Shelley Duvall’s 34-Year Partner Dan Gilroy Recalls the Actress’ Final Days: ‘We Found Moments of Joy’

> “We fell in love on the set,” Gilroy, 77, tells PEOPLE. “We were pretty inseparable from then on.”

> Their three decades together, many of which were spent in the roaring hill country of Blanco, Texas, included a lot of animals. “Little tiny birds, finches, parrots, dogs, cats, lizards. It was like a traveling menagerie,” Gilroy quips. In the months leading up to Duvall’s death due to complications from diabetes on July 11 at age 75, Gilroy says much time was spent reminiscing about where it all began. “We found moments of joy,” he says. “I’d bring my computer in, we’d watch some shows…. Mother Goose Rock ‘n Rhyme and things she had produced over the years and those gave some comfort.”