“Here’s Johnny!” exclaims Jack Nicholson as wild-eyed Jack Torrance, amid the sounds of ax swings, shrieks, and splintering wood in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). This famous scene showcases the terror and vulnerability of Jack Torrance’s wife, Wendy, played with perfection by Shelley Duvall. Known to be one of the most iconic in film history, this scene left Duvall with a sore throat, wounded hands, and severe dehydration, and these do not even scratch the surface of the other horrors and abuses that occurred throughout the film’s production. 

Early Life and Career

Born July 7, 1949, in Fort Worth, Texas, Duvall was raised as the oldest of four children by a real estate broker and a lawyer. During her childhood, she was an artistic, energetic child with a passion for science. In 1970, while Robert Altman was shooting Brewster McCloud (1970), he met nineteen-year-old Duvall at a party and was immediately transfixed by her bubbly personaand unique appearance. Altman approached her to be part of the movie, and though she was at first hesitant, Duvall eventually agreed and flew to Hollywood to start her new career as an actress.

With thirteen film and television credits in the seventies alone, Duvall’s acting career began with a bang. Her performance alongside Sissy Spacek in 3 Women (1977) drew critical acclaim, two Best Actress awards, and the eye of director Stanley Kubrick. Fresh off A Clockwork Orange(1971) and Barry Lyndon (1975), Kubrick saw 3 Women and instantly knew he wanted Duvall for his next project, Stephen King’s The Shining.

The Shinning

Stanley Kubrick, known to be a perfectionist, wrote more than twenty-five drafts while the film was shooting. He pushed the small cast and crew to complete exhaustion, often repeating takes dozens of times to get the perfect shot, with the baseball bat scene alone being reshot one hundred and twenty-seven times. 

Duvall had to cry and scream for hours on end, while her hands blistered and bled from having to grip the baseball bat so tightly. Eventually, she called the role“emotionally and physically exhausting,” stating that she needed to coerce her body into a state of near-constant panic to appease the tyrannical Kubrick. Duvall was so emotionally and physically tormented, with over 500 days of shooting and many of these being up to sixteen hours long, that her health declined—her hair started falling out and more than once she collapsed in a panic attack. However, Duvall has publicly stated that had she not been subjected to Kubrick’s force and cruelty, the film would not be quite the success it is today.

Children’s Entertainment

After filming The Shining, Duvall was cast as Olive Oyl alongside Robin Williams in the screen adaptation of Popeye (1980), an event that, for Duvall, sparked an immediate interest in children’s entertainment. After filming wrapped, she began production on her own children’s television program, Faerie Tale Theatre, a project she narrated, hosted, and produced from 1982 to 1987, earning her an Emmy nomination and a Peabody award. Faerie Tale Theatre featured an A-list group of directors, including Emile Ardolino (Dirty Dancing), Eric Idle (Monty Python and the Holy Grail), Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands), and Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather). 

Riding on the success of Faerie Tale Theatre, Duvall created Tall Tales & Legends (1985), a series of adaptations of American folk tales, and in 1991, she released an album of lullabies and Christmas songs. A year later, with the newly formed Universal Family Entertainment, Duvall created yet another program with younger audiences in mind, titled Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories, an adaptation of children’s storybook classics, a series that earned her a second Emmy nomination. The last show she produced was Mrs. Piggle Wiggle in 1993. 

Later Career and Life

After 32 years in the industry—and with only two additional horror credits under her belt, Tale of the Mummy (1998) and The 4th Floor (1999)—Duvall retired from acting in 2002, and her next public appearance wouldn’t come until November of 2016, in her now infamous appearance on Dr. Phil’s talk show.

Many viewers, including Dr. Phil himself, speculated at the time that she was suffering from a mental illness. Throughout the forty-minute episode, Duvall made many outrageous claims, including her insistence that her late friend and co-star Robin Williams was still alive and living as a shapeshifter. She claimed that she was being threatened and that people had implanted recording devices into her body. Though it was never shown in its entirety, controversy followed the interview, with an almost universal condemnation for Dr. Phil and his appalling exploitation of Duvall and her obvious mental health struggle.  

It was another five years before Duvall was seen publicly again, this time in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2021. This interview was the antithesis of the last, with The Hollywood Reporter noting that Duvall was “sharp and full of engrossing stories,” not at all the woman seen on Dr. Phil’s program.

Duvall returned to the world of horror last year in The Forest Hills (2023), an independent horror-thriller. In yet another interview, Duvall revealed that she had developed many health issues, including diabetes and an injured foot that had greatly impacted her mobility. Due to her health, the crew from The Forest Hills flew to her home so she could film her scenes. Her partner, Dan Gilroy, said, “Things went downhill when she started becoming afraid of things, maybe didn’t want to work. It’s really hard to pin it on any one thing. She became paranoid and just kind of delusional, thinking she was being attacked.” It cannot be discounted that many of the movies she made during her career, particularly The Shining, have affected her mental and physical state.

Legacy and Impact

Today, Duvall has a fanbase that pays attention to her every move, but, despite this, she feels betrayed by the industry. Duvall has fifty-seven acting credits to her name, ranging from the ’70s to present day; her work in children’s entertainment has been without precedent as is the legacy she’s created within the horror genre. When Duvall spoke to The New York Times in 2022, she stated, “I was a star; I had leading roles. People think it’s just aging, but it’s not. It’s violence.” With her eccentric looks and undeniable talent, Shelley Duvall serves as a role model for future generations.

From The Shining to Popeye and her vast credits in children’s entertainment, Duvall has played a significant role in Hollywood’s history. She has contributed immensely to the horror genre, and her name immediately comes to mind during any conversations involving The Shining.

Without Shelley Duvall, there would be no “Here’s Johnny!” Without her, The Shining wouldn’t be one of the greatest psychological horror films ever made. Despite this fact, very little is written about her. There are no books, documentaries, or stars on Hollywood Boulevard dedicated in her honor. Today, Shelley Duvall will soon be seventy-five years old, and she remains one of the most iconic—yet forgotten—actresses in Hollywood history.