Shelley Duval - 70s Star

Shelley Duval was born July 7, 1949 in the largest city of Texas - Houston. Her mother, Bobby, worked as a real estate broker; father, Robert, a lawyer. The future actress was brought up with three siblings: Stuart, Scott and Shane.

Shelley graduated from Waltrip High School, after which she began to trade in cosmetics to pay for her studies at South Texas College, where she studied dietetics and sports nutrition.

Carier start

When Shelley Duvall turned 21, she met filmmaker Robert Altman. The famous American immediately discerned the talent in the girl and invited her to shoot the experimental comedy “Brewster McCloud”.

The beauty played the role of the beloved protagonist of the picture. Altman was so overwhelmed by Duval's acting skills that “Brewster McCloud” was only the beginning of their long and fruitful collaboration.

Shelley herself for a long time could not decide to take part in the filming. She did not believe that she could become an actress. But she succumbed to Altman's entreaties and ventured out of Texas for the first time in her life for the role.

The period of cooperation with Robert Altman

Shelley Duval starred in seven films by Robert Altman. Since 1971, the director regularly assigned the main roles in his films to an attractive American.

Shelley appeared in the musical comedy Popeye, the adventure western McCabe and Mrs. Miller, and the crime drama Thieves Like Us.

In 1977, the girl received the Cannes Film Festival award for starring in the cult film Three Women. The script for the picture of Altman was inspired by his own dream.

Other movies with Shelley Duvall

During her career, the American actress managed to star in the films of almost all the directors of New Hollywood.

When Shelley Duvall stopped working closely with Altman, she played a small role in Woody Allen’s romantic comedy “Annie Hall”.

This was followed by hard work on the image of Wendy Torrens in Stanley Kubrick's Shine. Collaboration with the legendary director was a real torment for the actress - for a long time she had to spend in isolation in order to convincingly look on the screen. In addition, the director was extremely picky: the scene in which the heroine Shelley brandishes a bat was shot only with 127 take.

All Duval’s suffering was in vain, critics called her play in The Shining inept. The actress received a nomination for Golden Raspberry.

Stephen King, whose novel was written in the script of the film, repeatedly repeated that he imagined Wendy Torrens completely different.

The role in The Shining became fatal in Shelley Duval's career . The young actress was no longer invited to major projects. Almost her last significant role in her career was Pansy from the fantastic fairy tale “The Bandits of Time”, set according to the script of Terry Gilliam.

How did the personal life of the actress work?

In her youth, Shelley was married to producer Bernard Sampson. Officially, they registered their relationship between 1970 and 1974. The couple divorced when Duvall became a sought-after actress.

On the set of Woody Allen’s comedy “Annie Hall,” Shelley met with American rock musician Simon Paul. They lived together for two years. Their relationship ended when the actress introduced her lover to her friend Carrie Fisher. There was an affair between Simon and Princess Leia.

Shortly before the release of The Time Bandits, the press reported that Shelley and Stanley Wilson, with whom she worked on the movie Popeye, were about to get married. But this event never happened.

The actress for a long time did not appear in public. In 2016, the press began to print photos of Shelley Duval from the filming of the television show “Doctor Phil”. In an interview, the movie star Altman admitted that she was suffering from a mental illness. Upon learning of this, the charity organization Actors Fund of America told reporters that it would sponsor Shelley's treatment.