Shelley Duvall, star of 'The Shining,' dies at 75

Shelley Duvall, best known for her role as Wendy Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror classic 'The Shining,' died on July 11, 2024, at age 75 at her home in Texas. The cause was complications from diabetes, according to her husband Dan Gilroy, a musician and former member of Madonna's band Breakfast Club. Duvall's career was shaped by her collaborations with director Robert Altman, who gave her her first film role in 'Nashville' (1975) and directed her in seven films total. She won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for Altman's '3 Women' (1977). That same year, she appeared in Woody Allen's 'Annie Hall.' In the 1980s, Duvall shifted to producing, creating the innovative anthology series 'Faerie Tale Theatre' (1982–1987), which featured stars like Mick Jagger, Jeff Bridges, and Carrie Fisher, and was directed by Tim Burton and Francis Ford Coppola. Her experience on 'The Shining' was notoriously grueling: Kubrick reportedly made her cry 12 hours a day for weeks, and the iconic axe scene required 127 takes. Duvall later said, 'I will never give that much again. If you want to suffer and call it art, go ahead, but not with me.' She gradually withdrew from Hollywood due to mental health issues, making a brief return in the 2022 independent horror film 'The Forest Hills.'