Shelley Duvall's 10 Best Movies, Ranked

Summary

• Shelley Duvall was a versatile actress known for her eccentric characters in classic movies like Annie Hall and Popeye.
• Duvall collaborated frequently with director Robert Altman, excelling in memorable supporting roles.
• Despite facing challenges, Duvall’s portrayal of Wendy Torrance in The Shining remains a standout in her career.

The acclaimed actress Shelley Duvall was a major figure in Hollywood during the 1970s and 1980s and starred in countless classic movies. With a long-running collaboration with director Robert Altman and roles for other iconic filmmakers such as Woody Allen and Stanley Kubrick, Duvall’s unique mannerisms and skill for playing eccentric characters made her a memorable part of every movie she was in, no matter how small the role. Equally skilled in comedic and dramatic roles, Duvall had an impressive filmography full of interesting and varied characters.

Sadly, Duvall passed away aged 75 on July 11, 2024, with a legacy that included impressive roles in psychological dramas, satirical musicals, and even legendary horrors. While Duvall may be most recognizable as Wendy Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, when looking at the full spectrum of her career, she accomplished so much more than just that. From the 1990s onwards, Duvall only acted sporadically, but still, she imbued every role she played with her idiosyncratic nature and distinctive style.

10 Annie Hall (1977)

Shelley Duvall as Pam

Although she only had a minor role in this Woody Allen classic, Shelley Duvall as the Rolling Stone reporter Pam was one of the funniest parts of Annie Hall. Duvall’s deadpan delivery of Allen’s hilarious one-liners as she engaged in a brief romance with the anxiety-ridden comedian Alvy Singer was, in her own words, “transplendent. As Pam waxed lyrical about everybody from the Maharishi to Bob Dylan, Shelley perfectly encapsulated the pretentious and self-important aspects of the intellectual and artsy social circles of 1970s New York City.

One of Duvall’s funniest lines came after she slept with Allen’s character and described the experiences as “Kafkaesque” before reiterating, “I mean that as a compliment.” Reportedly, much of Duvall’s performance was cut out of Annie Hall to bring it down to its 93-minute runtime (via The Guardian), so she likely had plenty more zingers that audiences never got to hear. While Duvall’s role in Annie Hall was brief, it was also memorable and showcased her comedic talent.

9 McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

Shelley Duvall as Ida Coyle

Shelley Duvall’s most frequent collaborator was the acclaimed director Robert Altman, and in total, she appeared in seven of his films. Their second movie together was the excellent revisionist Western McCabe & Mrs. Miller, a critically acclaimed anti-Western starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie that subverted many tropes of the genre. With a story involving a gambler and a prostitute who became business partners, their enterprise was threatened when a large corporation entered their small mining town.

Duvall played the memorable supporting role of Ida Coyle, an unsatisfied mail-order bride, to perfection, and it was no surprise that Altman chose to work with her repeatedly in the subsequent years. It was impressive how much Duvall stood out among the talented ensemble cast of McCabe & Mrs. Miller as it stood as a landmark release in Altman’s career. Ida was forced into sex work at Mrs. Miller’s after her husband’s death, and Duvall gave her all to this important minor role.

8 Brewster McCloud (1970)

Shelley Duvall as Suzanne Davis

Shelley Duvall’s feature film debut came in Robert Altman’s Brewster McCloud, a terrific black comedy about a lonely man (Bud Cort) building a pair of wings so that he can fly. As a sardonic fairy tale, Brewster McCloud took its concept and ran with it to deliver an exciting cult classic. With several ongoing storylines, Brewster McCloud could be seen as a coming-of-age story, a metaphor for rising above one’s circumstances, and a murder mystery all packed into one.

Duvall has always had a talent for playing odd and eccentric characters, and Brewster McCloud was no different. As Suzanne Daivs, Duvall was the kooky tour guide who took Brewster’s virginity and, after learning of Brewster’s involvement in the killings, turned him into the police. An excellent debut from Duvall, the strength of her performance signaled the beginning of her fruitful collaborations with Altman throughout the years.

7 Nashville (1975)

Shelley Duvall as Martha/L.A. Joan

Robert Altman’s Nashville followed five days in the lives of 24 main characters. With such a massive ensemble cast, it was hard for any single performer to stand out among the crowd. However, despite this lofty challenge, Shelley Duvall still managed to give a memorable performance as Martha, the young groupie who came to Nashville to ostensibly visit her aunty but spent most of her time pursuing male musicians after she rebranded herself as L.A. Joan.

Nashville was Duvall’s fourth film with director Robert Altman, and, by this point, the two were building up an impressive filmography of work together. Nashville was an excellent musical satire filmed with fantastic music that received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. As among the greatest films by Altman, Nashville stood as one of the best movies of the 1970s.

6 Time Bandits (1981)

Shelley Duvall as Pansy

Time Bandits was one of director Terry Gilliam’s most underappreciated films, as its hilarious take on fantasy adventure stories appealed to the entire family. With a star-studded cast that included many of Gilliam’s fellow Monty Python members, this tale of a boy traveling through time with a band of thieves was incredibly well-received when it was released. With fantastic set designs and incredible makeshift special effects, Time Bandits looked great and had a uniquely comic tone.

Although Shelley Duvall’s role in Time Bandits was relatively minor, it was also a memorable one that showcased the funny side of her performance style. Duvall played Pansy, the eternal lover of Vincent (Michael Palin), who beautifully declared their love for one another in the Middle Ages and on board the RMS Titanic. However, Pansy and Vincent were continually interrupted by the gang of time-traveling thieves, which led to a hilarious recurring gag.

5 The Portrait Of A Lady (1996)

Shelley Duvall as Countess Gemini

Throughout the 1990s and 21st century, Shelley Duvall’s film roles became more infrequent, and one of her best later roles came in The Portrait of a Lady in 1996. Adapted from the 1881 Henry James novel and directed by Jane Campion, The Portrait of a Lady was a star-studded period drama about an American girl who inherited a fortune finding herself in a highly manipulative relationship. With superb direction that captured the essence of James’s novel, The Portrait of a Lady was a dark and atmospheric feminist take on its source material.

Duvall played the supporting role of Countess Gemini, a character who at first appeared silly and frivolous, but behind the scenes was far more insightful than she first appeared. With a director like Campion at the helm, it’s no surprise she was able to get such a great performance out of Duvall, as she mimicked some of the same hysterical energy that made her so effective in The Shining. The performance of Countess Gemini in The Portrait of a Lady was subtly impressive, and Duvall pulled off its nuances in a way that only she could.

4 Thieves Like Us (1974)

Shelley Duvall as Keechie

After two minor roles in Robert Altman’s movies, Shelley Duvall became a central character in his 1974 crime film Thieves Like Us. A story of crime and romance, Thieves Like Us featured two men who broke out of prison and restarted their criminal ways by robbing banks across the Depression-era American South. Duvall played Keechie, the garageman’s daughter, who fell in love with the small-time bank robber Bowie (Keith Carradine.)

With strong visuals and incredible performances, those who criticized Duvall’s acting style need only watch Thieves Like Us as a showcase that she had immense talent since the earliest days of her career. Duvall brought a real depth of emotion to the character of Keechie, who was continually distraught by the wayward behavior of her criminal husband. Keechie was the perfect role for Duvall, and Thieves Like Us was a fantastic picture that suited her talents entirely.

3 Popeye (1980)

Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl

While there were plenty of actors who could follow up Robin Williams as Popeye in a new movie, it’s difficult to imagine anybody but Shelley Duvall playing Olive Oyl. The musical comedy Popeye was a unique comic book adaptation by Robert Altman that truly captured the essence of its source material, as Duvall perfectly mimicked the outrageous mannerisms and cartoonish expressions of Olive. While Popeye was negatively received at the time of its release, looking back on it today, it’s clear that Duvall and Williams did a marvelous job portraying their characters.

Duvall’s slender frame and unique facial features meant she already looked like the part of Olive Oly, and once this was paired with her distinctive vocal inflection, she was truly transcendent. As a performer already known for odd-beat and quirky roles, Duvall gave her all to Olive and even delivered the movie’s best showstopping musical number, “He Needs Me.” Popeye would be Duvall’s seventh and final movie with Altman, and it felt like an appropriate way to bookend their acclaimed creative collaboration.

2 3 Women (1977)

Shelley Duvall as Millie Lammoreaux

The story of 3 Women came to writer and director Robert Altman in a dream and was a deeply psychological film dealing with themes of identity. With Duvall as the adult woman Millie Lammoreaux, Sissy Spacek as her teenage roommate and co-worker Pinky Rose, and Janice Rule as the pregnant woman Willie Hart, 3 Women tracked their increasingly bizarre relationships. As an unusual and effective film about human nature, 3 Women was a moving study of the stranger side of people’s buried psychology.

As a semi-improvised story of blurred identities, 3 Women brought to mind other psychological dramas, such as Ingmar Bergman’s acclaimed Swedish masterpiece Persona. Duvall deservedly won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her incredible performance. Although 3 Women was a cryptic and difficult film to decipher, Duvall’s role as Millie Lammoreaux remains one of the greatest performances of the 1970s.

1 The Shining (1980)

Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrance

There was only ever going to be one answer when it came to Shelley Duvall’s greatest movie, and that was her portrayal of Wendy Torrance in The Shining. As not only the best horror movie of the 1980s but one of the greatest films ever made, Duvall proved she had the acting chops to star alongside Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick’s acclaimed adaptation of Stephen King’s iconic novel. Duvall brought a unique vulnerability and eccentric energy to her role as Wendy and was a major factor in the movie’s now legendary status.

While Duvall’s performance in The Shining has since been reappraised as a masterclass, this was not always the case, and she received criticism and bad press when the film was released. Duvall was actually nominated for the Razzie Award for Worst Actress for her role in The Shining, although the Razzie committee retracted this nomination in 2022. While it’s true that Shelley Duvall had a miserable time on set and was treated badly by Kubrick, this did not take away from her extraordinary performance as Wendy, which stood as her crowning achievement as an actress.

Source: The Guardian