Shelley Duvall Has Died At 75, And 'The Shining' Fans Are Mourning One Of Cinema's Best

Shelley Duvall, star of The Shining and countless others, has died. She was 75 years old. The actor passed away in her sleep at her home in Texas beside her partner Dan Gilroy. She had been battling diabetes and died from complications related to the disease.

"My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us. Too much suffering lately, now she's free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley," Gilroy said to The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday. Borne in Texas, Duvall has kept out of the limelight for the past few decades, but she starred in a series of hit movies in the '70s and '80s.

"I simply got on a plane and did it. I was swept away," she said in a past interview. She starred in Annie Hall, Thieves Like Us, Nashville, and of course The Shining. That last film ended up taking a big toll on the actor. She spent 12 hours a day crying on set. She and director Stanley Kubrick had a bit of a falling out.

"I will never give that much again. If you want to get into pain and call it art, go ahead, but not with me," Duvall added. Going into the 90s, her prospects as an actor got smaller and smaller. When her brother developed spinal cancer, she decided to leave Hollywood for Texas. She never looked back. "It's the longest sabbatical I ever took," she says, "but it was for really important reasons—to get in touch with my family again."

Shelley Duvall Has Died

Following news of her death, fans of Duvall took to social media. One wrote, "Shelley Duvall was a great actor but also a vibe, a way of looking at the world. Of course she was the only choice for the lovelorn ostrich farmer in Guy Maddin's Twilight of the Ice Nymphs. Of course she said yes. And there she is, like something materialising at a seance."

Another wrote, "Shelley Duvall omg..." Yet another wrote, "WAIT WAIT WAIT SHELLEY DUVALL DIED?????? nonononononnonoooooonono."

During her time in Hollywood, Duvall reflected on being a leading lady. She said the industry ultimately turned on her.

"I was a star; I had leading roles," she said. "People think it's just aging, but it's not. It's violence. How would you feel if people were really nice, and then, suddenly, on a dime ... they turn on you? You would never believe it unless it happens to you. That's why you get hurt, because you can't really believe it's true."

In her final years, her partner Gilroy said the actor battled mental illness. However, Duvall looked to return to acting prior to her passing.

"It was great, all those years in L.A., really terrific. And when we moved, after the earthquake, it was terrific in Texas. 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," he said.

"She became paranoid and just kind of delusional, thinking she was being attacked. She tried to make calls to the F.B.I., and asked our neighbor to protect us," he continued. "It was just shocking that, suddenly, from normal, it went south like that."