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Was "discovered" in 1970 by Brian McKay and Tommy Thompson, who spotted her at a party while scouting locations for Robert Altman's Brewster McCloud (1970) in Houston, Texas. At the time, she was majoring in nutrition and diet therapy at South Texas Junior College and working as a cosmetics salesperson in a Foley's department store. Although she had no prior acting experience, she was casted by Altman in the film and won a three-picture contract with MGM for her performance. Daughter of attorney Robert R. Duvall (not the actor) and Bobbie Crawford. Graduated from Waltrip High School in Houston, Texas in 1967. Patrick Swayze and wrestler Mark Calaway (aka The Undertaker) graduated from the same high school. Was romantically involved with Paul Simon from 1976 to 1979. He was the one to tell her she had won Best Actress at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival for her performance in Robert Altman's 3 Women (1977). He broke up with her at the airport as she was about to board a plane to London to begin filming The Shining (1980). Served as chairman for the 1987 Golden ACE committee for the National Cable Television Academy's ACE Awards. Once lived with 11 dogs, 12 parrots, and 58 finches, budgies, and cockateels. Pauline Kael once referred to her as "The Female Buster Keaton". Turned down a role in Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978). Took classes at the renowned Actors Studio in New York, during the early 1970s. Is a huge fan of Sean Connery, and was lured by Terry Gilliam into making Time Bandits (1981) under the assumption that she would be working with him. Gilliam called Duvall whilst she was completing her work on Popeye (1980) to ask her to appear in his film. When she displayed reluctance, Gilliam, knowing of her adoration of Connery, told her 'Sean Connery's going to be in it," to which Duvall immediately replied, "I'll do it," believing she would be working with Connery. As it turned out, they didn't share any scenes together. She later laughed this off, crediting Gilliam's "devilish" sense of humor. Was Guy Maddin's only choice for the role of "Amelia Glahn" in Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (1997). At director Stanley Kubrick's insistence, she performed 127 takes of the baseball bat scene in The Shining (1980), which broke a world-record for the most retakes of a single movie scene with spoken dialogue. Shelley said she learned more from working with Kubrick on that film than she did on all her previous films. Said she based her characterization of Olive Oyl on a combination of Stan Laurel and Mae West.