On 7 July in 1949, Shelley Duvall was born in Fort Worth, Texas. But she spent most of her early years in Houston. We are also coming up on the anniversary of her death at the age of 75 last year on 11 July. She was a remarkable actor — quirky but believable, which is a hard combination.

Two films really stand out to me — both from 1980. The first is Popeye, an underrated gem of a film. Even at the time, it was hard not to think she was born to play Olive Oyl. I have never been much of a fan of the cartoon but I love this film. Robin Williams is great in it but without Duvall, the whole thing would fall flat. She is also good in other Robert Altman films like McCabe & Mrs Miller.

The second film is, of course, The Shining. And this is a hard one because by all accounts Stanley Kubrick tortured her during the production. Apologists (Yes, Kubrick has apologists and they are about as bad as any apologist you can name.) come up with reasons for this — or dismiss it as the way Kubrick worked. Well, sure. Kubrick was an asshole who abused a lot of people. He’s like Sergio Leone: a talented director who got way more power than he deserved, which he misused. Duvall would have given an excellent performance regardless who directed The Shining. Jack Nicholson, on the other hand, might have given a less cartoonish performance under a more careful director.

Anyway, I know Shelley Duvall primarily as an actor. But she is arguably more important as a producer of children’s TV. I only ever saw her Showtime series Faerie Tale Theatre. But she created and produced a lot of others after that.

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Image of Shelley Duvall is in the public domain.