Glenn was often seen on Broadway until 1982 when she was cast in her award winning role as Jenny Fields in El mundo según Garp (1982) alongside Robin Williams. For this role, a breakthrough in film for Close, she later went on to receive an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The following year she was cast in the hit comedy Reencuentro (1983) for which she received a second Oscar Nomination, once again for Supporting Actress in the role of Sarah Cooper. In her third film, Close portrayed Iris Gaines a former lover of baseball player Roy Hobbs portrayed by Robert Redford, in one of the greatest sports films of all time, El mejor (1984). For a third and final time, Close was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Close went on to star in films like The Stone Boy (1984), Maxie (1985) and Al filo de la sospecha (1985). In 1987 Close was cast in the box office hit Atracción fatal (1987) for which she portrayed deranged stalker Alex Forrest alongside costars Michael Douglas andAnne Archer. For this role she was nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actress. The following year Close starred in the Oscar Winning Drama Las amistades peligrosas (1988) for which she portrayed one of the most classic roles of all time as Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil, starring alongside John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer. For this role she was nominated once again for the Academy Award and BAFTA Film Award for Best Actress. Close was favorite to win the coveted statue but lost to Jodie Foster for Acusados (1988). Close had her claim to fame in the 1980s. Close starred on the hit Drama series Daños y perjuicios (2007) for which she has won a Golden Globe Award and two Emmy Awards. In her career Close has been Oscar nominated six times, won three Tonys, an Obie, three Emmys, two Golden Globes and a Screen Actors Guild Award. - IMDb Mini Biography By: SomebodyinJersey and NAB
Spouse
David Shaw (3 February 2006 - present)
James Constantine Marlas (1 September 1984 - 27 February 1987) (divorced)
Cabot Wade (22 November 1969 - 2 October 1971) (divorced)
Trade Mark
Immersive acting style
Often portrays scheming womenOften plays severe, career-driven women
Trivia
Was the fourth choice to play the role of Alex in Atracción fatal (1987). The first choices were Debra Winger, Barbara Hershey, and Miranda Richardson. (Sharon Stone also auditioned for this role, but was passed over).
Lived with Len Cariou from 1979-1983.
When Glenn was age 13, her father opened a clinic in the Belgian Congo (now Zaire) and ran it for 16 years. During most of that time, the Close children lived alternately in Africa and at boarding schools in Switzerland.
Born at 2:12pm-EST
Keeps all her costumes after filming finishes.
Has a cousin who prepares and sells herbal products on Long Island, New York. The two resemble one another.
She became engaged to Steve Beers in 1995.
Graduated from the College of William & Mary with a BA in drama and anthropology.
Made her Broadway debut in The Phoenix Theatre's production of Congrieve's "Love for Love." She was the understudy to the star Mary Ure, and went on for a Saturday evening performance after Miss Ure was let go after that Saturday matinée.
Winner of three Tony Awards for her work on Broadway.
Close's grandfather, Edward Bennett Close, was once married to Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress to the Post cereal fortune and mother to actress Dina Merrill.
Was hired to dub all of Andie MacDowell's dialogue in Greystoke, la leyenda de Tarzán, el rey de los monos (1984), because the former model had such a heavy southern accent.
Taught actress Sara Rue to juggle backstage while on the set of "Barnum".
Her chilling performance as Alex Forrest in Atracción fatal (1987) was ranked #7 on the American Film Institute's villains list of the 100 years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains.
Made her professional debut, as one fourth of the Green Glen Singers, in the original production of "Up With People" in 1964.
She and her costar in Atracción fatal (1987), Michael Douglas, both attended prep schools in Connecticut. Close graduated from Rosemary Hall in Greenwich, and Douglas graduated from the Choate School in Wallingford. Later, the two schools merged, making them two of the most famous alumni of Choate Rosemary Hall.
Chosen by Andrew Lloyd Webber to replace Patti LuPone in 'Sunset Boulevard' before its arrival on Broadway in 1994.
Has won three Tony Awards: twice as Best Actress (Play), in 1984 for Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing" and in 2002 for "Death and the Maiden", and once as Best Actress (Musical), for "Sunset Boulevard", playing Norma Desmond, a role originally created byGloria Swanson in Billy Wilder's film, El crepúsculo de los dioses (1950). She was also nominated in 1980 as Best Featured Actress (Musical) for "Barnum".
Her husband, David Shaw, is a biotechnology entrepreneur, heading a company that makes medical devices and diagnostic tools for veterinarians.
Her performance as Alex Forrest in Atracción fatal (1987) is ranked #36 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
In 1984, became the third actor to receive an Oscar, Emmy and Tony nomination in the same calendar year (for The Big Chill, Something About Amelia, and The Real Thing respectively).
Says she is often mistaken for her good friend Meryl Streep.
Is a New York Mets fan and, in 2006, sang the national anthem at the Mets game that coincided with the Mets' 20th anniversary of their 1986 World Series win.
Months after the film Mary Reilly (1996)'s production team had disbanded, the producers called back the stars to shoot three alternative endings. For one of them, she was flown back to London on the Concorde for only one day of work.
Daughter of William Close.
Daughter of Dr. William Taliaferro Close (1924-2009) and Bettine Close of Big Piney, Wyoming.
Sister of Tina Close of Wilson, Wyoming; Jessie Close of Bozeman, Montana; Alexander D. Close of Belgrade, Montana; and Tambu Misoki of Sacramento, California.
Paternal niece of Edward B. Close Jr. of Littleton, Colorado.
She has eight nieces and nephews.
Daughter of Dr. William Close. Dr. Close was the personal physician and close friend of African dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. Besides being his private physician, he was appointed chief doctor of the national army and helped control the spread of the deadly Ebola epidemic that affected Zaire in 1976. He later become a leading researcher on the AIDS virus.
Was considered for the role of Elvira Hancock in El precio del poder (1983).
Is an avid dog lover and writes a blog called lively licks for Fetchdog.com. Glenn owns two Montana terriers named Bill and Jake.
Is the subject of a constant running joke in Sweden, which consists of her theoretically being married to Swedish soccer player Glenn Hysén, resulting in them both having the same name.
Lives in Manhattan's renowned Beresford apartment building, northwest corner of 81st St. and Central Park West, which is also the residence of Jerry Seinfeld, Diana Ross, and other celebrities.
Is an "EGOT" Nominee, which means that she has been nominated for an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award. She has won 3 Tonys from 4 nominations, as well as 3 Emmys from 14 nominations. She is a 6 time Oscar nominee, as well as a 3 time Grammy nominee, but has yet to win either award.
Gave birth to her first child at age 41, a daughter Annie Maude Starke (aka Annie Starke) on April 26, 1988. Child's father is her ex-boyfriend, John H. Starke.
Returned to work 2 months after giving birth to her daughter Annie Starke in order to begin filming Las amistades peligrosas (1988).
Was originally cast as Madame Raquin in In Secret (2013) but was replaced by Jessica Lange before production began.
As of 2012, Close ties with Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter for an actress with the most Oscar nominations (6) without a win.
A relatively late starter for a film actress, Glenn was already 35-years-old when she made her debut in El mundo según Garp (1982).
Is a huge Madonna fan, and has been to all her tours since 1993.
Is a prominent spokesperson for the "Puppies Behind Bars" program, an organization that provides young dogs to designated correctional facilities for training by inmates.
The longest she has gone without an Oscar nomination is 23 years, between Las amistades peligrosas (1988) and Albert Nobbs (2011).
Has worked with director Rodrigo García three times.
During a re-shoot of Atracción fatal (1987), suffered a concussion from one of the takes when her head smashed against a mirror. After being rushed to the hospital, she discovered that she was actually a few weeks pregnant with her daughter; actress Annie Starke.
Cover of TIME magazine with Michael Douglas.
Founder and chairperson of BringChange2Mind, a US campaign to eradicate the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness; her sister Jessie has bipolar disorder.
Is an LGBT supporter, and throughout her career she has portrayed various lesbian, bisexual, and trans-gender characters. She won a GLAAD Media Award in 2002, and was nominated for an Oscar for playing the trans-gendered title character in Albert Nobbs(2011).
Good friends with actress Rose Byrne.
Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 12, 2009.
Received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Queen's University on June 13, 2013.
Matar a un ruiseñor (1962) and Un hombre para la eternidad (1966) are her favorite movies.
Gregory Peck, Daniel Day-Lewis and Javier Bardem are her favorite actors.
New York City, New York: Filming 5 to 7 [May 2013]
Surrey, England: Filming "Guardians of the Galaxy." [July 2013]
Appearing in London at the Royal National Theatre in 'Streetcar Named Desire' [November 2002]
Finishing the final season of Damages. [March 2012]
Los Angeles, California, Filming her next movie project "Low Down." [May 2013]
With her sister, Jessie Close (who is bi-polar), appeared in a commercial for BringChange2Mind.org (mental illness).
Is a half-first cousin many times removed of Catherine Parr.
She has English, as well as distant German, Dutch, French, Welsh, Scottish, and remote Italian, ancestry. Her paternal grandmother, whose maiden name was Taliaferro, was descended from an immigrant from Italy to England (in the 1500s) with this surname.
As of 2014, has appeared in three films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar:Reencuentro (1983), Atracción fatal (1987) and Las amistades peligrosas (1988).
Made her Broadway debut on Nov. 11, 1974 in the Phoenix Theater production of William Congreves's "Love for Love." Close began as understudy for star Mary Ure, but during previews director Harold Prince dismissed Ure for reasons that are unclear and promoted Close just a day before opening night. Ure left a note in the dressing room for Close that read, "Be brave and strong. My love, Mary.".
Graduated Phi Beta Kappa from William and Nary in 1974.
Her family has been in Greenwich for twelve generations and her family was one of the four that founded the town in the late 17th Century.
Her doctor father and her mother moved to Africa for sixteen years after 1960. The children went to Swiss schools for two years and Glenn made four prolonged visits to Zaire during that time.
Although she played Mel Gibson's mother in Hamlet (El honor de la venganza) (1990), she is only nine years his senior in real life.
In 2014, Glenn Close revealed in an Hollywood Reporter interview that when she was seven years old, her father and the whole family joined an ultraconservative religious cult called "the Moral Re-Armament" (MRA). The cult, led by an anti-intellectual evangelical fundamentalist Pennsylvania reverend named Frank Buchman, had been founded during the 1930s to oppose the prospect of America entering the war against Naziism. Close said that while in the cult, "you basically weren't allowed to do anything, or you were made to feel guilty about any unnatural desire. If you talk to anybody who was in a group that basically dictates how you're supposed to live and what you're supposed to say and how you're supposed to feel, from the time you're 7 till the time you're 22, it has a profound impact on you. It's something you have to [consciously overcome] because all of your trigger points are [wrong]." As a young adult, she performed in the group "Up With People," the cult's traveling performance offshoot organization that was designed as a right-wing counterpoint to the hippie movement, until she broke away from both the MRA and Up With People in 1970.
Martial Corneville has been her personal wig-maker, and friend, for more than 20 years. Glenn hired him to work on her movie Albert Nobbs, which he was later nominated for an Oscar for Best Achievement in Makeup in 2012.
Personal Quotes
I've often been mistaken for Meryl Streep, although never on Oscar night.
I never wanted to be a man. I feel sorry for them.
It's gotten out of control. It's taking bigger and bigger names to make smaller and smaller films. I worry that important films without a big name attached won't get made at all.
[on her 1984 Tony win for playing Annie in "The Real Thing"] It was the cherry on the cake for one of the great experiences of my career.
I love the chemistry that can be created onstage between the actors and the audience. It's molecular even, the energies that can go back and forth. I started in theater. and when I first went into movies I felt that my energy was going to blow out the camera.
[1996, on her role in Mary Reilly (1996)] I called Stephen Frears, who had directed me inLas amistades peligrosas (1988), and I said, 'C'mon, everyone from Dangerous is in this film, I want a part.' I felt left out. So he gave me the part of a bordello owner, and I thought it would take a week-go to London, have some fun, and come home. But it was hard. They wanted this Liverpudlian accent and Stephen was great, because he kept pushing me to do stuff that I didn't know how to do. The character, I think, was quite interesting. But she's in only three scenes."
[1996, on her role in The Paper (Detrás de la noticia) (1994)] I love Ron Howard, he's a wonderful director, incredibly prepared. But I have to criticize my performance in that movie. It all took place in one day. My character was having a bad day, so she's having a bad day throughout the whole movie. But this was a comedy, and I think I was too serious, too dense. Yes, I think that describes my failure there.
[1996, on Las amistades peligrosas (1988)] We filmed in France and I had given birth to Annie seven weeks before we started preparing for the film. For the first time in my life, I had these great breasts. It'll never happen again, but for one brief, shining season, I had the most incredible breasts. James Acheson, the costume designer, who won the Oscar this year for Restauración (1995), did the costumes, and I just loved it because they pushed my breasts up and made me have cleavage. I guess I should be saying something more intellectual about the film, but I just remembered how great it felt to have those breasts.
[1996, on Atracción fatal (1987)] The original ending was a gorgeous piece of film noir. She kills herself, but makes sure that his prints are all over the knife, and he gets arrested. He knows he didn't do it, but he's going to jail anyway. But audiences wanted some kind of cathartic ending, so we went back months later and shot the ending that's in the movie now.
When I hear that somebody's difficult, I think, Oh, I can't wait to work with them.Celebrity is death - celebrity - that's the worst thing that can happen to an actor.
The best thing I have is the knife from Atracción fatal (1987). I hung it in my kitchen. It's my way of saying, Don't mess with me.
It is very difficult for girls. They're told to look one way, but to act another way.
It always amazes me to think that every house on every street is full of so many stories; so many triumphs and tragedies, and all we see are yards and driveways.
[on her Oscar-nominated role as Albert Nobbs] Albert is a survivor and I think she chose an invisible job. An invisible person chose an invisible job. In nineteenth-century Victorian times, servants weren't supposed to to look at anybody in the eye. They don't see you, they don't talk to you, you don't talk to them.
[on bringing Albert Nobbs (2011) to the screen] I really hope it engenders a lot of conversation because I believe there are a lot of people who put on faces. We all do it, every time we walk out the door. And there are a lot of people who have to hide who they are. And I think this story speaks to that.
All great art comes from a sense of outrage.
What's so fascinating about people is what they don't show. People are masters at it; usually actors show too much.
Good live theater disturbs molecules. You create an energy source around yourself and it alternates between you and the audience. Anybody who sees live theater should come out a little rearranged.
I am extremely shy. I am not happy in crowds of people.
You have to love the characters you play, even if no one else does.
As an actor, I go where the good writing is. That's the bottom line.
Acting, to me, is about the incredible adventure of examining the landscape of human heart and soul. That's basically what we do.
The word diva has a negative connotation. My definition of a diva is somebody whose talent does not match what they're trying to play, so all this temperament comes out.
We have to be vulnerable as actors, but we have to protect ourselves.
I get bored talking about myself, but I can talk about the work.
Good roles are hard to find no matter what age.
I think there are certain actors that have that kind of energy about them, that taking over a room energy.I've been sacrificing my life for my work for 30 years, and now I want it the other way around. I want to find work that fits into my life and that would be based here.
[on Bette Davis] She wasn't trying to please people. She didn't say, "Love me." She had the courage to play unattractive characters with only the hope that people understand them in the end.
I don't have the body or the face for romantic comedies, so I've never been offered those. The challenge is that a lot of people see you only as your last character, so you're constantly competing with whatever your last movie was.
With the hugely talented women I've worked with or observed, it's not a question about temperament or ego; it's a question about getting it right. If they've got a reputation for being difficult it's usually because they just don't suffer fools.
I'm an actor, that's my contribution.
It puts you in a kind of a strange situation where everybody is looking at every little thing you do.
There's something about a catharsis that is very important.
[on the stigma of mental illness] Change a mind and you can change a life.[on mental illness] It is an odd paradox that a society, which can now speak openly and unabashedly about topics that were once unspeakable, still remains largely silent when it comes to mental illness. Illnesses that were once discussed only in hushed tones are now part of healthy conversation and activism. Yet when it comes to bipolar disorder, PTSD, schizophrenia or depression, an uncharacteristic coyness takes over. We often say nothing. And so we marginalize the people who most need our acceptance. Our society ought to understand that many people with mental illness, given the right treatment, can be full participants in our society.
What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, more unashamed conversation.All your life you think 60 is ancient, and all of a sudden you find you're 60 and you don't really feel that different. I feel stronger and more engaged. This is the best time of my life.
A person can never really fail unless they give up.
It's not good to be in a situation where people don't want to direct you or don't want to question something.
Listen to that little voice that says, 'Mmm, I don't think so.' Because when you override that, you basically override who you are.
I don't live in Hollywood. I try to live a quiet life. I don't go out to a lot of events, and I don't go out buying a lot of clothes.
In some ways, gender should be irrelevant. It shouldn't matter who someone is connected to and finds love and a life with. I hope [full federal equality] will come to be a reality for the LGBT world.
I find it quite amusing that I can frighten children by just saying, 'puppies.' Usually they're disappointed I don't actually have black and white hair.
Learn to walk in each other's shoes. In a world that is depending more and more on screens of various sizes, don't forget to look into each other's faces. Don't forget the power of two eyes looking into two other eyes, and don't forget to listen to each other's voices.
The Oscars for me is a huge honor to be recognized for whatever you've done, the body of work or movie you're being recognized for. But I'm not alone in my profession in thinking it's a bit crazy to say who's better than the other one because you're talking about art and artists.
I love that I'm an honorary Doctor of Laws having just played a lawyer for five years.
My dad was a surgeon and a very high achiever, and being an actress probably isn't a career that he had thought for me. So he actually told me that I'd better learn shorthand as a backup. I took such a course during college and I was really bad at it.
Love makes no sense at all. But it's the most powerful and amazing force in the entire universe.
I think it is a great privilege, to be an actor. I think our job is to make people believe. Everyone wants to believe something. And besides helping people believe, I think we can remind people what it means to be a human being; how connected we are, how we need love, how hate is destructive. That to me is a privilege.
[on the process of making a good movie] Start with great writing, then surround yourself with people worth spending time with.
It makes me sad that I'll never play Juliet. But I don't spend much time thinking about it.
[on Atracción fatal (1987)] People still come up to me and say, "You scared the shit out of me."
I always thought I was overweight. I look back and think I was a totally unfinished, insecure person. I was always morbidly shy outside of my family, and it's still pretty much my idea of hell to go into a room full of people holding cocktail glasses.
[on becoming a mother] It's just balance all the time. I'm very happy to have work that my daughter can observe that I love. She'll see somebody who's very involved and passionate about what she does, and hopefully someday she'll have that same kind of fulfillment.
[on Guardianes de la galaxia (2014)] I'm doing that because it will then afford me to go do the other kind of movies that I really love. And hopefully I will have a great time. It'll be a new experience for me, but practically speaking it will mean that I can do those smaller movies and it'll be okay.
[on theatre] To me, it's where you really develop as an artist. I have a huge respect for film acting, but onstage, you don't have editors and you don't have sound people. You don't have the close-up. You're out there with your fellow actors and the audience. It's a chemical mixture that's happened for centuries! There's nothing for me that really substitutes that.
[on Katharine Hepburn telling her she was talented but that her feet were too big for audiences to take her seriously as an actress] I had to laugh when I read that. I've been thinking about writing an Op Ed piece about her. A few years ago I participated in a Kennedy Center Honors tribute to her and she wrote me a wonderful letter afterwards. I know she came to see us three times when I was on Broadway in "The Real Thing." That's where the feet thing came from. I was barefoot in it.
[on playing Jenny Fields] It's easier to be 155 than it is to be 58. 58 for a woman is a very subtle age because it's before your jowls start hanging, before there are big bags under your eyes, before any of the stereotypical age stuff. My mother is 58, and across the room you don't see a line in her face. She's an extremely handsome woman, but up close, there are a great many little lines.
Without forgiveness, you just perpetuate what has been there before.
Salary
The Paper (1994) $2.000.000
Damages (2007) $200.000
Damages (2007) $200.000 /episode (2009-10)
