Shelley Duvall and How She’ll Live On
Beloved actress and one of the icons of being fashionable and quirky, Shelley Duvall, passed away this July 11 just days after her 75th birthday, and people of different generations are mourning.
She’s not JUST Shelley Duvall, she IS Shelley Duvall and all of that.
Before the trend of people comparing themselves or others to Barbie, Bratz or Blythe dolls came to be, The Nashville and Annie Hall actress was one of the original doll-like beauties with her prominent features. And in addition to her natural looks, her beautiful doe eyes were sometimes styled with long eyelash extension, which was a famous look in the sixties and up to the seventies with Twiggy and Liza Minnelli as examples of others who have pulled off the extended eyelashes. Combine Shelley’s talents in acting, her energy that was not in any way a lack-luster, and her beauty, and it easily brings other universes into ours as she portrayed various eccentric characters from different genres. In fact, if you ever find yourself spooked out by the horror stories she’s in, fret not for she also created, produced and hosted bedtime stories, story retellings of fairy tales and legends that you can watch to calm down, or maybe you can listen to her takes on nursery rhymes if you’re more into music with Mother Goose Rock ’n’ Rhyme.
She’s really the original Barbie for being able to be everything! A woman of variety, talent and heart. Throughout the years, she’s been remembered for these things, but in the latest generations that are TikTok users, people may also know her for her voice. The song “He Needs Me” from the film adaptation of the cartoon sailor, Popeye, when Shelley played Olive Oyl became a trending sound on tiktok for some time in 2023, and in the same year, a compilation of her saying “Hello, I’m Shelley Duvall” that was accompanied with beats as a sound also gained new attention. Even though the both of those audios were originally from a different time, them being in trend recently just shows a little out of the many ways that for sure shows that Shelley Duvall and her memory will always live on in us.
Already an award winning actress and an artist, the whimsical way she was dressed and portrayed characters amplified her star-power and have inspired many other people to be whimsical in similar ways. Whether it be the film sets she’s on, the dance floor of Studio 54, or in a shoot for Vogue, she was often adorned in bright colors or in patterns, possibly even both. She is remarkable in the different things she did thus she really is deserving to be remembered in the different areas she shone in. So when Shelley Duvall passed away, people took it to the internet to talk about the multiple ways they remember her. 80s kids reminisce about the ever campy and star-studded fever dream production of Faerie Tale Theatre, how it was a staple in their childhood and how they have owned and replayed episodes of it on VHS tapes over and over. Actor Malcolm Mcdowell who was one of the celebrities to appear on the show among Carrie Fisher and Mick Jagger, paid tribute to her in a post on X (formerly Twitter.) “Shelley was a dear friend & wonderful actress who played quirky/offbeat characters in some great films by Bob Altman. And of course her great performance in Kubrick’s,The Shining. It was a pleasure working with her on Faerie Tale Theatre.” The A Clockwork Orange star wrote. Asides Faerie Tale Theatre, the kids of the 80s may also recall her performances as Olive Oyl in Popeye by Director Robert Altman, which was one of her most known roles asides Wendy Torrence in the horror film The Shining by Director Stanley Kubrick, a film that was based on Stephen King’s famous book of the same title. As for folks who were older during that time, they remember her for the highly acclaimed films Brewster McCloud, Nashville, 3 Women, and Annie Hall back in the 70s years before she retired and when she was relatively still new to acting.
Since the age of the internet, technology has shifted and more perspectives on Shelley Duvall were developed. As mentioned, her voice has been used in trends online, in TikTok specifically. Her voice singing “He Needs Me” was used by users to talk about their crushes or to “manifest” them — depending on which side of TikTok you’re on. The other trend involving her that blew up is that trend where users show the different looks they pull off with the audio of her introducing herself again and again with added-on beats is used. One look after the other varies just like how Shelley did in the beginning of every Faerie Tale Theatre episode as she introduces herself with different outfits and backdrops every time! Another way that the platform has given way for new audiences to know her was how Shelley was close to a fan of hers who ran an archive and fan account (@shelleyduvallxo) dedicated to her with thousands of followers.
However, given how communication and technology moves nowadays and in the previous years, it has also led to a lot of misinformation and speculations on her life. Like why did she move back to Texas and retire from acting? Or that widespread myth that goes Stanley Kubrick and The Shining has destroyed Shelley Duvall’s life and career from trauma. All over the internet, posted and shared by others, you’ll see posts about that story. Maybe you could have also been one of those who believed it as a one whole story for a certain time. Actually, she has always been a successful and a well-loved talented actress both before and after the said film, she was described by the people around her as kind and she was named Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival of 1977 for her performance in 3 Women. The taping of The Shining may have been an exhausting process for her and the others on set for how the director was a perfectionist, but Shelley herself has actually spoken admiration of Kubrick before in interviews despite admitting its intensity. But it would still be distasteful and a grave mistake to overshadow and diminish Shelley Duvall’s talents and creations with this myth, portraying her as just some poor thing to pity.
If there was anybody she openly disliked as a fact, it was Dr. Phil who exploited her and her state of health in a televised interview that received flack. But there are many things to celebrate about Shelley Duvall, she gave the world a lot of things to love about and it’s about time we give them the love, respect and attention that they deserve. Her life was so much more than the stress she was in while delivering a performance as Wendy Torrence, her health was not who she was, and she is definitely remarkable on her own and is worth remembering beyond being labeled as just this person or that person’s former partner. Let’s not let Shelley Duvall’s existence in life and in after death be shrouded by or be defined by these events and men. Because when you look into a kaleidoscope, are the dark parts of the bright colorful images that it produces what you remember the most? And asides her works and capabilities, how wonderful it is to remember Shelley Duvall and her memory in the outfits or the style that we wear, to remember her when we have a crush on someone, in childhood classics, in the long trails of cigarette ashes, in the feeling of being whimsical in this world… The list goes on and will continue to go on even in her passing.
Once again, she is Shelley Duvall, an actress, a creator, a muse, an inspiration; her name will always be remembered by different generations.
