Glenn Close: The Legendary Actress Behind Hollywood’s Most Powerful Roles
Dive into the extraordinary career of Glenn Close, a seven-time Oscar nominee known for unforgettable roles in Fatal Attraction, The Wife, and Damages. Discover how she became a force in film, TV, and theater over five decades.
Jul 22, 20252.4K Shares124K Views
Glenn Closeis one of the most respected actresses in Hollywood, known for her powerful performances in both films and stage productions. She first made a mark in movies like The World According to Garpand The Big Chill, earning Academy Award nominations from the start. Close gained widespread fame with her intense role in Fatal Attractionand continued to dazzle in Dangerous Liaisons, 101 Dalmatians, and Albert Nobbs. Known for her work on Broadway, she also won multiple Tony Awards for roles in The Real Thing, Death and the Maiden, and the musical Sunset Boulevard. On television, her performance in Damageswon her Emmys and a Golden Globe, confirming her as a standout across every screen type.
Early Life
Glenn Close was born on March 19, 1947, in Greenwich, Connecticut, into a well-known family. Her mother was Bettine Moore Close and her father was Dr. William Taliaferro Close, who ran a medical clinic in the Belgian Congo and served as doctor to the country's leader. She has two sisters, Tina and Jessie, and two younger brothers, Alexander (also called Sandy) and Tambu Misoki, whom her parents adopted while living in Congo.
When Glenn was seven years old, her family joined the Moral Re‑Armament movement, a religious group with strict rules. They lived in group communities in Switzerland and Africa for about fifteen years. During that time, her family often moved and lived apart, and her childhood was shaped by strict routines and limited freedoms.
Glenn spent time at boarding schools in Switzerland, and later returned to Connecticut to attend Rosemary Hall (now Choate Rosemary Hall), a girls’ school in Greenwich. It was there she began acting, creating her own small troupe and appearing in school plays. She has said that growing up running freely in the Connecticut countryside sparked her use of imagination and helped make acting feel natural to her.
At age 22, she left the Moral Re‑Armament group to study at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. She double‑majored in theater and anthropology, became a member of Phi Beta Kappa honors society, and trained seriously as an actor under a respected theater professor.
Career
Glenn Close began her professional acting career on stage in 1974, making her Broadway debut in the play Love for Loveat age 27. She made her first appearance on TV in 1975 and continued performing in Broadway musicals such as Rex, The Crucifer of Blood, and Barnumbetween 1976 and 1981.
Her film debut came in 1982 with The World According to Garp, playing Jenny Fields, and she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. This was followed by roles in The Big Chill(1983) and The Natural(1984), each earning her further Oscar nominations. In 1987, she gained wide attention for her powerful role as Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction, which earned another Oscar nod. She continued with an acclaimed turn as the Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons(1988), adding another Oscar nomination.
On stage, she won three Tony Awards: Best Actress in a Play for The Real Thing(1984) and Death and the Maiden(1992), and Best Actress in a Musical for Sunset Boulevard(1995). She remained active in theatre, returning in 2014 for A Delicate Balanceon Broadway and reprising Sunset Boulevardin London in 2016.
Her television work is also notable. She first received Emmy attention for Something About Amelia(1984) but won her first Emmy in 1995 for Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story. From 2007 to 2012, she starred as Patty Hewes in Damages, winning two Emmys and a Golden Globe for her role.
In later film work, she earned acclaim for Albert Nobbs(2011) and The Wife(2017), winning Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for the latter, and receiving her eighth Oscar nomination. She also starred in Hillbilly Elegy(2020), earning an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Across film, theater, and TV, Glenn Close has built a career spanning five decades, with many awards and nominations (including eight Oscar nominations without a win) and a reputation for complex, powerful roles.
Jump to
Latest Articles
Popular Articles