Shelley Duvall Superfan Who Went Viral After Befriending the Star Remembers Her: 'Grateful for the Memories'

Sarah Lukowski spent time with Duvall on her 75th birthday on July 7, just four days before her death

• Shelley Duvall has died at 75 from complications of diabetes

• The beloved actress, best known for her role in The Shining, was the subject of an online fan archive run by Sarah Lukowski

• Lukowski is remembering Duvall after building an online community around the actress and having the opportunity to get to know her personally
  

A Shelley Duvall fan who built an online fan presence devoted to the actress is remembering her after the actress' death at 75 on July 11.

Not only did Sarah Lukowski, 24, start the Shelley Duvall Archive across social media, but she created a community that allowed her to befriend the actress herself.

On Thursday, July 11, Lukowski reacted to news of Duvall's death in a statement on X (formerly Twitter). From her personal account, she shared, "I’ve seen the news about Shelley Duvall. I’m doing ok. Shelley was having difficulties with her health over the past few months and I visited with her often. I’ll always be grateful for the memories I created with her and that I was able to give her comfort and companionship."

In another series of posts from her Shelley Duvall archive account, Lukowski also reflected on the time the two spent together on Duvall's 75th birthday on July 7, just four days before her death.

"Farewell, to my sweet Shelley," she shared on X. "This is a post I always feared making and I’m so unfathomably heartbroken, but please know Shelley was immensely loved and cared for. She made such a positive impact on my life as I did on hers. ❤️," she wrote, alongside a selfie of the two together.

"This photo was this past Sunday on her 75th birthday. She was so appreciative and when I left she thanked me for lifting her spirits. I’ll always remember that. She made such a positive impact on my life as I did on hers."

"I have a sense of peace and calm over me right now and maybe that feeling is from her. I knew Shelley’s health was declining over the past few months but I didn’t want to post about it publicly. She was so appreciated and cherished until the end."

She concluded, "I knew this was coming so I visited with Shelley often. Weirdly enough, I was thinking deeply about her this morning and the recent meeting we had right before I found out. Not sure how to navigate loosing a friend but also my idol. This is not the end of my page 🫶🏻."

Related: Remembering Shelley Duvall's Life and Career in Photos

Duvall retired from acting in 2002 and moved to central Texas. Lukowski, who became interested in Duvall in 2016 after watching the star's classic film The Shining, did in-person and online research into the star's history, sharing details that had never been online before on @shelleyduvallxo.

The community led Lukowski to Xavier Hamel, a documentary filmmaker working on a piece focused on Duvall. Hamel facilitated Lukowski sending a letter to Duvall. They wrote each other for more than a year before Lukowski was presented with the opportunity to meet the actress after moving to Texas herself.

The two became fast friends, catching up every few weeks. Not only did Lukowski build her own relationship with Duvall, but she helped other fans get in touch with her in the process.

"I’ve brought her fan mail two or three times now. I usually sit next to her, open it up, read to her, and it always brings a smile to her face," Lukowski recently told Texas Monthly. "I don’t know how else she would see those words because she’s not on social media at all."

"She used to get a ton of fan mail, so it must feel good to her to get those letters and to know she’s still appreciated, because that’s the goal," Lukowski continued. "Just to make her feel like she’s loved. And there’s still people out on the internet and across the world who love her."

Duvall was born July 7, 1949, in Fort Worth, Texas. She considered pursuing a career in science before she was "discovered" by three crew members on director Robert Altman's 1970 film Brewster McCloud at a party in Houston where Shelley's then-fiancé Bernard Sampson was displaying artwork, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Duvall went on to appear in more than a dozen movies and television shows over the course of the '70s, including an appearance in 1977's Annie Hall, before she made her best-known movie: Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror masterpiece The Shining.

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The Popeye actress died on Thursday, July 11, at her home in Blanco, Texas, her partner Dan Gilroy told The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. THR and The New York Times reported that Duvall died from complications of diabetes.

Gilroy told THR, “My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us. Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley."

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