Saying Goodbye to Shelley Duvall at San Francisco’s 4 Star Theater

When I heard the news of Shelley Duvall’s death, I immediately began searching for a beloved, 55-second supercut from the 1980s children’s television show Faerie Tale Theatre.

“Hello! I’m Shelley Duvall. Hello! I’m Shelley Duvall. Hello! I’m Shelley Duvall.” Each new costume and setting seemingly ups the fanciful weirdness of these introductory remarks. For one second, she sits on a giant beanstalk. A few seconds later, she’s astride a horse. Later she stands, dressed in an Old Testament cloak, against a cloudy red sky.

This strange repetition is also completely true. Every one of those Shelleys is Shelley Duvall — her career was evidence of her shape-shifting abilities. In Robert Altman’s films alone, she played a mail-order bride, a Nashville groupie, a spinach aficionado’s love interest and a Palm Springs health spa worker.

And, according to San Francisco’s 4 Star Theater, “she was funny and tragic and alien and vulnerable on screen in a way few actors are able to master fully.”

In celebration of Duvall’s 75th birthday, which took place just a few days ago on July 7, the Richmond District theater had already planned to screen four classics from her catalog — Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits, Altman’s Brewster McCloud and 3 Women and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining — on Sunday, July 14.

After her death, a Shelley Duvall Day takes on greater resonance. When they heard the news, 4 Star programmer Sydney Peterson, who originally pitched the series, says they experienced a big wave of feeling. “Oh, gosh,” they remember thinking. “I just hope we can do her justice.”

Duvall’s career encompassed so much more than can fit in one day at the 4 Star. “She has this core 30 years of incredible entertainment that she was a part of,” Peterson says. “She has this insane, just amazing legacy.”

For those without the stamina for a day-long movie marathon, the 4 Star program can be watched in three possible double features. Starting at 10 a.m., Time Bandits and Brewster McCloud offer lighter fare, examples of wacky worlds.

Then, at 1 p.m., “Brewster and 3 Women lean into this really special relationship that she has with Altman,” Peterson says, “and this picture of Americana that they created together.”

Finally, at 4 p.m., 3 Women and The Shining may be her most celebrated roles.

The theater will screen specially made pre-shows highlighting the range of Duvall’s work beyond these early films. Look out for Duvall’s appearances in Frankenweenie and on Wishbone and The Ray Bradbury Theater.

A day spent in the company of one of the greatest actresses of all time? A single word comes to mind: transplendent.

‘Shelley Duvall Day’ takes place at the 4 Star Theater (2200 Clement St., San Francisco) starting at 10 a.m. on Sunday, July 14, 2024.