, Duvall brought something ineffable to her part, a sense that only she was capable of delivering the performances she gave.
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Today, Duvall is most famous for her role as a woman living through pure hell in “The Shining,” Stanley Kubrick’s legendary adaptation of Stephen King’s horror novel. Duvall’s performance has, in recent years, been largely overshadowed by controversy and rumors over how she was treated on the set, with some connecting the experience to her decision to slowly leave Hollywood in the decades following the film (speculation she largely refuted in a rare 2021 interview). At the time, it was outright panned by critics, notoriously receiving a Razzie nomination (the organization rescinded the “honor” in 2022). Watched now with all the noise and baggage removed, her work registers as a stunning achievement, raw and emotional in a register few working in similar “Scream Queen” roles have ever been capable of hitting.
Duvall had an unconventional and unique career in many respects, and although “The Shining” is likely the only film a substantial portion of people have ever seen in her in, she has a small but mighty filmography filled with gems. There’s her collaborations with Altman, which ranged from meaty lead roles (“Popeye,” “3 Women”) to tiny but brilliant supporting parts (“McCabe and Mrs. Miller,” “Nashville”). There’s her smattering of comedic work in ’80s gems like “Roxanne” and “Time Bandits,” and her lovely side career as a children’s TV host that started with ’80s hit “Faerie Tale Theatre.” She largely left Hollywood after the ’90s, although she made one final film appearance in microbudget horror film “The Forest Hills” in 2023. In a way, Duvall’s career was like the women she often played: odd, singular, yet brilliant.
In honor of Duvall’s passing at the age of 75, IndieWire has spotlighted the best and most vibrant work from her short but brilliant career. Read on for Duvall’s 10 greatest performances, ranked.
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