Shelley Duvall is remembered for being the perfect movie victim. But she was so much more

Essay by Dan Heching, CNN

(CNN) — In all of the coverage remembering late actress Shelley Duvall, who died this week at the age of 75, great attention has been paid to her prolonged absence from the spotlight after breakout hits in ’70s and early ‘80s cinema.

Most notably, she will be forever linked to her portrayal of Wendy Torrance, the fragile and tortured victim to Jack Nicholson’s maniacal writer in Stanley Kubrick’s iconic 1980 adaptation of the Stephen King classic “The Shining,” who then ostensibly vanished from the public eye.

Sadly, that victim identity was only reinforced in the mid-2010s, when Duvall appeared on an episode of “Dr. Phil” that was deemed exploitative and highly problematic.

But just like anyone else, movie stars – even reluctant ones, like Duvall – equal more than their last impressions, or their perceived shortcomings. It is unfortunate that Duvall’s absence from the public sphere eventually overshadowed her gifts and talent.

Much has been written about Duvall’s fraught experience on the set of “The Shining,” where she spent much of the grueling shoot – often 16-hour days, six days a week – worked up into such a state of hysteria, her body would physically rebel from the constant stress and crying.

In 2021, one of the plethora of “where-has-she-been-all-this-time?” pieces was published in The Hollywood Reporter, in which Anjelica Huston – who was dating Nicholson at the time the film was shot – recalled how Duvall opted to live close by the isolated set on the outskirts of London, as opposed to renting a flat in town and commuting.

“Nobody does that,” said Huston at the time. “You go back and forth from London, even though you could get stuck in two-hour traffic going in and out. But Shelley did that for a good year and a half. She got herself an apartment and lived there because she was just terribly dedicated and didn’t want to shortchange herself or anyone else by not giving over fully to her commitment.”

That commitment was apparent in the finished product, with Duvall’s portrayal of Wendy – the gawkish and terrified wife of an alcoholic writer who comes undone as their family is shut in at a haunted Colorado hotel over a harsh winter – becoming a major reference point in pop culture.

After “The Shining,” Duvall went on to a handful of other successful projects, but none that would rise to the level of notoriety of that film or her oeuvre that came before it, notably her lauded work with filmmaker Robert Altman.

Decades later, when Duvall appeared on the controversial “Dr. Phil” episode with a ratings-bait title, the then 67-year-old actress made confusing claims and was apparently struggling with her mental health.

The episode drew great backlash and ire from viewers and Hollywood luminaries alike, with Mia Farrow calling for protection of “mentally ill people from TV talk show predators like @DrPhil” on social media and Vivian Kubrick – the late Stanley Kubrick’s daughter – labeling the display as “appallingly cruel” and “lurid entertainment.”

(Dr. Phil, for his part, never apologized for the episode and instead told CNN’s Chris Wallace last year, “I don’t regret what I did.” He only allowed that the show was “promoted in a way that people thought was unbecoming.”)

Ultimately, the incident only fueled curiosity around Duvall, who as the New York Times pointed out earlier this year, retained a dedicated fan base. Her tenure as host of the 1980s Showtime anthology “Faerie Tale Theatre” – an early but solid hit in the nascent premium cable era, which lasted six seasons – had a huge impact on younger Gen Xers and Millennials, like this writer.

The fantasy show presented classic fairytales in the form of playful yet engrossing episodes filmed on a soundstage, and attracted an incredible roster of talent – including Helen Mirren, James Earl Jones, Treat Williams, Terri Garr and Gena Rowlands, to name but a few, not to mention some impressive directing work from the likes of Francis Ford Coppola and Tim Burton.

It was buoyed, however, by Duvall, whose unique charm and childlike whimsy as host and presenter of each tale was the perfect fairy dust. She also acted as a producer on the series.

Not long after “Faerie Tale,” Duvall played Steve Martin’s clever confidante Dixie in the winsome 1987 retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac, “Roxanne.” At one point in the comedy, she tells a riddle to Martin’s lovestruck, large-nosed main character, asking, “What can you sit on, sleep on, and brush your teeth with?” As Martin plumbs his brain for something elusive as the answer, Duvall slowly and coyly provides it: “A chair, a bed, and a toothbrush.”

“Sometimes, the answer is so obvious, that you don’t see it,” she continues. A reminder to perhaps not focus so much on her elusiveness, but on the legacy of Duvall’s work – which was there all along.

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