Shelley Duvall as Winifred 'Wendy' Torrance
Struggling author Jack Torrance, paying his way as winter caretaker for the deserted Overlook hotel, remotely situated in the Colorado mountains, is haunted by his frustrated creative ambitions and fears of failure both as a husband and an artist. Nurtured by the claustrophobia and isolation of his surroundings, his underlying insanity gradually evolves into rampant madness as he attempts to murder with an axe the only other human occupants of the hotel, his wife and son. In adapting Stephen King's novel, director Stanley Kubrick has ignored to a great extent its familiar theme that materialism provides the springboard for evil, to concentrate on the conflicts inside Jack's mind that lead to his destruction. Kubrick's central character is not haunted by ghosts of the past, but inspired by his opulent surroundings - the literal wealth of available space - until he comes to believe that his creative barrenness can be replaced by a kind of omnipotence as the immortal caretaker of the Overlook. This twinning of opposites, insignificance and omnipotence, is superbly visualized in Jack's conversations with two of the hotel's previous employees, bartender and caretaker, who actually did kill his family during winter isolation: a brilliant mixture of the blackest comedy and abstract reflections on power, responsibility, and duty to the hotel. Kubrick's mobile camera underlines the huge spaces of the building - down unending corridors as the boy explores by bicycle - and encompasses one great moment of horror: a shot across a deserted lobby to the elevator doors, and the doors open to show a torrent of red blood. Jack Nicholson's startling performance is perfectly realized.
Biography for Shelley Duvall
Date of birth
7 July 1949
Houston, Texas, USA
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trivia
She was "discovered" in 1970 by Robert Altman when he came to Houston to direct Brewster McCloud (1970). She was selling cosmetics at Foley's in Northwest Mall in Houston.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Where are they now
(1997) Guest of honor at the International Children's Film Festival in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia: "Duvall may be the closest thing we've ever come to a female Buster Keaton," Pauline Kael wrote. "Her eccentric grace is like his-it seems to come from the inside out." Director Robert Altman "discovered" Duvall in Houston where he was shooting Brewster McCloud (1970) and gave her a small role as an Astrodome tour guide. She worked with him again in McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) and in a costarring role in Thieves Like Us (1974), where she caught critics' attention as the bride of escaped convict Keith Carradine and demonstrated her appealing, goofy, airy naturalness. She appeared in a 1975 PBS adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," and returned to character parts for Altman in Nashville (1975) and Buffalo Bill and the Indians (1976), also appearing fleetingly in Annie Hall (1977) as one of Woody Allen's dates.
Altman's 3 Women (1977) gave Duvall her greatest role as a pathetic spa physiotherapist; the director encouraged her to invent much of her own dialogue, and the performance earned her a Best Actress Award at Cannes. Two more memorable roles followed-as the terrified wife in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining and as Olive Oyl in Altman's Popeye (both 1980)-but since then, she has appeared only occasionally, in Time Bandits (1981), Roxanne (1987), and Suburban Commando (1991). She has concentrated instead on a producing career, committing herself to the creation of high-quality children's entertainment for cable TV and home video. She has used her showbusiness connections to persuade top stars to appear in these productions, and has won praise and numerous awards for such series as "Faerie Tale Theatre," "Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales," and "Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories" and the special "Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme," produced through her own companies Platypus Productions and Think Entertainment. She played Darlin' Clementine in one of her own "Tall Tales" episodes. Duvall also executive-produced the cable-TV remake of Dinner at Eight (1989).
Under the Mimosa (2003)
Manna From Heaven (2001) .... Detective Dubrinski
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001) .... Herself
Dreams in the Attic (2000) .... Nellie
4th Floor, The (1999) .... Martha Stewart
Big Monster on Campus (1998) .... Mrs. Stein
... aka Boltneck (2000) (USA: video title)
... aka Teen Monster (1998)
Home Fries (1998) .... Mrs. Jackson
Casper Meets Wendy (1998) (TV) .... Gabby
Tale of the Mummy (1998) .... Edith Butros
... aka Talos the Mummy (1999) (Europe: English title) (UK: video title) (USA: working title)
... aka Russell Mulcahy's Tale of the Mummy (1999) (USA: complete title)
Changing Habits (1997) .... Sister Agatha
Shadow Zone: My Teacher Ate My Homework (1997) .... Mrs. Fink
Alone (1997/I) (TV) .... Estelle
... aka Horton Foote's Alone (1997) (TV) (USA: complete title)
Rocket Man (1997) .... Mrs. Randall
... aka RocketMan (1997)
Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight (1997) .... Herself (actress)
Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (1997) .... Amelia Glahn
Portrait of a Lady, The (1996) .... Countess Gemini
Underneath (1995) .... Nurse
... aka Underneath, The (1995) (USA: promotional title)
"Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories" (1992) TV Series .... Host
Frogs! (1991) .... Annie
... aka Frogs (1991) (USA: video box title)
Suburban Commando (1991) .... Jenny Wilcox
Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme (1990) (TV) .... Little Bo Peep
Frog (1987) (TV) .... Mrs. Anderson
Shelley Duvall Presents: American Tall Tales and Legends: John Henry (1987) (TV) .... Narrator
Roxanne (1987) .... Dixie
19th Annual NAACP Image Awards (1986) (TV) .... Herself (presenter)
Best of Dan Aykroyd, The (1986) (V) .... Bad Ballet Dancer
"Tall Tales and Legends" (1985) TV Series
... aka "Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales and Legends" (1985) (USA: complete title)
Frankenweenie (1984) .... Susan Frankenstein
Terror in the Aisles (1984) (archive footage) .... Wendy Torrance (segment "The Shining")
... aka Time for Terror (1984) (Europe: video title English title)
Booker (1984) (TV) .... Laura
"Faerie Tale Theatre" (1982) TV Series .... Host, Narrator, various
... aka "Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre" (1982) (USA)
Time Bandits (1981) .... Pansy
Making 'The Shining' (1980) (TV) .... Herself
Popeye (1980) .... Olive Oyl
Shining, The (1980) .... Winifred 'Wendy' Torrance
... aka Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining' (1980)
3 Women (1977) .... Millie Lammoreaux
... aka Three Women (1977) (USA)
Annie Hall (1977) .... Pam
Bernice Bobs Her Hair (1976) (TV) .... Bernice
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976) .... Mrs. Cleveland
... aka Buffalo Bill and the Indians (1976)
Nashville (1975) .... L. A. Joan
Thieves Like Us (1974) .... Keechie Mobley
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) .... Ida Coyle
Brewster McCloud (1970) .... Suzanne