Shelley Duvall Shaped My Childhood & Showed Me Survival Takes Many Forms

Shelley Duvall, who played heroine, mother and wife, Wendy Torrence, in Stanley Kubrick's, The Shining, has passed away. She was 75.

While most people think of The Shining when they think of Shelley's work, my brain wanders elsewhere. It travels back to memories of my childhood in Panama and England in the 80's and 90's. When I was still quite small my father was in the Air Force and during his military career we were often station in rural and isolated places. My grandmother, living back home in Alabama, had recently signed up for cable and hatched a clever idea of recording television shows and movies on VHS tapes, then shipping them to us so we'd always have access to American television, films, and pop culture.

On one of her tapes she'd recorded several episodes of a live action storytelling show for children that she found a bit odd, but thought we'd enjoy. That show was Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre.

Created, produced, and hosted by Duvall, Faerie Tale Theater aired on Showtime from 1982 to 1987, and would go on to win three awards, including a Peabody Award, which "celebrate(s) excellence in entertainment in documentary, news, podcast/radio, arts, youth, and public service programming."

This bizarre and colorful television show featured popular fairy tales brought to life by beloved actors and household names like Jeff Goldblum, Carrie Fischer, Robin Williams, Vincent Price, Angelica Huston, Sofia Coppola, Jeff Bridges, Liza Minelli, and more. And it was truly special.

I fell in love with Shelley because of Faerie Tale Theater. I didn't even watch The Shining Until I was in my 30's so in my mind she was always the Faerie Tale Theater lady: a waifish, bright-eyed storyteller with a soft voice that made me feel safe enough to escape into my imagination with her. I lost and found myself in those VHS tapes many times over.

In 2017 I, like many of us, was suddenly confronted with the reality of what films like The Shining did to Duvall's mental health. A feature on the Dr. Phil Show highlighted her struggles later in life, leading to an outcry from members of the entertainment industry and a rebirth of interest from the public. Many, myself included, felt Phil McGraw and Stage 29 Productions exploited Duvall, which led to public backlash against the television talk show host.

Regardless of McGraw's intent, the renewed interest in Duvall led many of us who grew up with her work to think more critically about what it means to suffer for your art and whether or not the men who've made others suffer should be held accountable for doing so. It's a nuanced and complicated conversation, but thanks to Duvall and others like her, more and more of us are having these conversations and examining our relationships with media and celebrities.

Shelley Duvall's life made a lasting impact on my own. I am both deeply saddened by her passing and also so grateful she lived at all. The world is a better place because she was in it. She shaped our childhoods with her magic and showed us that survival looks differently on everybody.

Shelley, like Wendy Torrence, was a survivor. She went through hell but never lost the sparkle that made her one of a kind. I'm so glad I have sacred memories of days and nights laying on the living room rug getting lost in the world she so lovingly created for us. What a privilege it was to be alive in the time of Shelley Duvall.

Shelley Duvall on Faerie Tale Theater