«I left the cinema because my brother had cancer»- Corriere.it

In the small Texas town where she has lived for more than twenty years practically everyone knows her, even if the younger inhabitants probably don’t know that the gray-haired woman who often sings as she talks and sometimes doesn’t seem very lucid, Shelley Duvall, a Hollywood icon of the 70s and 80s. Discovered by Robert Altman, who wanted her in many of his films, including Nashville, Three Women (which earned her the Best Actress award at Cannes) and Popeye (where she starred opposite the late Robin Williams), Duvall obtained the consecration to star thanks to The Shining and the character of Wendy Torrance, pursued by a crazed Jack Nicholson armed with an axe.

It seemed like the beginning of a very brilliant and rewarding career, but at the beginning of the 2000s the actress decided to disappear from the radar, holed up in Texas. At the time it was rumored that she withdrew due to her mental issues, which she herself admitted to suffering in 2016, when she appeared on an episode of Dr Phil, where among other things she said that Williams (died by suicide in 2014) was still alive. And perhaps this explanation for her early farewell from the scenes has some truth, but now that she is about to return to the cinema with the horror The Forest Hills, Duvall wanted to clarify the mystery, revealing that she had given up acting to the family.

In 2002, her brother was diagnosed with spinal cancer and this, combined with the fact that suitable roles for her were starting to run out, prompted her to distance herself from Hollywood. It was the longest sabbatical period I’ve ever taken – said the actress, now 73, in an interview with “People” – but I did it for really important reasons, namely to be close to my family again. As for her upcoming comeback, Duvall is thrilled. Acting really fun again, it enriches your life. And then if Jessica (Tandy) won an Oscar at 80, I can still win it too, laughed the actress who, after closing a ten-year relationship, prefers to gloss over her current sentimental situation, as well as those of the past , which also included Paul Simon and Ringo Starr among others.