Transplendent!
July 11, 2024
Goodbye to Shelley Duvall.
"Shelley Duvall, Star of ‘The Shining’ and ‘Nashville,’ Dies at 75/Her lithesome features and quirky screen presence made her a popular figure in 1970s movies, particularly Robert Altman’s" (NYT)(free-access link).
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43 comments:
Olive Oil
I was wondering how far off this would be, after that post a little while ago about her life in Blanco, Tx. R.I.P.
She died from complications of diabetes.
75 is a full life. Hope she had fun.
Aww. Hate to see it.
A peculiar looking woman who was a very quirky and very good actress. 75? (sigh)
I'm so sad for her that in her later years she faced some serious problems. I hope at the end she had found joy and peace. She was a lovely actor and (I'm guessing) person. I enjoyed her in everything she did.
I had a crush on her in the '70s. She seemed awkward, yet charming in her own unique way.
Oh. Dang.
I always liked her stuff.
Her bedroom seen with Woody Allen in "Annie Hall" is hilarious.
Meh.
One of my faves with her is her role as Keechie in “Thieves Like Us” with Keith Carradine, John Schuck, and several other excellent actors.
RIP
Attractive gawk.
"Lithesome"?
Sheesh, NYT. I hope the full obituary to follow will correct that. Or should I say "fulsome."
But if her features were lithesome, then, yes, she was transplendent. RIP.
Sad to see this. She left us some fine movies to remember her by.
Shelly Duvall was put on this earth to play the role of Olive Oil in a live action adaption of the comic.
I had to look up 'lithesome.' It's an uncommon--dare I say, an archaic--word.
She was only 75! I mean, I'm 75!
Uh oh.
Lissome would have worked better I suppose.
I was rude before, so let me amend my comment to "Meh. She had family, friends, fans, success, and fame. RIP."
She mostly didn't even register with me, except she was in one of my favorite movies ever, Roxanne.
She's hard to understand by today's woke/rainbow standards, as she was the 1970s version of an extreme weirdo or freak (along with Sissy Spacek). She was consciously selected as a gawky (odd) counterpart to stereotypical Hollywood Beauty Queens of that era, such as Raquel Welch and Farah Fawcett. I really only remember her from The Shining and Popeye -- and her emoting/reacting to the overwhelming distinctiveness of her male leads (Jack Nicholson, Robin Williams).
He epitaph is likely to be "Here's Johnny." Eeeeeek!
No mention of Suburban Commando?
I'm here for Roxanne, too. Duvall could act opposite Martin in a ridiculous prosthetic nose and make it all believable. RIP.
OK, now you've got me looking up the Popeye movie. Robert Evans the impresario, a bit erratic at best. Robert Altman directing, a slump in his career. Insisted on an unlikely cast and music by Harry Nilsson, also in a slump. Characters talking over each other, an Altman trademark. First real movie for Robin Williams, two years into Mork and Mindy. I just have to find it free somewhere. Turner: how about this instead of endless repetitions of Gone With the Wind and a few others?
Totally forgot about fairie tale theatre! I loved that!
Apparently, Kubrick basically destroyed her during production of The Shining.
Wiki says that he made her (and Jack) do 127 takes of the scene where she's walking backwards up the stairs with the baseball bat, and there are several references to her hair falling out and her becoming physically ill.
Fortunately, she got to work with Altman on her next role. <-- sarc
Wimpy (Paul Dooley) is still with us, but he is 96. If he hasn't paid you for that hamburger, you might want to settle up soon.
Wimpy (Paul Dooley) is still with us, but he is 96.
An all-time great That Guy.
My personal fave is him as the Dad in Breaking Away. "Refund? REFUND?!?! Refund..."
Shelly had that perfect mixture of intelligence and emotion that made her one of my all time favorites. God will really enjoy having her in Heaven.
Tuna melts!
Never got her appeal.
She was so odd looking she could never disappear in a role.
Except for Olive Oyl, which she was born to play...
She was a tremendous talent. RIP
As I've said here before, she was one of my favorite actresses. Very unique. And of course, the perfect Olive. Fie on Williams for not recognizing the worth of that film.
Her creating the Fairy Tale Theater was a work of love and persistence. My daughter and I watched every episode every time they aired.
Abused and not nearly recognized enough, she was a gem.
I have always confused her with Shelley Long. Had to look up pictures of them to remind myself which one was in Cheers and which one in the Shining.
It was another one of those increasingly common senior moments when I was shocked to see the aging of a woman whom I always considered very pretty and desirable, but hadn't thought about in decades. (Celebrities and high school classmates in particular.) Both of them have changed a lot.
I suppose they'd be similarly shocked to see me if they had known me as a young man.
You used 'popular" and "Robert Altman" in the same sentence.
While I do remember Ms. Duval in the shining, not so much others. That said, a few years ago I was w/o internet and TV and used library/thrift stores DVD's for entertainment. Tho' in my late 70's (non-Bidenesque) I desperately grabbed Fairie Tale Theater DVDs' and thoroughly enjoyed the telling of stories I'd read 60+ years earlier. From Cracked.com:
Anyone who grew up in the ‘80s or ‘90s likely also remembers Duvall as the host and creator of Faerie Tale Theatre, one of the most bizarre, charming and idiosyncratic children’s shows in the history of TV. Each episode presented an hour-long, live-action adaptation of a familiar (or occasionally not-so-familiar) fairy tale, featuring a double-take-inducing cast of Hollywood legends and upstart comic stars.
Don't know how to edit comments but to correct previous, "stories I'd read 70+ years earlier"
I just saw some vids of her in recent years. Yikes.
Her turn in Popeye as Olive Oyl was my favorite.
I had to look up 'lithesome.' It's an uncommon--dare I say, an archaic--word.
It's interchangeable with "lithe", and a doublet of "lissome", which is also a synonym. The core meaning of all of them pertains to things, especially human bodies, that are supple and flexible and graceful and willowy. That typically correlates with a slender body habitus like Duvall's, but there are skinny people whom I don't consider lithe, especially older men. A gymnast, by contrast, may be lithe but muscular and not particularly skinny.
Of the many words described as "archaic", I've never would consider "lithe" or "lithesome" as words that have seemingly rode wet into the sunset like Randolph Hearst. Perhaps "lithesome" derives its mad and incorrect definitions by its similarity in spelling: "is it lithesome or loathsome" that we need to choose from, and from my limited viewing of it in novels, it follows the format of: 1. apply "lithesome" only to women-turned bad characters; 2. apply "lithe" to sexy, thin and flexible women ( Duvall was one of those latter descriptions, but quirky enough to make her likeable to the audience, and to the men of Alpha-like Popeye fans and his repetitive use of canned spinach of the day (as Viagra is touted today), -- to give him strength and/or courage or lack of tradition to win Olive Oyl's heart -- and fight to the finish against Bluto for hers. She isn't initializing her fear of the perilous duo, both with their desire to want her as the one true love of their current round of prospectives, sweating in the hold of the craft that carries the better choices to be with, along with comic relief of "courting" of that time. Despite the forlorn desire for her here aboard: she gambles in taking the right road (Popeye), verus the unknown and darkened parth with Bluto, a decision made in haste as her characters -- a spinach-eating sailor with one eye and an indeciphible use of verbal communication, against the feared and nasty, unshavened and "large" a vicious description of women's romance novels of the 60s and early 70s.
That's all I can say this early moment of Saturday where, with three hours of sleep under my belt, getting ready to teach combined classes of the Kyle G's restaurant group staffs, We train the 100 or so staff in one of those perfect auditoriums designed for class lectures. Wish me luck. I have a slew of doubles, back to back, and I am looking forward to address the subject matters with these hospitality employees.
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