From the moment she appeared on screen, Shelley Duvall had an inherent, if unconventional, star quality. Recruited by Robert Altman to play a supporting role in his bizarro “M*A*S*H” follow-up “Brewster McCloud,” Duvall had no formal acting training or experience the first time she walked onto a movie set; she was a student at a junior college studying nutrition and diet therapy, who had never even left the state of Texas. But with her effortlessly charming performance in the film, she proved herself a natural.
What made Duvall such a brilliant actor? Part of it is her distinctive appearance: she was beautiful, but not generically so, with high cheekbones and large, expressive eyes that made her face a canvas to project emotions onto, be it terror or longing or despair. She had a knack for playing into the eccentricities and oddities of her characters, adding an offbeat charm that made her performances distinct. She had a lightness that made her excel with comedy, but she equally had the chops to play dramatic roles.
Regardless of the size of her role or the tone of the film, Duvall brought something ineffable to her part, a sense that only she was capable of delivering the performances she gave. Today, Duvall is most famous for her role as a woman living through pure hell in “The Shining,” Stanley Kubrick’s legendary adaptation of Stephen King’s horror novel. Duvall’s performance has, in recent years, been largely overshadowed by controversy and rumors over.
