Steve Puckett '65

Profile Updated: January 16, 2021
Steve Puckett '65
Residing In: Hillsville, VA USA
Spouse/Partner: Lillian Wallace-Puckett
Occupation: Software engineer - retired 3/19/16
Children: Stepsons:
Phillip, born 1968
Kennon, born 1965, died 2009
Steve Puckett '65

Then

Yes! Attending Reunion

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Aug
19
Aug 19, 2024 at 4:33 AM
Steve Puckett '65 has left an In Memory comment for Shelley Alexis Duvall.
Jul
14
Jul 14, 2024 at 7:30 AM

Another long obit for Shelley: https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/shelley-duvall-the-shining-actress-dead-obituary/

Article about Shelley just before her passing. https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/shelley-duvall-archives-super-fan-befriended-actress/

 

Steve Puckett '65 has left an In Memory comment for Shelley Alexis Duvall.
Jul 14, 2024 at 7:30 AM

Another long obit for Shelley: https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/shelley-duvall-the-shining-actress-dead-obituary/

1986:

Article about Shelley just before her passing. https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/shelley-duvall-archives-super-fan-befriended-actress/

 

Steve Puckett '65 has left an In Memory comment for Shelley Alexis Duvall.
Jul
12
Jul 12, 2024 at 8:16 AM

AP Obit: https://apnews.com/article/shelley-duvall-dead-obit-2827626ebde75ac3bdfa163668e9c99c

Shelley Duvall, the intrepid, Texas-born movie star whose wide-eyed, winsome presence was a mainstay in the films of Robert Altman and who co-starred in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” has died. She was 75.

Duvall died Thursday in her sleep at home in Blanco, Texas, her longtime partner, Dan Gilroy, announced. The cause was complications from diabetes, said her friend, the publicist Gary Springer.

“My dear, sweet, wonderful life, partner, and friend left us last night,” Gilroy said in a statement. “Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away beautiful Shelley.”

Duvall was attending junior college in Texas when Altman’s crew members, preparing to film “Brewster McCloud,” encountered her at a Houston party in 1970. They introduced the 20-year-old to the director, who cast her in “Brewster McCloud” and made her his protege.

Duvall would go on to appear in Altman films including “Thieves Like Us,” “Nashville,” “Popeye,” “Three Women” and “McCabe & Mrs. Miller.”

“He offers me damn good roles,” Duvall told The New York Times in 1977. “None of them have been alike. He has a great confidence in me, and a trust and respect for me, and he doesn’t put any restrictions on me or intimidate me, and I love him. I remember the first advice he ever gave me: ‘Don’t take yourself seriously.’”

Duvall, gaunt and gawky, was no conventional Hollywood starlet. But she had a beguilingly frank manner and exuded a singular naturalism. The film critic Pauline Kael called her the “female Buster Keaton.”

At her peak, Duvall was a regular star in some of the defining movies of the 1970s. In “The Shining” (1980), she played Wendy Torrance, who watches in horror as her husband, Jack (Jack Nicholson), goes crazy while their family is isolated in the Overlook Hotel. It was Duvall’s screaming face that made up half of the film’s most iconic image, along with Jack’s axe coming through the door.

Kubrick, a famous perfectionist, was notoriously hard on Duvall in making “The Shining.” His methods of pushing her through countless takes in the most anguished scenes took a toll on the actor. One scene was reportedly performed in 127 takes. The entire shoot took 13 months. Duvall, in a 1981 interview with People magazine, said she was crying “12 hours a day for weeks on end” during the film’s production.

“I will never give that much again,” said Duvall. “If you want to get into pain and call it art, go ahead, but not with me.”

Duvall disappeared from movies almost as quickly as she arrived in them. By the 1990s, she began retiring from acting and retreated from public life.

“How would you feel if people were really nice, and then, suddenly, on a dime, they turn on you?” Duvall told the Times earlier this year. “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.”

Duvall, the oldest of four, was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on July 7, 1949. Her father, Robert, was a cattle auctioneer before working in law and her mother, Bobbie, was a real estate agent.

Duvall married the artist Bernard Sampson in 1970. They divorced four years later. Duvall was in a long-term relationship with the musician Paul Simon in the late ’70s after meeting during the making of Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall.” (Duvall played the rock critic who keeps declaring things “transplendent.”) She also dated Ringo Starr. During the making of the 1990 Disney Channel movie “Mother Goose Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Duvall met the musician Dan Gilroy, of the group Breakfast Club, with whom she remained until her death.

Duvall’s run in the 1970s was remarkably versatile. In the rugged Western “ McCabe & Mrs. Miller” (1971), she played the mail-order bride Ida. She was a groupie in “Nashville” (1975) and Olive Oyl, opposite Robin Williams, in “Popeye” (1980). In “3 Women,” co-starring Sissy Spacek and Janice Rule, Duvall played Millie Lammoreaux, a Palm Springs health spa worker, and won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival.

In the 1980s, Duvall produced and hosted a number of children’s TV series, among them “Faerie Tale Theatre,” “Tall Tales & Legends” and “Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories.”

Duvall moved back to Texas in the mid-1990s. Around 2002, after making the comedy “Manna from Heaven,” she retreated from Hollywood completely. Her whereabouts became a favorite topic of internet sleuths. A favorite but incorrect theory was that it was residual trauma from the grueling shoot for “The Shining.” Another was that the damage to her home after the 1994 Northridge earthquake was the last straw.

To those living in Texas Hill Country, where Duvall lived for some 30 years, she was neither in “hiding” nor a recluse. But her circumstances were a mystery to both the media and many of her old Hollywood friends. That changed in 2016, when producers for the “Dr. Phil” show tracked her down and aired a controversial hourlong interview with her in which she spoke about her mental health issues. “I’m very sick. I need help,” Duvall said on the program, which was widely criticized for being exploitative.

“I found out the kind of person he is the hard way,” Duvall told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021.

THR journalist Seth Abramovitch wrote at the time that he went on a pilgrimage to find her because “it didn’t feel right for McGraw’s insensitive sideshow to be the final word on her legacy.”

Duvall attempted to restart her career, dipping her toe in with the indie horror “The Forest Hills” that filmed in 2022 and premiered quietly in early 2023.

“Acting again — it’s so much fun,” Duvall told People at the time. “It enriches your life.”

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A longer obit: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/shelley-duvall-the-shining-popeye-actress-dead-obituary-1235057850/

"Hello.  I'm Shelley Duvall" from her wonderful Fairie Tale Theater. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrVoJgQ7u8w

Many clips of her famous roles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0l9LSYsP9g

Shelley as a Sophomore in 1965:

 

Aug 19, 2023 at 4:33 AM
Aug 19, 2022 at 4:33 AM
Aug 19, 2021 at 4:33 AM
Steve Puckett '65 has left an In Memory comment for his Profile.
Jan 22, 2021 at 8:18 AM

Shelia Ann (Spracklen) Lee

August 30, 1949 ~ January 16, 2021 (age 71)

Obituary

Shelia Ann Lee, of Alto, Texas, passed away on Saturday, January 16, 2021 at the age of 71, surrounded by her family.

Shelia was born August 30, 1949 in Houston, Texas to the late James Hamilton Spracklen and Bertie Lee Spracklen. She is survived by her husband of 28 years, Richard B. Lee; daughter Elizabeth I. Sarver; sons Elijah T. Spracklen, Bruce M. Richardson, and Jim Lee and his wife Riley; grandchildren Jayden Richardson, Jonathan Hurst, and Ryann and Reagan Lee; sisters Sandy (Doug) of Florida, and Kim (Tracy) of Texas, and many nieces and nephews and family and friends.

Shelia was a world-renowned accordion teacher and player. She spent many years in Galveston, Texas, and experienced a love for the city’s rich cultural history. Shelia enjoyed reading fiction, gardening, and traveling. She held a deep love for creative endeavors and sought to cultivate her lifelong passions and encouraged her family and friends to do the same.

Funeral services will be conducted at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 20th at Lawson Memorial Chapel in Walnut Springs, Texas. Pastor Richard Creech will preside. Family will receive visitors between 12:00-1:00 p.m. at the chapel.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to National Accordion Association, Inc.

Arrangements were entrusted to Lawson Funeral Home, Meridian, Texas 254-435-2792.

To send flowers to Shelia's family, please visit our floral store.

Obituary for Shelia Ann (Spracklen) Lee | Lawson Funeral Home

[Tribute video on website]

Steve Puckett '65 posted a message. New comment added.
Jan 17, 2021 at 10:47 AM

Posted on: Jan 16, 2021 at 9:37 PM

From Linda Hays today about Sheila Spracklen Lee:
This is Linda, Sheila's sister in law, It is with a heavy heart that Sheila has lost her valent battle with the covid virus today. She was in hospice care in Tyler TX. Her loving husband, Richard & son Jim were at her sides. Am sure the Angels welcomed her with accordions??

Aug 19, 2020 at 12:32 PM

Steve, pray you’re having a wonderful blessed Happy Birthday today. Enjoy your day.

Aug 19, 2020 at 4:33 AM
Aug 19, 2019 at 4:33 AM
Steve Puckett '65 added a comment on his Profile.
May 31, 2019 at 8:28 AM
Aug 19, 2018 at 4:33 AM
Aug 19, 2017 at 4:33 AM
Steve Puckett '65 has left an In Memory comment for Jimmy Teets.
Sep 16, 2016 at 4:33 PM

Jimmy was a close neighbor.  I did not know him well but he always was a very nice guy.  RIP

Aug 19, 2016 at 4:33 AM
Mar 29, 2016 at 7:47 AM
Steve Puckett '65 changed his "Then" picture.
Oct 01, 2015 at 8:46 AM
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