Glenn Close Biography

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.

Close began her professional stage career in 1974 in Love for Love, and was mostly a Broadway actress through the rest of the 1970s and early 1980s, appearing in both plays and musicals, including major productions such as Barnum in 1980. 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). Since 2005, she has been known for her television roles in The Shield and her Emmy and Golden Globe winning role as Patty Hewes in the FX TV series Damages.

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, her work has earned her three Tonys, an Obie, three Emmys, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has also been nominated three times for a Grammy Award and once for a BAFTA, amongst others.

Early life and family

Close was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, the daughter of Bettine (née Moore) 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 in Greenwich. Close has credited her early years for her acting abilities: "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." 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. She was elected to membership in the honor society of Phi Beta Kappa.

Career

Film and television

Close started her professional stage career in 1974, and her film work in 1982. 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.

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.

Glenn Close hosted Saturday Night Live twice during that time-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, Close 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. Close 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." Close is set to appear as the leader of the Nova Corps in Guardians of the Galaxy, scheduled for release in 2014.

Stage

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.

Personal life and causes

Close was married to Cabot Wade, a guitarist whom she had met during her time at Up with People, from 1969 to 1971. From 1979 to 1983 she dated Broadway actor Len Cariou. She was married to businessman James Marlas from 1984 to 1987. Soon afterward, 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.

Close is a second cousin once removed to actress Brooke Shields. 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.

Credits

Filmography and awards

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes/Awards
1982	The World According to Garp	Jenny Fields	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated"?Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated"?New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress (2nd place) Nominated"?National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (2nd place)
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	dubbed Andie MacDowell's voice
1985	Maxie	Jan / Maxie	Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated"?Saturn Award for Best Actress
1985	Jagged Edge	Teddy Barnes
1987	Fatal Attraction	Alexandra "Alex" Forrest	Golden Camera for Best International Actress People's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Actress Nominated"?Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1988	Dangerous Liaisons	Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil	Golden Camera for Best International Actress Nominated"?Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated"?BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated"?Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
1988	Light Years	Queen Ambisextra (voice)	French title: Gandahar
1989	Immediate Family	Linda Spector
1990	Hamlet	Queen Gertrude	Nominated"?David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress
1990	Reversal of Fortune	Sunny von Bülow
1991	Hook	Gutless	Cameo
1991	Meeting Venus	Karin Anderson	Venice Film Festival: Golden Ciak for Best Actress
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	Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor/Actress " Family Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated"?Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated"?Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1996	Mary Reilly	Mrs. Farraday
1997	In & Out	Herself	cameo appearance
1997	Air Force One	Vice President Kathryn Bennett	Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress " Action/Adventure
1997	Paradise Road	Adrienne Pargiter
1999	Cookie's Fortune	Camille Dixon
1999	Tarzan	Kala	voice
2000	102 Dalmatians	Cruella de Vil	Nominated"?Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2000	Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her	Dr. Elaine Keener
2001	South Pacific	Nellie Forbush
2001	'	Esther Gold
2003	Le Divorce	Olivia Pace
2003	Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio	The Blue Fairy	English voice
2004	Heights	Diana
2004	'	Claire Wellington
2005	Tarzan II	Kala	voice
2005	'	Carrie Johnson
2005	Nine Lives	Maggie	Locarno International Film Festival: Bronze Leopard Award for Best Actress (Shared with the film's ensemble of actresses) Nominated"?Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
2006	Hoodwinked!	Granny	voice
2007	Evening	Mrs. Wittenborn
2011	Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil	Granny	voice
2011	Albert Nobbs	Albert Nobbs	Also producer, screenplay and author of the lyrics of the song "Lay Your Head Down" AARP's Movies for Grownups Awards for Best Actress Alliance of Women Film Journalists for Female Icon Award, and Most Egregious Love Interest Age Difference Award Shared with Mia Wasikowska Irish Film & Television Award for Best International Actress Satellite Award for Best Original Song World Soundtrack Awards for Best Original Song Written for a Film Tokyo International Film Festival for Best Actress Women Film Critics Circle for Courage in Acting - Taking on unconventional roles that radically redefine the images of women on screen Nominated"?Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated"?Irish Film & Television Award for Best Film Nominated"?Irish Film & Television Award for Best Script for Film Nominated"?AACTA International Award for Best Actress Nominated"?Alliance of Women Film Journalists for Actress Defying Age and Ageism Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Drama Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song Nominated"?Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Song Nominated"?Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress Nominated"?Satellite Award for Best Actress Nominated"?Satellite Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Nominated"?Women Film Critics Circle for Women's Work: Best Ensemble
2014	The Grace That Keeps This World		Pre-production
2014	Guardians of the Galaxy	Nova Prime	Filming
2014	Always on My Mind		Pre-production
2014	5 to 7	Arlene	Filming
2014	Low Down	Gram	Post-production

Documentary

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Divine Garbo	Herself	Greta Garbo documentary
1999	'	Herself-host	The 75th Anniversary of Columbia Pictures
2001	Welcome to Hollywood	Herself
2003	What I Want My Words to Do to You: Voices from Inside a Women's Maximum Security Prison	Herself
2003	'	Narrator	Robert Bilheimer film. AIDS epidemic.
2007	Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age	Herself
2009	Home	Narrator	Yann Arthus-Bertrand film.
2011	Not My Life	Narrator	Robert Bilheimer film. Human trafficking and contemporary slavery.
2011	Pax		Director and executive producer
2012	Love, Marilyn	Narrator/Herself	Liz Garbus film.

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes/Awards
1975	'	Neighbor
1979	Too Far to Go	Rebecca Kuehn
1979	Orphan Train	Jessica
1982	'	Princess Alexandra
1984	Something About Amelia	Gail Bennett	Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
1988	Stones for Ibarra	Sara Everton
1990	She'll Take Romance
1991	Sarah, Plain and Tall	Sarah Wheaton	Also executive producer Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
1993	Skylark	Sarah Witting	Also executive producer Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie
1995	Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story	Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer	Also executive producer Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Female Actor - Miniseries or Television Film
1995	' (1995"2012)	Mona Simpson
1997	In the Gloaming	Janet	CableACE Awardfor Guest Actress in a Dramatic Special or Series Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Female Actor - Miniseries or Television Film Nominated"?Satellite Award for Best Actress " Miniseries or Television Film
1999	Sarah, Plain and Tall: Winter's End	Sarah Witting	Also executive producer
2000	Baby	Adult Sophie	(narrator)
2001	'	Arvella Whipple	Also executive producer
2001	South Pacific	Nellie Forbush	Also executive producer
2002	Will & Grace	Fanny Lieber	Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Comedy Series
2003	Brush with Fate	Cornelia Engelbrecht
2004	'	Eleanor of Aquitaine	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Female Actor - Miniseries or Television Film Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie
2004	Strip Search	Karen Moore
2004	'	Evelyn Baker Lang
2005	'	Captain Monica Rawling	Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama
2007" 2012	Damages	Patty Hewes	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama (2008) Gracie Allen Award for Outstanding Female Lead in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series (2008, 2009) Satellite Award for Best Actress " Television Series Drama (2009) Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama (2010, 2013) Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series (2010, 2012) Nominated"?Satellite Award for Best Actress " Television Series Drama (2007, 2008) Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012) Nominated"?Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Drama (2008, 2009)

Video Games

Game

Year	Title	Role	Notes/Awards
2004	Fallout 3	Alice Mclafferty	Cancelled Version, Voice and Likeness

Stage productions

Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals

• Rex (Broadway, 1976), Richard Rodgers-Sheldon Harnick musical about Henry VIII
• Barnum (Charity Barnum, Broadway, 1980), Cy Coleman musical about Phineas T. Barnum
• Sunset Boulevard (Norma Desmond, Broadway, November 1994), Andrew Lloyd Webber musical based on the classic 1950 motion picture Sunset Boulevard
• The Play What I Wrote (Broadway, Lyceum Theatre, 2003), by Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben
• Busker Alley (Off-Broadway, 2006, one-performance benefit concert), Sherman Brothers musical based on the 1938 movie St. Martin's Lane, directed by Tony Walton

Broadway plays

• Love for Love by William Congreve (New Phoenix Repertory Co. at the Helen Hayes Theatre, November 1974)
• The Rules of the Game by Luigi Pirandello (New Phoenix Repertory Co. at the Helen Hayes Theatre, December 1974)
• The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers (New Phoenix Repertory Co. at the Helen Hayes Theatre, December 1974)
• The Crucifer of Blood by Paul Giovanni (Helen Hayes Theatre, September 1978)
• The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard (Plymouth Theatre, December 1983)
• Benefactors by Michael Frayn (Brooks Atkinson Theatre, December 1985)
• Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman (Brooks Atkinson Theatre, February 1992)

Off-Broadway

• The Crazy Locomotive by Stanis"?aw Ignacy Witkiewicz (Chelsea Theater Center (February 1977)
• Uncommon Women and Others (November 1977)
• Wine Untouched (June 1979)
• The Winter Dancers (October 1979)
• The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs, an adaptation of George Moore's short story directed by French director Simone Benmussa, 1982.
• For No Good Reason / Childhood (October 1985)

Los Angeles

• Sunset Boulevard (musical, December 1993)

London

• A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (National Theatre Lyttleton, October 2002)

Tony Awards

• 1980: Best Featured Actress in a Musical " Barnum (Nomination)
• 1984: Best Actress in a Play " The Real Thing (Won)
• 1992: Best Actress in a Play " Death and the Maiden (Won)
• 1995: Best Actress in a Musical " Sunset Boulevard (Won)

Drama Desk Awards

• 1992: Outstanding Actress in a Play " Death and the Maiden (Nomination)
• 1995: Outstanding Actress in a Musical " Sunset Boulevard (Won)

Obie Awards

• 1982: Best Actress in a Play " The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs (Won)

Discography

Close received her first Grammy nomination (shared with Jeremy Irons) in 1985 for Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for The Real Thing.

In 1988 PBS and Rabbit Ears Productions produced a multi-award-winning animated adaptation and a subsequent book depicting the Washington Irving story "The Emperor and the Nightingale". Illustrations, directing, and adaptation were done by Robert Van Nutt; music by Tim Story; and the narration by Glenn Close. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album for Children, making it Close's second nomination.

In 1989 Close narrated The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album for Children, for which Tim Story composed the music, and gave Close her third nomination.

In 1995, Glenn Close and Plácido Domingo recorded a Christmas album together titled Repeat the Sounding Joy featuring The London Symphony Orchestra. The album was produced by the Hallmark company.

Other works

In 2003, Close was originally cast as Alice McLafferty in the cancelled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios. She was used as the concept design for Alice, and she was to voice her as well. After Black Isle cancelled the title, Fallout 3 was made by Bethesda, and Alice was removed.

In 2010, Fallout New Vegas included Alice, which was still designed to look like Close, but Marianne Muellerleile voiced Alice.

Other awards

• 1982: Rosemary Hall Alumnae Award
• 1989: ShoWest Convention, USA: Female Star of the Year.
• 1989: New York Women in Film & Television: Muse Award.
• 1990: Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year.
• 2001: Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards: [[Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards#THE CRYSTAL AWARD|Crystal Award]] for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.
• 2002: GLAAD Media Award: For Excellence in Media.
• 2003: Gotham Award: Tribute Award.
• 2008: Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service: For outstanding achievements in the dramatic arts.
• 2009: Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion pictures.
• 2011: The Donostia Award for San Sebastián International Film Festival.
• 2011: Hollywood Career Achievement Award 2011 from the Hollywood Film Awards 2011.
• 2012: Palm Springs International Film Festival: Career Achievement Award.
• 2012: New York Women in Communications: Matrix Award.
• 2012: American Giving Award.
• 2013: Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Queen's University