Shelley Duvall was said to be the perfect victim. But she was much more than that.

CNN
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In all the coverage remember Late actress Shelley DuvallAfter her death this week at the age of 75, her long absence from the spotlight after her huge successes in the cinema of the 1970s and early 1980s has received a lot of attention.

Most notably, she will forever be associated with her portrayal of Wendy Torrance, the fragile and tormented victim of mad writer Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick’s iconic 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel The Shining, after which she seemingly disappeared from the public eye.

Unfortunately, this victim identity was only reinforced in the mid-2000s, when Duvall appeared on Dr. Phil episode Which was considered exploitative and highly problematic.

But like everyone else, movie stars—even reluctant ones like Duvall—are worth little more than their last impressions or their perceived flaws. It’s a shame that Duvall’s absence from the public eye eventually overshadowed her talents and skills.

Much has been written about Duval’s Difficult Experience On the set of “The Shining,” where she spent most of her grueling filming time — often 16 hours a day, six days a week — until Such a case of hysteriaHer body will physically revolt from the constant stress and crying.

In 2021, one of the many articles asking the question, “Where has she been all this time?” was published in Hollywood ReporterIn an interview, Anjelica Huston—who was dating Nicholson at the time of filming—recalled how Duvall chose to live near the isolated set on the outskirts of London, rather than rent a flat in the city and commute.

“Nobody does that,” Houston said at the time. “You commute back and forth from London, even if you’re stuck in traffic for two hours each way. But Shelley did it for a year and a half. She got a flat and lived there because she was so dedicated and didn’t want to deprive herself or anyone else of her full commitment.”

This commitment was evident in the final product, with Duvall’s portrayal of Wendy – the clumsy, paranoid wife of an alcoholic writer who breaks down when her family is trapped in a haunted Colorado hotel during a brutal winter – becoming key reference point In popular culture.

After The Shining, Duvall went on to work on a number of other successful projects, but none of them reached the level of fame of that film or her previous works, particularly her widely acclaimed work with director Robert Altman.

Decades later, when Duvall appeared on a controversial episode of “Dr. Phil” with a catchy title, the then-67-year-old actress made disturbing claims that she was apparently suffering from mental health issues.

The episode attracted backlash Viewers and Hollywood stars alike were outraged, with Mia Farrow calling for protection for “people with mental illness from TV talk show predators like @DrPhil” on Social media Vivian Kubrick – daughter of the late director Stanley Kubrick – Display tagging “As a kind of cruel and ridiculous entertainment.”

(For his part, Dr. Phil never apologized for the episode, but instead told me.) Chris Wallace of CNN last year“I don’t regret what I did.” He only admitted that the show “was promoted in a way that people found inappropriate.”

In the end, the incident only served to raise curiosity about Duvall, who was The New York Times She noted earlier this year that she retained a loyal fan base. Her tenure as host of Showtime’s “Faerie Tale Theater” in the 1980s—an early but powerful hit in the emerging premium cable era that ran for six seasons—had a huge impact on younger Gen Xers and millennials, like this writer.

The fantasy show presented classic fairy tales in the form of fun, entertaining episodes filmed on a soundstage, and attracted an incredible roster of talent – including Helen Mirren, James Earl Jones, Treat Williams, Teri Garr, and Gena Rowlandsto name a few, not to mention some great directing work from the likes of Francis Ford Coppola and Tim Burton.

But Duvall was a source of support, her unique charm and childlike imagination as host and presenter of each tale being the perfect magic dust. She also served as a producer on the series.

Shortly after “Fairy Tale,” Duvall played Dixie, Steve Martin’s smart-aleck girlfriend, in “Roxanne,” the brilliant 1987 retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac. At one point in the comedy, Tells a riddle At one point, Martin asks the novel’s big-nosed, lovelorn protagonist, “What can you sit on, sleep on, and brush your teeth with?” As Martin searches his mind for an elusive answer, Duvall slowly and shyly offers it: “A chair, a bed, and a toothbrush.”

“Sometimes the answer is so obvious you don’t see it,” she continues. A reminder, perhaps, not to focus too much on Ha This is not easy, but it builds on the legacy of Duvall’s work – which has been there all along.