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‘The Shining’ actor Shelley Duvall dies at 75: what was the cause of death?
It has been confirmed that Duvall, who appeared alongside Jack Nicholson in the 1980 classic ‘The Shining’, has died.
The actor Shelley Duvall, best known for her role in the iconic psychological horror movie The Shining, has died at the age of 75.
“Fly away, beautiful Shelley”
Duvall’s partner, the musician Dan Gilroy, told The Hollywood Reporter today: “My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us. Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley.”
Gilroy revealed that the Texas native died in her sleep due to complications from diabetes.
Memorable role in Kubrick classic
Duvall appeared alongside Jack Nicholson in The Shining, a 1980 big-screen adaption of the Stephen King novel of the same name.
She starred as the wife of Nicholson’s Jack Torrance, an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic who is driven to violent insanity when he becomes the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, in a remote area in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
Praising Duvall’s performance as Wendy Torrance, The Guardian’s Peter Kimpton wrote of the actor: “[She] does frightened like nobody else and is film’s answer to Edvard Munch’s The Scream.”
What acting awards did Duvall win?
Duvall’s performance in the movie 3 Women - one of numerous Robert Altman films that she featured in - earned her a Best Actress award at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival.
Her nearly 30 movie credits also include a role in the Woody Allen comedy classic Annie Hall.
Duvall’s TV work saw her win a Peabody Award for Faerie Tale Theatre, while she was twice nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award, for Tall Tales & Legends and Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories.
Duvall was married to the artist Bernard Simpson between 1970 and 1974, before embarking on a two-year relationship with the singer-songwriter Paul Simon. She was together with Gilroy from 1989.