Glenn Close

Glenn Close
Glenn Close at the Guardians of the Galaxy premiere in July 2014
Born	(1947-03-19) March 19, 1947 Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Alma mater	College of William & Mary
Occupation	Actress, producer
Years active	1974–present
Spouse(s)	Cabot Wade (m. 1969–71) James Marlas (m. 1984–87) David Shaw (m. 2006; div. 2015)
Partner(s)	John Starke (1987–1991)
Children	1 (with Starke)
Parent(s)	William Close Bettine Moore Close

Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American film, television and stage actress. Throughout her long and varied career, she has been consistently acclaimed for her versatility and is widely regarded as one of the finest actresses of her generation. She has won three Emmy Awards, three Tony Awards and received six Academy Award nominations.

Close began her professional stage career in 1974 in Love for Love, and was mostly a New York stage actress through the rest of the 1970s and early 1980s, appearing in both plays and musicals, including the Broadway productions of Barnum in 1980 and The Real Thing in 1983, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Her first film role was in The World According to Garp (1982), which she followed up with supporting roles in The Big Chill (1983), and The Natural (1984); all three earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She would later receive nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in Fatal Attraction (1987), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), and Albert Nobbs (2011). In the 1990s, she won two more Tony Awards, for Death and the Maiden in 1992 and Sunset Boulevard in 1995, while she won her first Emmy Award for the 1995 TV film Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story.

Close starred as Eleanor of Aquitaine in the 2003 TV film The Lion in Winter, winning a Golden Globe Award. In 2005, she starred in the drama series The Shield. Then from 2007 to 2012, she starred as Patty Hewes in the FX drama series Damages, a role that won her a Golden Globe and two Emmys. She returned to Broadway in November 2014, in a revival of Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance. Her other films include Jagged Edge (1985), Hamlet (1990), Reversal of Fortune (1990), 101 Dalmatians (1996), Paradise Road (1997), Air Force One (1997), Cookie's Fortune (1999), Nine Lives (2005) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

Close is a six-time Academy Award nominee, tying the record for being the actress with the most nominations never to have won (along with Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter). In addition, she has been nominated for four Tonys (three wins), fourteen Emmys (three wins), fourteen Golden Globes (two wins), two Drama Desk Awards (one win) and eight Screen Actors Guild Awards (one win). She has also won an Obie award and has been nominated for three Grammy Awards and a BAFTA.

Early life and family

Close was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, the daughter of socialite Bettine Moore Close and William Taliaferro Close, a doctor who operated a clinic in the Belgian Congo and served as a personal physician to Congo/Zaire President Mobutu Sese Seko. Her father was a descendant of the Taliaferros of Virginia; her paternal grandfather, Edward Bennett Close, a stockbroker and director of the American Hospital Association, was first married to Post Cereals' Marjorie Merriweather Post. Close is also a second cousin once-removed of actress Brooke Shields (Shields's great-grandmother Mary Elsie Moore was a sister of Close's maternal grandfather, Charles Arthur Moore, Jr.).

During her childhood, Close lived with her parents in a stone cottage on her maternal grandfather's estate, in Greenwich. Close has credited her acting abilities to her early years: "I have no doubt that the days I spent running free in the evocative Connecticut countryside with an unfettered imagination, playing whatever character our games demanded, is one of the reasons that acting has always seemed so natural to me." When she was seven years old, her parents joined a "cult group," the Moral Re-Armament (MRA), in which her family remained involved for fifteen years, living in communal centers. Close has stated that the family "struggled to survive the pressures of a culture that dictated everything about how we lived our lives." She spent time in Switzerland when studying at St. George's School in Switzerland. Close traveled for several years in the mid-to-late 1960s with an MRA singing group called Up With People, and attended Rosemary Hall (now Choate Rosemary Hall), graduating in 1965.

When she was 22, Close broke away from MRA, attending the College of William & Mary, and double majoring in theatre and anthropology. It was in the College's theatre department that she began to train as a serious actor, under Howard Scammon, W&M's long-time professor of theatre. During her years at school in Williamsburg she also starred in the summer-time outdoor drama, "The Common Glory," written by Pulitzer Prize author Paul Green. She was elected to membership in the honor society of Phi Beta Kappa. Through the years she has returned to W&M to lecture and visit the theatre department. In 1989 she was the commencement speaker at W&M and received an honorary doctor of arts degree.

Career

Film and television

Close started her professional stage career in 1974, and her film work in 1982. Glenn appeared in many Broadway and Off-Broadways in 1970's and early 1980's. In 1979 she made her television debut. Three years later she appeared in her first movie The World According to Garp.

She has been nominated for six Academy Awards, for Best Actress in Dangerous Liaisons, Fatal Attraction, and Albert Nobbs and for Best Supporting Actress in The Natural, The Big Chill, and The World According to Garp (her first film). Her six nominations have her tied with Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter as the most nominated actress not to win an Oscar.

After her sixth Oscar nomination, Close was asked about the fact of not having an Oscar, for which she answered: "And I remember being astounded that I met some people who were really kind of almost hyper-ventilating as to whether they were going to win or not [the Oscar], and I have never understood that. Because if you just do the simple math, the amount of people who are in our two unions, the amount of people who in our profession are out of work at any given time, the amount of movies that are made every year, and then you're one of five. How could you possibly think of yourself as a loser?"

Close in Paris at the Albert Nobbs French premiere in February 2012.

In total she has been nominated fourteen times for an Emmy (winning three) and thirteen times at the Golden Globes (winning two).

In 1984, Close starred in the critically acclaimed drama Something About Amelia, a Golden Globe-winning television movie about a family destroyed by sexual abuse. In 1987 she played the disturbed book editor Alex in Fatal Attraction, and in 1988 she played the scheming aristocrat The Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons. She played the role of Sunny von Bülow in the 1990 film Reversal of Fortune to critical acclaim.

Close has hosted Saturday Night Live twice, once in 1989 and once in 1992.

In the 1990s, she starred in the highly rated Hallmark Hall of Fame television drama Sarah, Plain and Tall (1991), as well as its two sequels. She also played the title role in the made-for-TV movie Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story in 1995, for which she won her first Emmy. She also appeared in the newsroom comedy-drama The Paper (1994), Steven Spielberg's Hook, the alien invasion satire Mars Attacks! (1996, as The First Lady), the Disney hit 101 Dalmatians (1996, as the sinister Cruella de Vil) and its sequel 102 Dalmatians (2000), and the blockbuster Air Force One (1997), as the trustworthy vice president to Harrison Ford's president. In 2001, she starred in a production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic musical South Pacific.

In 2005, Close joined the FX crime series The Shield, in which she played a no-nonsense precinct captain. She starred in a series of her own for 2007, Damages (also on FX) instead of continuing her character on The Shield. Close won the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama series for her role in Damages. In an interview after her win, Close stated that her role of Patty Hewes in the series was the role of her life. Also in 2009, she narrated the environmental film Home.

In December 2010, Close began filming Albert Nobbs in Dublin. She had previously won an Obie in 1982 for her role in the play on stage. She had been working on the film, in which she appeared alongside 101 Dalmatians co-star Mark Williams, for 10 years, and aside from starring in it, she co-wrote the screenplay and produced the film.

In the film, Close played the title role of Albert Nobbs, a woman living her life as a man in 1800s Ireland after being sexually assaulted as a young girl. For the film, she sat through hours of makeup to transform herself into a man. While the film itself received mixed reviews, Close and Janet McTeer received rave reviews for their performances. Close's performance was noted for being her most subtle and introverted performance yet and a departure from her other roles. She received Academy Award, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and multiple critics nominations for her performance in Albert Nobbs.

Recently Close along with Viola Davis and Uma Thurman was featured in the Documentary Love, Marilyn reading excerpts from Marilyn Monroe's diaries. Critic Stephen Farber has described the film as "One of the most skillful and entertaining summaries of Marilyn's endlessly fascinating rise and fall." She played Nova Prime Rael in the science fiction film Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). In 2014, Close received good reviews for her role in the independent drama Low Down. Her next films are The Great Gilly Hopkins and Anesthesia. In 2015, she will appear in She Who Brings Gifts, filmed in England, What Happened to Monday?, and The Wife, her first lead role since Albert Nobbs. In 2015, Glenn is filming Wilde Wedding with actors John Malkovich (her co-star in Dangerous Liaisons), and Patrick Stewart, whom she worked with in The Lion in Winter.

Stage

Glenn Close at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

Close has had an extensive career performing in Broadway musicals. One of her most notable roles on stage was Norma Desmond in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of Sunset Boulevard, for which Close won a Tony Award, playing the role on Broadway in 1994. Close was also a guest star at the Andrew Lloyd Webber fiftieth birthday party celebration in the Royal Albert Hall in 1998. She appeared as Norma Desmond and performed songs from Sunset Boulevard. Close has also won Tony Awards in 1984 for The Real Thing, and in 1992 for Death and the Maiden. Close performed at Carnegie Hall, narrating the violin concerto The Runaway Bunny, a concerto for reader, violin and orchestra, composed and conducted by Glen Roven.

Close provided the voice of the "Giant" in the Summer 2012 production of the musical Into the Woods at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The production also featured Amy Adams as The Baker's Wife and Donna Murphy as The Witch.

In October 2014, Close returned to Broadway in the starring role of Agnes in Pam MacKinnon's revival of Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance at the Golden Theatre. Her co-stars were John Lithgow as Tobias, Martha Plimpton as Julia and Lindsay Duncan as Claire. The production received mixed reviews although the cast was praised

In April 2016 she returns as Norma Desmond to the musical Sunset Boulevard on the West End stage.

Personal life and causes

From 1969 to 1971, Close was married to Cabot Wade, a guitarist and songwriter, with whom she had performed during her time at Up with People. From 1979 to 1983 she dated Broadway actor Len Cariou. She was married to businessman James Marlas from 1984 to 1987. Soon afterwards, she began a relationship with producer John Starke, whom she had previously met on the set of The World According to Garp. In 1988 the two had a daughter together, Annie Starke, who is currently an aspiring actress. They separated in 1991.

In 1995 Close was engaged to carpenter Steve Beers, who had worked on Sunset Boulevard, but the two never married, and they separated in 1999.

In February 2006, Close married executive and venture capitalist David Evans Shaw in Maine. The couple divorced in August 2015.

Close is a second cousin once removed to actress Brooke Shields. Through her fourth generation great-grandfather Samuel Addams, Close is a third cousin twice removed of cartoonist Charles Addams (1912-1988).

Close is a dog lover and writes a blog for Fetchdog.com, where she interviews other famous people about their relationships with their dogs. Close announced to the public that she has had her DNA sequenced.

Close has donated money to the election campaigns of many Democratic politicians, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, Howard Dean, John Edwards and Barack Obama.

Close was a founder and is chairperson of BringChange2Mind, a US campaign to eradicate the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness, supporting her sister Jessie who has bipolar disorder. During the month of July 2013, Close put up over 380 designer items up for auction on eBay from the wardrobe her character Patty Hewes wore on Damages. All proceeds were raised to go to her charity BringChange2Mind. Glenn Close is also a member of the CuriosityStream Advisory Board.

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Glenn Close

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	The World According to Garp	Jenny Fields	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1983	The Big Chill	Sarah Cooper	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1984	The Natural	Iris Gaines	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1984	The Stone Boy	Ruth Hillerman
1984	Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes	Jane Porter	Voice, uncredited
1985	Jagged Edge	Teddy Barnes
1985	Maxie	Jan Cheyney / Maxie Malone
1987	Fatal Attraction	Alexandra "Alex" Forrest	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
1988	Dangerous Liaisons	Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
1988	Light Years	Queen Ambisextra	Voice
1989	Immediate Family	Linda Spector
1990	Reversal of Fortune	Sunny von Bulow
1990	Hamlet	Queen Gertrude
1991	Hook	Gutless	Cameo
1991	Meeting Venus	Karin Anderson
1993	The House of the Spirits	Ferula Trueba
1994	The Paper	Alicia Clark
1996	Mars Attacks!	First Lady Marsha Dale
1996	101 Dalmatians	Cruella de Vil
1996	Mary Reilly	Mrs. Farraday
1997	Paradise Road	Adrienne Pargiter
1997	Air Force One	Vice President Kathryn Bennett
1999	Cookie's Fortune	Camille Dixon
1999	Tarzan	Kala	Voice
2000	102 Dalmatians	Cruella de Vil
2000	Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her	Dr. Elaine Keener
2001	The Safety of Objects	Esther Gold
2003	Le Divorce	Olivia Pace
2003	Pinocchio	The Blue Fairy	Voice; English dub
2004	Heights	Diana
2004	The Stepford Wives	Claire Wellington
2005	Tarzan II	Kala	Voice, direct-to-DVD
2005	The Chumscrubber	Carrie Johnson
2005	Nine Lives	Maggie
2006	Hoodwinked!	Granny	Voice
2007	Evening	Mrs. Wittenborn
2011	Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil	Granny	Voice
2011	Albert Nobbs	Albert Nobbs	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress Also producer, co-writer and author of the lyrics of the song "Lay Your Head Down"
2014	Low Down	Gram
2014	Guardians of the Galaxy	Nova Prime Irani Rael
2015	5 to 7	Arlene
2015	Anesthesia	Marcia Zarrow
2015	The Great Gilly Hopkins	Nonnie Hopkins
2016	The Girl with All the Gifts	Dr. Caroline Caldwell	Post Production
2016	What Happened to Monday?
2016	Wilde Wedding	Eve Wilde
2016	Bastards		Post Production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	The Rules of the Game	Neighbour	TV film
1979	Too Far To Go	Rebecca Kuehn	TV film
1979	Orphan Train	Jessica	TV film
1982	The Elephant Man	Princess Alexandra	TV film
1984	Something About Amelia	Gail Bennett	TV film Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
1988	Stones for Ibarra	Sara Everton	TV film
1991	Sarah, Plain and Tall	Sarah Wheaton	TV film, also executive producer Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
1993	Skylark	Sarah Witting	TV film, also executive producer Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
1995	Serving in Silence	Margarethe Cammermeyer	TV film, also executive producer Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie
1995–2014	The Simpsons	Mona Simpson	5 episodes
1997	In the Gloaming	Janet	TV film Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
1999	Sarah, Plain and Tall: Winter's End	Sarah Witting	TV film, also executive producer
2000	Baby	Adult Sophie	TV film, narrator
2001	The Ballad of Lucy Whipple	Arvella Whipple	TV film, also executive producer
2001	South Pacific	Nellie Forbush	TV film, also executive producer
2002	Will & Grace	Fanny Lieber	Episode: "Hocus Pocus" Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
2003	Brush with Fate	Cornelia Engelbrecht	TV film
2003	The Lion in Winter	Eleanor of Aquitaine	TV film Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
2004	The West Wing	Evelyn Baker Lang	Episode: "The Supremes"
2004	Strip Search	Karen Moore	TV film
2005	The Shield	Captain Monica Rawling	Season 4 (13 episodes) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
2007–2012	Damages	Patty Hewes	Seasons 1-5 (59 episodes) Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (2008, 2009) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (2010, 2012)
2015–present	Descendants: Wicked World	Cruella de Vil

Theatre

Year	title	Role	Notes
1974	Love for Love	Angelica	Broadway play (New Phoenix Rep at Helen Hayes Theatre)
1974	The Rules of the Game	Neighbour
1974	The Member of the Wedding	Janice
1976	Rex	Princess Mary	Broadway musical
1977	The Crazy Locomotive		Off-Broadway (Chelsea Theater Center)
1977	Uncommon Women and Others		Off-Broadway
1978	The Crucifer of Blood	Irene St. Claire	Broadway play
1979	Wine Untouched		Off-Broadway
1979	The Winter Dancers		Off-Broadway
1980	Barnum	Chairy Barnum	Broadway musical Nominated—Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
1982	The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs	Albert Nobbs	Off-Broadway
1983	The Real Thing	Annie	Broadway play (Plymouth Theatre) Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play
1985	For No Good Reason/Childhood		Off-Broadway
1985	Benefactors	Jane	Broadway play (Brooks Atkinson Theatre)
1992	Death and the Maiden	Paulina Salas	Broadway play (Brooks Atkinson Theatre) Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play
1993	Sunset Boulevard	Norma Desmond	Shubert Theatre, Los Angeles (musical)
1994	Sunset Boulevard	Norma Desmond	Broadway musical Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical
2002	A Streetcar Named Desire	Blanche Dubois	London (National Theatre)
2003	The Play What I Wrote		Broadway musical
2006	Busker Alley	Dame Libby St. Albans	Off-Broadway musical (one-performance benefit concert)
2014	A Delicate Balance	Agnes	Broadway play
2016	Sunset Boulevard	Norma Desmond	West End (London Coliseum)

Documentaries

Year	Title	Notes
1990	Divine Garbo
1999	The Lady with the Torch	Host
2001	Welcome to Hollywood
2003	What I Want My Words to Do to You
2003	A Closer Walk	Narrator
2007	Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age
2009	Home	Narrator
2011	Not My Life	Narrator
2012	Love, Marilyn	Narrator
2012	Casting By

External links

• Glenn Close at the Internet Broadway Database
• Glenn Close at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Glenn Close at the Internet Movie Database
• Glenn Close at Emmys.com
• Glenn Close Video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America
• Napoleon, Davi. Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater Includes discussion of Des McAnuff's production of The Crazy Locomotive at the Chelsea Theater. Iowa State University Press.