Robert Altman was in Houston filming “Brewster McCloud” when he met Shelley Duvall at a party. After the filmmaker and his crew became close to Duvall, Altman was convinced that she would be perfect as the off-beat young woman who falls for Brewster. Duvall, who had sold cosmetics and studied nutrition in college, was stunned.
“I’m not an actress,” she insisted. To which Altman replied, “Oh yes, you are.” At least that’s the way that Keith Carradine , a frequent collaborator of both Altman and Duvall, heard it.
“I love that story,” Carradine says. “It’s so Bob, it’s so Shelley.” Duvall died on July 11 at the age of 75, having long ago left Hollywood, but she left behind a treasure trove of indelible onscreen performances, playing Jack Nicholson’s terrified wife in “The Shining,” as well as a series of quirky roles in Altman films like “Nashville,” “3 Women” and “Popeye,” playing Olive Oyl opposite Robin Williams as the spinach-enhanced title character.
There was also her delicate work opposite Carradine in “ Thieves Like Us ,” a Depression era crime film about an escaped convict and the woman he falls in love with while on the lam. “On ‘Thieves Like Us,’ I found myself falling under her spell like my character would,” Carradine remembers. “It didn’t feel like we were performing anything.
It was jus so easy. All I had to do was be present and remember my lines.” Below, Carradine shares his memories of working with.
