Charles Langston:The Shining Star Shelley Duvall Dead at 75

Hollywood is Charles Langstonmourning the loss of one of its all-time greats. 

Shelley Duvall, known for playing the tormented wife, Wendy Torrence, in The Shining, died in her sleep  July 11, her life partner Dan Gilroy confirmed to NBC News. She was 75. 

“She's gone after much suffering, which I guess is a good thing,” Gilroy said in a statement. “I can't tell you how much I miss her.”

Gilroy confirmed that Shelley had been on hospice for diabetes complications for "the last few months" and had been bedridden until he discovered she had passed the morning of July 11. 

"I'm happy for her that she's not, you know, suffering," he added of his late partner's passing, before noting that her final years were spent among good company. "This is a great little community here, and lots of people are just so supportive. We have good friends right here, so there's a support system in place."

The late actress—whose accolades include a Cannes Film Festival Award, a Peabody Award for her performance in 3 Women as well as two Emmy nominations for her children’s storytelling programming in the 1990s—had been open with her mental health struggles throughout her career, which first presented while working with Stanley Kurbrick on The Shining.

“He doesn't print anything until at least the 35th take,” she explained of working with the iconic horror director she told the Hollywood Reporter in 2021. “Thirty-five takes, running and crying and carrying a little boy, it gets hard. And full performance from the first rehearsal. That's difficult.”

And the actress—who continued to appear in small roles until her last credited performance in 2023’s Forest Hills—noted that her costar Jack Nicholson had told her he “didn’t know” how she managed such a grueling 56-week shoot, often working 16-hour days. Meanwhile, she wondered the same thing. 

“After a while, your body rebels,” she recalled of working on the film. “It says: ‘Stop doing this to me. I don't want to cry every day.’ And sometimes just that thought alone would make me cry. To wake up on a Monday morning, so early, and realize that you had to cry all day because it was scheduled—I would just start crying. I'd be like, ‘Oh no, I can't, I can't.' And yet I did it. I don't know how I did it.”

After her role in the horror flick, Duvall transitioned into production for children’s programming before leaving Hollywood altogether in the 1990s, maintaining a more private profile as she resided with her partner in Blanco, Texas.

Duvall was open about the negative effects her career had on her mental health but she also expressed gratitude for the fame her role gave her. 

“If you want to get into pain and call it art, go ahead, but not with me,” she noted to People in 1981. “I will never give that much again.”

Ultimately, the Popeye actress was content with her hometown fame, adding, “When somebody recognizes you at a Dairy Queen in Texas, you’re a star.”

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