Shelley Duvall has died

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy77p22jr5lo

by yladiz • 2 years ago

251 74 2 years ago

tocs32• 2 years ago

Rest In Peace.

I met and talked to her a few times in town over the past 10 years or so. She could serve as an example person that needed help (I tried to help on occasion in tiny "help the old lady across the street" ways). Lets remember to try and be compassionate to those around us.

cal85• 2 years ago

She could serve as an example person that needed help

Why?

knodi1233• 2 years ago

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2016/11/17/shining-ac...

"I’m very sick, I need help," she says in an interview airing Friday.

Basically, she struggled with mental health later in her life, much more so than most people.

tocs32• 2 years ago

I did not know her well[1] so cannot really speak to actual real troubles. Still, it easily appeared that she had mobility and cognition troubles. I saw her once at the grocery store and she asked me to go in and tell them that Shelley was there so they could come out and help her.

[1] edit : I meant "did NOT know her well". I hope my sentiment was reasonably clear.

bitwize2• 2 years ago

I remember her primarily as Olive Oyl from the Popeye movie and the series Faerie Tale Theatre. She was amazing as an actress with a very unique look. Seeing her as a metal and physical wreck in more recent years was heartbreaking. I will miss her, but am glad she is no longer suffering.

knodi1233• 2 years ago

Olive Oyl from the Popeye movie

I recently (randomly!) listened to the "What Went Wrong" podcast episode about Popeye. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/popeye-1980/id15128470...

It was _hilarious_ . But the one thing that went perfectly was the casting of Shelley Duvall. The podcasters said "If you gave god a bunch of popeye cartoons and told him to make a real human version of Olive Oyl, you'd get Shelley Duvall." And Shelley herself said that she grew up being called Olive Oyl, and hated it because of all that it implied- but now that it got her cast in a big budget movie, she said the comparison doesn't hurt anymore!

boppo1• 2 years ago

What did it imply? Unfamiliar.

ianbicking• 2 years ago

I really liked the Popeye movie; I rewatched it recently and still like it. It gets a lot of things wrong, but it gets other things really right. Among them Shelley Duvall.

deciduously• 2 years ago

For me Time Bandits comes to mind first, her little sketches with Michael Palin never get old.

dhosek• 2 years ago

Popeye was the first thing I saw her in, and after that, I could never unsee her as Olive Oyl. Personally, I think that movie is absolutely wonderful (especially the “Everything Is Food” number, but all the songs are great).

For whatever reason, the Fairy Tale Theatre episodes are hard to come by. They’re not on any streaming service although there have been DVD releases. The first episode featured Robin Williams as the frog prince with Eric Idle directing.

It was only in the last couple years that I learned that not only is she not Robert Duvall’s daughter,¹ they aren’t related.

⸻

1. Actually, it turns out she is Robert Duvall’s daughter, just not that Robert Duvall.

christkv• 2 years ago

Shh don't tell anyone https://archive.org/details/fgtd5r/01+-+The+Tale+of+the+Frog...

roydivision• 2 years ago

She was SO Olive Oyl that it's like somehow the cartoons were retro-fitted to her look.

toomuchtodo• 2 years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelley_Duvall

anigbrowl• 2 years ago

A recent profile of her from 2 months ago, which mentions a film she worked on earlier this year: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/25/style/shelley-duvall.html...

eludwig• 2 years ago

Just wanted to pop in to say I think she is a terribly underrated actor. Truly a gem. For my money, the only reason that The Shining has any stakes at all is because of her incredible performance! RIP, Shelley.

technothrasher• 2 years ago

The Shining has so many reasons why it "has stakes". While Duvall was definitely an amazing part of that, it seems unfair to deprecate the rest of the creative folks involved in the film.

temporarely2• 2 years ago

Even the opening long shot "has stakes". That's an amazing film packed with talent in all departments.

lagniappe• 2 years ago

She also made a great Bo-Peep from what I remember, from this movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvh56wPstKo

hodgesrm• 2 years ago

She was also great in Nashville.

brandall102• 2 years ago

Keep in mind that performance was controversial and possibly contributed to her mental decline, in particular because of the subject matter and Kubrick's penchant for perfectionism. She had clumps of hair coming out of her head from the stress.

The baseball scene alone is famous for taking 127 takes.

maroonblazer• 2 years ago

There's a documentary that gives the lie to the rumor that Kubrick was abusive to SD. I believe that she recalls fondly that the project was challenging but ultimately rewarding.

hinkley• 2 years ago

Time Bandits. The cruise ship.

JohnFen3• 2 years ago

She was one of the true greats. Among my top 10 favorite actors. Rest well.

aaroninsf• 2 years ago

For the lucky 10,000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6QgNuZcxTw

drivers99• 2 years ago

I was expecting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrVoJgQ7u8w

For context, she hosted a show called "Faerie Tale Theatre".

lenwood• 2 years ago

Thanks, I'm one of the lucky 10k today. This is great and I'd never seen it before.

eco• 2 years ago

Fun little fact, seeing this video is the reason Michael Stevens (of VSauce fame) was inspired to start making his own videos.

mistyvales• 2 years ago

She was also great in 3 Women (and other Altman movies).

IndySun• 2 years ago

what do you like about '3 Women'?

garbanz0• 2 years ago

https://youtu.be/PTxMtTYjXPQ

senderista• 2 years ago

I have fond memories of watching her in Fairy Tale Theater as a kid, highly recommend that series.

mrichman• 2 years ago

Loved it so much, I spent a month getting it off bittorrent.

duderific• 2 years ago

I wonder if she would even be able to get her foot in the door in Hollywood nowadays. She has a very "unconventional" look that doesn't necessarily align with the modern standards of beauty that generally are table stakes in today's film industry. Of course there are exceptions, but you just don't see many leading women that aren't more like Scarlett Johansson or Nicole Kidman.

dmix• 2 years ago

Always a place for Steve Buscemi type characters in Hollywood if you have charm

xeromal2• 2 years ago

I love that Steve Buscemi is the baseline for strange looking actors. I'd agree.

486sx332• 2 years ago

Her look would NOT get her into Hollywood today. Or the 00’s or the 90’s or the 80’s

Hollywood idealism is whack

xeromal2• 2 years ago

Anna Taylor Joy

pbj1968• 2 years ago

Are you kidding? Most of them are tiny and weird looking in person. Have you seen what Nicole Kidman looked like in her 80s Australian movies? I enjoy her performances but now she is one of the strangest looking people I’ve ever seen.

jader201• 2 years ago

I was actually thinking she has a similar look to Anya Taylor-Joy, and would have a similar look if she were a younger actor today.

There are definitely actors today to also have an unconventional look, but you’re comparing 1970s unconventional to 2020s unconventional.

I think she would have fit right in today.

mixmastamyk• 2 years ago

One of the pieces talked about her movie in 2023, The Forest Hills.

4rt• 2 years ago

RedLetterMedia did a re:view of Popeye quite recently.

https://youtu.be/pygCruE-EJs

mattjaynes• 2 years ago

One of my favorite films. Can't think of anyone who could have played Olive more perfectly. Underrated classic.

mmmBacon• 2 years ago

Mine too! Saw it about 100 times via the magic of HBO in the 1980’s. I loved to sing I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today to my kids when they were young. They are teens now. Still break it out once in a while to their great embarrassment!

JKCalhoun• 2 years ago

ZaSu Pitts comes to mind, but otherwise, yeah.

JohnFen3• 2 years ago

I strongly dislike that movie, but Duvall's performance was excellent in it.

at_a_remove• 2 years ago

People talk of her acting, which was fine and good, but I think her largest achievement was Fairytale Theater, Nightmare Classics (only four, but a quite good adaptation of "Carmilla" was in the lot), and so forth. She executive produced four of these series, putting together quite a lot of talent in one place. The IMDB credits for some of these episodes are amazing.

Shelley Duvall has died

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