Late But Not Forgotten: Shelley Duvall (1949-2024)

by Cláudio Alves

Shelley Duvall behind the scenes of her last film, THE FOREST HILLS (2023).
First of all, preemptive apologies for the solipsism. 

For the past few weeks, I've been struggling with a mounting number of celebrity deaths, each deserving of a tribute. Yet, with every single one comes the need for research, and then, when I think I'll be able to write a good obituary, another loss hits. For a while, I considered doing a giant post, built from essential information on each dear departed artist. It wouldn't be akin to that extensive Donald Sutherland homage - to give an example - but it'd be something. Still, the work dragged on, the pressure mounted, and the delay was reaching absurd proportion. I can only say sorry, dear reader. 

This past Wednesday, as I celebrated my 30th birthday, such affairs still haunted me. And maybe because I was surrounded by friends, basking in sincere affection, perchance a self-pitying reflection or two on the passage of time and getting older, a new approach materialized. Instead of trying to encapsulate a world-class artist's entire history in a write-up, I shall instead ponder what they mean to me personally. Earnestness is the way to go, and hopefully, you'll share what these people mean to you in the comments, too. These pieces will be relatively brief but heartfelt, and they'll start with a star I loved like few others – the inimitable Shelley Duvall…

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Happy Birthday, Shelley Duvall!

by Cláudio Alves

Shelley Duvall is one of a kind. Upon seeing her work in Altman's 3 Women, Andrew Sarris compared her to "a young Katharine Hepburn," while Pauline Kael said she was the "closest thing we've ever come to a female Buster Keaton." And yet, the critic would also inevitably arrive at the same conclusion that she was unique. "There are no forebears or influences that would help to explain Shelley Duvall's acting; she doesn't seem to owe anything to anyone." And so, it's a tragedy that, nowadays, she's mostly remembered as the woman broken by Stanley Kubrick during The Shining's grueling shoot, a pop psychology misreading that's spread through social media despite Duvall's own words on the matter.

Infuriating, it's condescending to a great multi-hyphenated artist whose independence and ambition defined a decades-spanning career in entertainment. Let's keep the wonders of Duvall's work alive and bright, let's remember and honor. I invite you to celebrate the iconoclast on this special occasion, the actress' 74th birthday in a year marked by her return to cinema in The Forest Hills…

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Happy 73rd to Shelley Duvall

We spent most of today's psychic energy reminiscing about James Caan's greatness , plotting what to see this weekend at the theater (maybe Elvis again?), and being reminded about the terrible 1994 Best Actress race when Jamie Lee Curtis was RIGHT THERE. So we almost forgot it was Shelley Duvall's birthday, one of the most singular actresses to ever grace the silver screen. So...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHELLEY DUVALL, WHEREVER YOU ARE.

Here at TFE, Cláudio has paid tribute to her all time best performance (3 Women) and Jason has celebrated her most famous (The Shining) but I realized I haven't really written about her. If you could read a piece on Duvall that wasn't about those two movies, which performance would you want it to be about? 

Almost There: Shelley Duvall in "3 Women"

by Cláudio Alves

The Almost There series' temporary fixation on Cannes-winning performances continues with the incomparable Shelley Duvall. In 1977, when her sixth collaboration with director Robert Altman premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Duvall took home the much-coveted Best Actress prize from a jury presided by Roberto Rossellini. The picture that earned such golden plaudits was 3 Women, a Bergman-esque exploration of juxtaposed and deconstructed identity that's also one of the best American films of its decade…

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Links: French Exit, Barb and Star, and More...

• Sundays with Cate Murtada on Michelle Pfeiffer in French Exit which has finally been released
• ...TFE and my own take in case you're finally seeing the movie (which I'm hoping to watch again very soon now that I'm acclimated as a huge fan of the novel)
• Vogue on Pfeiffer's expensive wardrobe in the picture
• THR "Searching for Shelley Duvall" -someone we missed this profile from Seth Abrahamovitch. Duvall, who has been absent from the public eye for years and years talks with him about fleeing Hollywood and The Shining.
• AV Club revisiting a musical number from Muppets Treasure Island that speaks to the now “Cabin Fever”
•  Coming Soon speaking of musical numbers. A new musical animated short called “Us Again” will premiere before Disney’s Raya and teh Last Dragon in its theatrical run next month.

More after the jump including Bridgerton news, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Frankenstein movies, and yet another remake of The Three Musketeers...

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