Born in Texas , Duvall was discovered by Altman, who was impressed by her upbeat presence and cast her in the black comedy film Brewster McCloud That same year she had a supporting role in Woody Allen 's romantic comedy film Annie Hall She furthered this success appearing in Terry Gilliam 's fantasy film Time Bandits , Tim Burton 's short comedy horror film Frankenweenie , and Fred Schepisi 's comedy film Roxanne From the s, Duvall acted sporadically, playing supporting roles in Steven Soderbergh 's thriller film The Underneath and Jane Campion 's drama film The Portrait of a Lady After appearing in Gabrielle Burton 's comedy film Manna from Heaven , she left acting until returning for her final role in the horror film The Forest Hills Her mental health in the interim was covered by the media, briefly turning her private life public.
Duvall died of diabetes complications on July 11, For her first few years, Duvall lived in various locations throughout Texas due to her father's work, before the family settled in Houston when she was five years old. She became interested in science at a young age; as a teenager she aspired to become a scientist.
On April Fool's Day , Duvall was hosting a party in Houston for her artist boyfriend, Bernard Sampson, when three crew members in town for Brewster McCloud pre-production arrived. In a surreptitious casting call led by Altman, Bert Remsen , and Lou Adler , they asked her to be part of the feature instead. She was an untrained, truthful person. She was very raw in Brewster but quite magic. Miller , released in , [ 17 ] and the daughter of a convict in Thieves Like Us , released in Then I began realizing about technique, began learning, began being a little scared.
Keith Carradine , who collaborated with Duvall on Thieves Like Us and Nashville , told Variety : "She had that fascinating physical appearance, there was something slightly off-center and hauntingly beautiful about her.
And then she had that extraordinary personality; she was quirky and just utterly enchanting. What you saw on screen, that's just who she was. In , Duvall gave what some critics considered to be one of her best performances in Altman's psychological thriller 3 Women , portraying Mildred "Millie" Lammoreaux, a woman living in a dreary California desert town. Jack Nicholson said in the documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures that Kubrick was great to work with but that he was "a different director" with her.
