“After a while, your body rebels,” she recalled of working on the film. “It says: ‘Stop doing this to me. I don’t want to cry every day.’ And sometimes just that thought alone would make me cry. To wake up on a Monday morning, so early, and realize that you had to cry all day because it was scheduled—I would just start crying. I’d be like, ‘Oh no, I can’t, I can’t.’ And yet I did it. I don’t know how I did it.”
After her role in the horror flick, Duvall transitioned into production for children’s programming before leaving Hollywood altogether in the 1990s, maintaining a more private profile as she resided with her partner in Blanco, Texas.
Duvall was open about the negative effects her career had on her mental health but she also expressed gratitude for the fame her role gave her.
“If you want to get into pain and call it art, go ahead, but not with me,” she noted to People in 1981. “I will never give that much again.”
Ultimately, the Popeye actress was content with her hometown fame, adding, “When somebody recognizes you at a Dairy Queen in Texas, you’re a star.”
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