Shelley Alexis Duvall born July 7 1949 is an American actress and producer known for her portrayals of distinct often eccentric characters She is the recipient of several accolades including a Cannes Film Festival Award a Peabody Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards Born in Texas Duvall had no acting experience growing up in Houston She was an honor student in school and sold perfumes at a department store but being an actress never crossed her mind Duvall recently quit a short stint studying science at a local college when she was discovered by Robert Altmans crew at a party Altman was impressed with her upbeat presence and cast her in Brewster McCloud 1970 Despite her hesitance towards becoming an actress she continued to work with Altman appearing in McCabe Mrs Miller 1971 and Thieves Like Us 1974 It was her involvement in Thieves that solidified her desire to pursue acting Her breakthrough came with Altmans cult film Nashville 1975 and she earned widespread acclaim with the drama 3 Women 1977 as the selfabsorbed Millie Lammoreaux for which she won Best Actress at Cannes That same year she appeared in a supporting role as a reporter for Rolling Stone in Woody Allens satirical romantic comedy Annie Hall 1977 and hosted Saturday Night Live In the 1980s Duvall became famous for her leading roles which include Olive Oyl in Altmans liveactive feature version of Popeye 1980 and in Stanley Kubricks horror film The Shining 1980 as Wendy Torrance She initially received negative reviews for her performance in the latter but received widespread acclaim for it in the decades following its release She appeared in Terry Gilliams fantasy film Time Bandits 1981 the short comedy horror film Frankenweenie 1984 and the comedy Roxanne 1987 She ventured into producing television programming aimed at children in the latter half of the 1980s notably creating and hosting the programs Faerie Tale Theatre 19821987 and Tall Tales Legends 19851987 In 1988 Shelley founded Think Entertainment a production company focused on bringing quality educational content to children The company which dissolved in 1993 produced Nightmare Classics 1989 Mother Goose Rock n Rhyme 1990 Bedtime Stories 1992 and Mrs Piggle Wiggle 1994 Duvall sporadically worked in acting throughout the 1990s notably playing supporting roles in Steven Soderberghs thriller The Underneath 1995 and The Portrait of a Lady 1996 directed by Jane Campion She also appeared in more childrens movies like Suburban Commando 1991 Frogs 1992 and Casper Meets Wendy 1998 In addition to TV and film Duvall recorded two albums Sweet Dreams 1991 and Merry Christmas 1991 and wrote Its a Birds Life 1993 a 3DO video game Amidst all this the 1994 Northridge earthquake destroyed Duvalls Studio City home and she relocated to Texas to be closer to family Her last performance was in Manna from Heaven 2002 after which she retired from acting Duvall for many years kept out of the public media keeping her personal life generally private however her health issues earned significant media coverage After a 20year hiatus from acting Duvall is set to return in an upcoming horror film titled The Forest Hills 2023
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