Shelley Duvall Biography

Wide-eyed, toothy, pencil-thin leading lady Shelley Duvall is the daughter of prominent Houston attorney Robert Duvall (not to be confused with Robert Duvall, the actor). While attending a party in 1970, Duvall was spotted by director Robert Altman, who cast her as a Superdome tour guide in his Texas-filmed Brewster McCloud (1970). She went on to play eccentric secondary roles in Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) and Nashville (1975), and co-starred opposite another Altman "regular," Keith Carradine, in Thieves Like Us (1974). She earned the Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival for her portrayal of a garrulous, self-involved senior-citizen-center worker in 3 Women (1977), then wrapped up the Altman phase of her career as Olive Oyl (a role she was surely born to play) in Popeye (1980). Of her non-Altman film assignments, her best included Kubrick's The Shining (1980) -- in which she was cast against type as the only thoroughly normal person in the picture -- and Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977); she was also perfection-plus as the protagonist in the made-for-PBS adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Bernice Bobs Her Hair (1976). From 1982 onward, Duvall cut down on her acting appearances, concentrating instead on her behind-the-scenes responsibilities as producer of such superlative Showtime Cable Network projects as Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre (1982-1987), Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales and Legends (1985-1988), and Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories (1992). These and other star-studded, family oriented endeavors have been assembled by one or all of Duvall's three production companies: Amarillo Productions, Platypus Productions, and Think! Entertainment. Shelley Duvall has also functioned as executive producer of the 1989 TV remake of Dinner at Eight, and has served on the board of governors of the National Association of Cable Programming. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

• 1. Pam: I'm a Rosicrucian myself.
  2. Alvy Singer: Are you?
  3. Pam: Yeah.
  4. Alvy Singer: I can't get with any religion that advertises in Popular Mechanics.
  From Annie Hall. Submitted by Diane H (48 days ago)

• 1. Pam: Did you catch Dylan?
  2. Alvy Singer: No, I couldn't make it-- my raccoon had hepatitis.
  3. Pam: You have a raccoon?
  4. Alvy Singer: Few.
  From Annie Hall. Submitted by L M (7 months ago)

• 1. Wendy Torrance: How could you?! How could you?!
  From The Shining. Submitted by Jorge Eduardo S (9 months ago)

• 1. Wendy Torrance: The loser has to keep America clean.
  From The Shining. Submitted by Raj G (14 months ago)

• 1. Pam: Sex with you is really a Kafka-esque experience.
  2. Alvy Singer: Oh, thank you.
  3. Pam: I mean that as a complement.
  From Annie Hall. Submitted by Daniella G (17 months ago)

• 1. Jack Torrance: Have you ever had a SINGLE MOMENT'S THOUGHT about my responsibilities? Have you ever thought, for a single solitary moment about my responsibilities to my employers? Has it ever occurred to you that I have agreed to look after the OVERLOOK Hotel until May the FIRST. Does it MATTER TO YOU AT ALL that the OWNERS have placed their COMPLETE CONFIDENCE and TRUST in me, and that I have signed a letter of agreement, a CONTRACT, in which I have accepted that RESPONSIBILITY? Do you have the SLIGHTEST IDEA, what a MORAL AND ETHICAL PRINCIPLE IS, DO YOU? Has it ever occurred to you what would happen to my future, if I were to fail to live up to my responsibilities? Has it ever occurred to you? HAS IT?
  2. Wendy Torrance: [swings the bat] Stay away from me!
  From The Shining. Submitted by Andrew M (19 months ago)

• 1. Danny Torrance: Redrum! Redrum! Redrum!
  2. Wendy Torrance: [Wendy wakes up and screams] Danny! [takes the knife away from his hand] Danny stop it! Danny!
  3. Jack Torrance: [After Smashing the door and Wendy and Danny hide in the bathroom] Wendy, I'm home.
  From The Shining. Submitted by Nick P (20 months ago)

• 1. Wendy Torrance: Please! Don't hurt me!
  2. Jack Torrance: I'm not gonna hurt you.
  3. Wendy Torrance: Stay away from me!
  4. Jack Torrance: Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya. You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just going to bash your brains in. [Wendy gasps]
  5. Jack Torrance: Gonna bash 'em right the fuck in! ha ha ha
  6. Wendy Torrance: Stay away from me! Don't hurt me!
  7. Jack Torrance: [sarcastically] I'm not gonna hurt ya...
  8. Wendy Torrance: Stay away! Stop it!
  9. Jack Torrance: Stop swingin' the bat. Put the bat down, Wendy. Wendy? Give me the bat...
  From The Shining. Submitted by Gavin S (20 months ago)

• 1. Jack Torrance: Has it ever occured to you! Has it?
  2. Wendy Torrance: [crying] Stay away from me.
  3. Jack Torrance: Why?
  4. Wendy Torrance: I just wanna go back to my room!
  From The Shining. Submitted by Nick P (20 months ago)

• 1. Wendy Torrance: [crying] Stay away from me.
  2. Jack Torrance: Why?
  3. Wendy Torrance: I just wanna go back to my room!
  4. Jack Torrance: Why?
  5. Wendy Torrance: Well, I'm very confused, and I just need time to think things over!
  6. Jack Torrance: You've had your whole FUCKING LIFE to think things over, what good's a few minutes more gonna do you now?
  7. Wendy Torrance: Please! Don't hurt me!
  8. Jack Torrance: Please! Don't hurt me!
  9. Wendy Torrance: Stay away from me!
  10. Jack Torrance: Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya. You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just going to bash your brains in. [Wendy gasps]
  11. Jack Torrance: Gonna bash 'em right the fuck in! ha ha ha
  12. Wendy Torrance: Stay away from me! Don't hurt me!
  13. Jack Torrance: [sarcastically] I'm not gonna hurt ya...
  14. Wendy Torrance: Stay away! Stop it!
  15. Jack Torrance: Stop swingin' the bat. Put the bat down, Wendy. Wendy? Give me the bat...
  From The Shining. Submitted by Ryan M (22 months ago)

• 1. Wendy Torrance: (runs up to Jack) Thank God you're here. There's someone eIse in the hotel with us. There's a crazy woman in one of the rooms. She tried to strangle Danny.
  2. Jack Torrance: (looks annoyed) Are you out of your fu**ing mind?!
  From The Shining. Submitted by Creep F (2 years ago)

• 1. Wendy Torrance: (to Jack) You son of a bitch! You did this to him, didn't you!? How could you!? How could you!?
  From The Shining. Submitted by Creep F (2 years ago)

• 1. Wendy Torrance: (to Jack) It's amazing how fast you get used to such a big place. I tell you, when we first came up here I thought it was kind of scary.
  From The Shining. Submitted by Creep F (2 years ago)

• 1. Jack Torrance: The most terrible nightmare I ever had. It's the most horrible dream I ever had.
  2. Wendy Torrance: It's OK; it's OK now. Really.
  3. Jack Torrance: I dreamed that I, that I killed you and Danny. But I didn't just kill ya. I cut you up in little pieces. Oh my God. I must be losing my mind.
  From The Shining. Submitted by Creep F (2 years ago)

• 1. Wendy Torrance: Hey. Wasn't it around here that the Donner Party got snowbound?
  2. Jack Torrance: I think that was farther west in the Sierras.
  3. Wendy Torrance: Oh.
  4. Danny Torrance: What was the Donner Party?
  5. Jack Torrance: They were a party of settlers in covered-wagon times. They got snowbound one winter in the mountains. They had to resort to cannibalism in order to stay alive.
  6. Danny Torrance: You mean they ate each other up?
  7. Jack Torrance: They had to, in order to survive.
  8. Wendy Torrance: Jack.
  9. Danny Torrance: Don't worry, Mom. I know all about cannibalism. I saw it on TV.
  10. Jack Torrance: See, it's OK. He saw it on the television.
  From The Shining. Submitted by Creep F (2 years ago)

• 1. Wendy Torrance: I'm gonna go now.
  2. Jack Torrance: Wendy?
  3. Wendy Torrance: I'm gonna try and get Danny down to Sidewinder in the Snow Cat. I'll send back a doctor.
  4. Jack Torrance: Wendy?
  5. Wendy Torrance: Yes?
  6. Jack Torrance: You got a BIG surprise coming to you. You're not going anywhere. Go check out the Snow Cat and the radio and you'll see what I mean. Go check it out. Go check is out, ha-ha-ha-ha!
  From The Shining. Submitted by Creep F (2 years ago)

• 1. Jack Torrance: I don't think that's true. I think you have some very definite ideas about what should be done with Danny and I'd like to know what they are.
  2. Wendy Torrance: Well, I think maybe he should be taken to a doctor.
  3. Jack Torrance: You think 'maybe' he should be taken to a doctor?
  4. Wendy Torrance: Yes.
  5. Jack Torrance: 'When' do you think 'maybe' he should be taken to a doctor?
  6. Wendy Torrance: (crying) As soon as possible.
  7. Jack Torrance: (mocking/imitating her) 'As soon as possible.'
  From The Shining. Submitted by Creep F (2 years ago)

• 1. Jack Torrance: Wendy, let me explain something to you. Whenever you come in here and interrupt me, you're breaking my concentration. You're distracting me. And it will then take me time to get back to where I was. You understand?
  2. Wendy Torrance: Yeah.
  3. Jack Torrance: Now, we're going to make a new rule. When you come in here and you hear me typing (types) or whether you DON'T hear me typing, or whatever the F**K you hear me doing, when I'm in here, it means that I am working, THAT means don't come in. Now, do you think you can handle that?
  4. Wendy Torrance: Yeah.
  5. Jack Torrance: Good. Now why don't you start right now and get the f**k out of here?
  From The Shining. Submitted by Creep F (2 years ago)

• 1. Wendy Torrance: I just wanna go back to my room!
  2. Jack Torrance: Why?
  3. Wendy Torrance: Well, I'm very confused, and I just need time to think things over!
  4. Jack Torrance: You've had your whole FU**ING LIFE to think things over, what good's a few minutes more gonna do you now?
  From The Shining. Submitted by Creep F (2 years ago)

• 1. Wendy Torrance: Please! Don't hurt me!
  2. Jack Torrance: I'm not gonna hurt you.
  3. Wendy Torrance: Stay away from me!
  4. Jack Torrance: Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life. I'm not gonna hurt you. You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said, I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm just going to bash your brains in...I'm gonna bash them right the f**k in!
  5. Wendy Torrance: Stay away from me! Don't hurt me!
  6. Jack Torrance: (sarcastically) I'm not gonna hurt you...
  7. Wendy Torrance: Stay away! Stop it!
  8. Jack Torrance: Stop swinging the bat. Put the bat down, Wendy. Wendy? Give me the bat.
  From The Shining. Submitted by Creep F (2 years ago)

• 1. Jack Torrance: It is so fucking typical of you to create a problem like this when i have a chance to accomplish something! When I am really into my work! I couldn't do much if I went back to Boulder now, could I?! Shoveling down driveways! Work at a carwash! Does that appeal to you?!
  2. Wendy Torrance: (cries) Jack
  3. Jack Torrance: Wendy! I have let you fuck up my life so far, but I will not let you fuck this up!
  From The Shining. Submitted by Mitch D (2 years ago)