The Shining and Popeye actress Shelley Duvall has passed away at the age of 75. Reports indicate that Duvall died in her sleep of complications from diabetes at her home in Blanco, Texas.
“My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us. Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley,” said Dan Gilroy, her life partner since 1989.
The two-time Emmy nominee had all-but retired from acting by the mid-1990s, but left behind a memorable body of work, including seven films directed by her mentor, Robert Altman.
She made her onscreen debut as Astrodome tour guide Suzanne Davis in Brewster McCloud (1970), later appearing as a mail-order bride in McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971); the woman who has a Mississippi romance with bank robber Keith Carradine in Thieves Like Us (1974); groupie L.A. Joan in Nashville (1975); the wife of President Grover Cleveland in Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976); and as Millie Lamoureaux in 3 Women (1977).
In 1981, she starred opposite Robin Williams as Olive Oyl in Altman’s live-action Popeye adaptation.
Other notable film appearances include Terrence Malick's Badlands and Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits. But Of course, Duvall's most famous role was that of Wendy Torrance, wife of Jack Nicholson's axe-wielding Jack Torrance, in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.
Tributes have been pouring in since the news of Duvall's passing broke.