Glenn Close

Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress, singer and producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including three Tony Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards. A seven-time Academy Award nominee, she has more nominations without a win than any other living actor, and holds the record for being the actress with the most nominations without winning.^[1] In 2016, Close was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Born to the surgeon William Close in Greenwich, Connecticut, Close majored in theater and anthropology from the College of William & Mary. She began her professional career on stage in 1974 with Love for Love and was mostly a New York stage actress until the early 1980s. Her work included 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 film debut came in The World According to Garp (1982), which was followed by supporting roles in the films The Big Chill (1983) and The Natural (1984); all three earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Close went on to establish herself with lead roles in Fatal Attraction (1987) and Dangerous Liaisons (1988), both of which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Close won two more Tony Awards for Death and the Maiden in 1992 and Sunset Boulevardin 1995. She won her first Primetime Emmy Award for the 1995 television drama film Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story, and she continued a successful career in Hollywood with starring roles in Reversal of Fortune (1990), 101 Dalmatians (1996), and Air Force One (1997), among others. Further television work came for Close in the 2000s, with her portrayal of Eleanor of Aquitaine in the 2003 television film The Lion in Winter earning her a Golden Globe Award. From 2007 to 2012, Close starred as Patty Hewes in the drama series Damages, which won her a Golden Globe Award and two more Primetime Emmy Awards. She returned to the Broadway stage in a 2014 revival of A Delicate Balance.^[2] During this period, she received two Academy Award nominations for Albert Nobbs (2011) and The Wife (2017), and also won a third Golden Globe for the latter.

Close has been married three times, and she has a daughter from her relationship with producer John Starke. She is the president of Trillium Productions and has co-founded the website FetchDog. She has made political donations in support of Democratic politicians, and is vocal on issues such as gay marriage, women's rights, and mental health.

Early life

Close was born on March 19, 1947 in Greenwich, Connecticut, to William Taliaferro Close,[3] a doctor who operated a clinic in the Belgian Congo and served as a personal physician to Zaire's ruler Mobutu Sese Seko,[4] and socialite Bettine Moore Close. She has two sisters, Tina and Jessie, and two brothers, Alexander (nicknamed Sandy) and Tambu Misoki, whom Close's parents adopted while living in Africa.[5]

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."[6] Although Close has an affluent background, she has stated that her family chose not to participate in WASP society. She would also avoid mentioning her birthplace whenever asked because she did not want people to think she was a "dilettante who didn't have to work."[7]

When Close was seven years old, her parents joined the Moral Re-Armament (MRA), a movement in which her family remained involved for fifteen years. During this period, Close's family lived in communal centers. Close has described MRA as a "cult" that dictated every aspect of her life, from the clothes that had to be worn to what she was allowed to say. She once stated that her desire to become an actress allowed her to break away from MRA, adding: "I have long [ago] forgiven my parents for any of this. They had their reasons for doing what they did, and I understand them. It had terrible effects on their kids, but that’s the way it is. We all try to survive, right? And I think what actually saved me more than anything was my desire to be an actress."[8] 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.[9] During her time in Up With People, Close organized a small singing group called the Green Glenn Singers, consisting of herself, Kathe Green, Jennie Dorn, and Vee Entwistle. The group's stated mission was "to write and sing songs which would give people a purpose and inspire them to live the way they were meant to live."[10]

When she was 22, Close broke away from MRA.[11] She attended The College of William & Mary, double majoring in theater and anthropology. During her senior year of college, Close became inspired to pursue a career in acting after watching an interview of Katharine Hepburn on The Dick Cavett Show.[12] It was in the College's theater department that Close began to train as a serious actor under Howard Scammon, College of William & Mary|William and Mary]]'s long-time professor of theater. 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.[13] She was elected to membership in the honor society of Phi Beta Kappa.[14] Through the years, Close has returned to William & Mary to lecture and to visit the theater department. In 1989, Close was the commencement speaker at William & Mary and received an honorary doctor of arts degree.

Career

Film

Early roles and breakthrough (1980–89)

In 1980, director George Roy Hill discovered Close on Broadway and asked her to audition with Robin Williams for a role in The World According to Garp, which would become her first film role.[15] The 1980s proved to be Close's most successful decade in Hollywood. She made her debut film performance in The World According to Garp which earned Close her first Oscar nomination. She played Robin Williams' mother, despite being just four years older. The following year she played Sarah Cooper in The Big Chill, a character that director Lawrence Kasdan said he specifically wrote for her. The movie received positive reviews and was a financial success. Close became the third actor to receive a Tony, Emmy, and Oscar (Academy Award) nomination all in the same calendar year after the release of The Big Chill.

In 1984 Close was given a part in Robert Redford's baseball drama The Natural, and although it was a small supporting role she earned a third consecutive Oscar nomination. Close, to this day, credits her nomination to cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, stating That hat was designed so the sunlight would come through. We waited for a certain time of day, so the sun was shining through the back of the stadium. And he had a lens that muted the people around me. It was an incredibly well thought-out shot. And I honestly think that's the reason I got nominated.[16] Close also starred opposite Robert Duvall in the drama The Stone Boy (1984), a film about a family coping after their youngest child accidentally kills his older brother in a hunting accident.

Eventually, Close began to seek different roles to play because she did not want to be typecast as a motherly figure.[17] She starred in the 1985 romantic comedy Maxie, alongside Mandy Patinkin. Close was given favorable reviews and even received her second Golden Globe Award nomination, but the movie was critically panned and under-performed at the box office.[18][19] In 1985 Close starred in the legal thriller Jagged Edge, opposite Jeff Bridges. Initially, Jane Fonda was attached to the role, but was replaced with Close when she requested changes in the script. Producer Martin Ransohoff was against the casting of Close because he said she was "too ugly" for the part. Close eventually heard about this and said she didn't want Ransohoff on set while she was making her scenes. Director Richard Marquand stood by her side and sent Ransohoff away. Infuriated, Ransohoff went to the studio heads trying to get Close and Marquand fired from the picture. The studio refused, stating they were pleased with their work in the film.[20] Jagged Edge received favorable to positive reviews and grossed $40-million on a $15-million budget.[21]

In 1987, Close played the disturbed book editor Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction; this was the role that propelled her into stardom. The movie became a huge box-office success, the highest-grossing film worldwide of that year. The character of Alex Forrest has been considered one of Close's most iconic roles; the phrase "bunny boiler" has even been added to the dictionary, referring to a scene from the movie.

During the re-shoot of the ending, Close suffered a concussion from one of the takes when her head smashed against a mirror. After being rushed to the hospital, she discovered, much to her horror, that she was actually a few weeks pregnant with her daughter. Close stated in an interview that, "Fatal Attraction was really the first part that took me away from the Jenny Fields, Sarah Coopers—good, nurturing women roles. I did more preparation for that film than I've ever done."[17] Close received her fourth Oscar nomination for this role[22] and also won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Actress.[citation needed]

She played a scheming aristocrat, the Marquise de Merteuil, in 1988's Dangerous Liaisons.[14] Close earned stellar reviews for this performance, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress.[23] In addition, she received her first BAFTA nomination but did not win. Close's final film role of the decade was Immediate Family (1989), a drama about a married couple seeking to adopt a child. Producer Lawrence Kasdan had Close star in the film, as he directed her previously in The Big Chill.

Established actress (1990–99)

In 1990 Close went on to play the role of Sunny von Bülow opposite Jeremy Irons in Reversal of Fortune to critical acclaim. The film drew some controversy since it dealt with the Claus von Bülow murder trial, while the real Sunny von Bülow was still in a vegetative state. Sunny's children publicly criticized the movie.[24][25] In the same year, Close played Gertrude in Franco Zeffirelli's film adaption of Hamlet. It was the first Shakespeare role that Close had ever attempted on screen (she appeared in 1975 in a stage production of King Lear in Milwaukee). Close would later go on to join the cast of The House of the Spirits, reuniting her with Jeremy Irons. She also had a cameo appearance in Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991) as a pirate. In 1992, Close starred in Meeting Venus for which she received critical acclaim and won Best Actress (Golden Ciak) at the Venice Film Festival. In the same year, Close became a trustee emeritus of The Sundance Institute.[26]

Close appeared in the newsroom comedy-drama The Paper (1994), directed by her good friend Ron Howard. She would go on to appear in the alien invasion satire Mars Attacks! (1996) as The First Lady and as the sinister Cruella de Vil in the Disney hit 101 Dalmatians. Close's portrayal of Cruella de Vil was universally praised and earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a comedy. The film was also a commercial success, grossing $320.6 million in theaters against a $75 million budget. The following year, Close appeared in another box office hit with Air Force One(1997), playing the trustworthy Vice President to Harrison Ford's president. Ford stated in an interview that the role of the vice president was already written for a woman and that he personally chose Close for the role after meeting her at a birthday party for then-president Bill Clinton.[27] Close would later star in the war film Paradise Road (1997) as a choir conductor of the women imprisoned by the Japanese in World War II. In 1999, Close provided the voice of Kala in Disney's animated film Tarzan. She later went on to receive great reviews for her comedic role as Camille Dixon in Cookie's Fortune (1999).[28]

Independent films and break (2000–07)

Personal life

Relationships and family

Close has been married four times, each ending in divorce. Her first marriage ended before going off to university. Close described it as "kind of an arranged marriage."^[93] 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.^[94]She was married to businessman James Marlas from 1984 to 1987.^[94] Soon afterwards, she began a relationship with producer John Starke, whom she had previously met on the set of The World According to Garp.^[94] Their daughter, Annie Starke, was born on April 26, 1988, and is an actress.^[95] They separated in 1991.^[94] 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.^[94] In February 2006, Close married executive and venture capitalist David Evans Shaw in Maine.^[94][96] The couple divorced in August 2015.^[97]

Business ventures and assets

Close currently resides in Bedford Hills, New York but still has a condo in the West Village.^[98]She also owns properties in Wellington, Florida, and Bozeman, Montana.^[99][100] In the early 1990s she owned a coffee shop in Bozeman, but sold it in 2006.^[101] In 2011 Close sold her apartment in The Beresford for $10.2 million.^[102] She also runs a 1,000 acre ranch in Wyoming.^[103]

Close is the President of Trillium Productions Inc.^[104][105] Her company has produced films like Albert Nobbs, Sarah Plain and Tall, and South Pacific. She also produced the film Serving in Silence (1995) with Barbra Streisand, for which they were both nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie.

In 2007 she co-founded FetchDog, a dog accessories catalog and Internet site. She published blogs where she interviews other celebrities about their relationships with their dogs. She sold the business in 2012.^[106][107]

Interests and beliefs

Close was born into a Democratic family.^[108] In addition, she has donated money to the election campaigns of mostly Democratic politicians, including Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, John Edwards, Angus King and Barack Obama.^[109] She also spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.^[110][111] Close voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election and attended his inauguration.^[112][113] In a 2016 interview with Andrew Marr for the BBC, Close criticized Donald Trump, calling his campaign "terribly frightening."^[114] She later reiterated her sentiments about Trump, stating, "he doesn’t stand for anything I believe in."^[115] In 2018, Close campaigned for Kathleen Williams and Debbie Stabenow in each of their respective elections.^[116]

Close keeps all of her costumes after completing films and rents them out to exhibits.^[117][118] She lent one of the dresses she wore in Dangerous Liaisons to Madonna for her 1990 VMA performance of "Vogue".^[119][120] In 2017, she donated her entire costume collection to Indiana University Bloomington^[121]

Close is a New York Mets fan, and has sung the national anthem at Shea Stadium and Citi Fieldnumerous times since 1986.^[122][123]

Due to her upbringing, Close has stated that she is a spiritual person but irreligious.^[124]

Roles / Filmography

Film

Television