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Glenn Close
Glenn Close at the 1997 Emmy Awards
Born	Glenn Close March 19, 1947 (1947-03-19) (age 61) Greenwich, Connecticut, USA
Occupation	actress, producer, singer
Years active	1975–present
Spouse(s)	Cabot Wade (1969-1971) James Marlas (1984-1987) David Shaw (2006-)
Awards won Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie 1995 Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series 2008 Damages Golden Globe Awards Best Actress - Miniseries/TV Movie 2005 The Lion in Winter Best Actress in a Television Drama Series 2007 Damages Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Actress - Miniseries/TV Movie 2004 The Lion in Winter Tony Awards Best Leading Actress in a Play 1984 The Real Thing 2002 Death and the Maiden Best Leading Actress in a Musical 1995 Sunset Boulevard Other awards LAFCA Award for Best Supporting Actress 1982 The World According to Garp NBR Award for Best Supporting Actress 1982 The World According to Garp

Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as deranged stalker Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction (1987). Close has been nominated for eight Emmys, won two, nominated again for nine Golden Globes (having already earned two) and five Oscars, and has also received an Obie, three Tonys and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Biography

Early life

Close was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, the daughter of Bettine (née Moore) and William Taliaferro Close,¹ a doctor who operated a clinic in the Belgian Congo and served as a personal physician to President Mobutu Sese Seko.² Her parents came from prominent families; her paternal grandfather, Edward Bennett Close, a stockbroker and director of the American Hospital Association,³ was first married to Post Cereals' heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, making Glenn Close a relative of screenwriter/director Preston Sturges and actress Dina Merrill. Close is also a second cousin once removed of Brooke Shields. Shields's great-grandmother Mary Elsie Moore (wife of Don Marino Torlonia, 4th Prince di Civitella-Cesi) was Close's great-aunt, a sister of Close's maternal grandfather, Charles Arthur Moore.

Close attended Choate Rosemary Hall, an elite boarding school in Connecticut, and later the College of William and Mary, where she was elected to membership in the honor society of Phi Beta Kappa.

Career

Close has had a lengthy career as a versatile actress and performer. Close is remembered for her chilling roles as the scheming aristocrat The Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons and as the psychotic book editor Alex in Fatal Attraction. She has been nominated for five Academy Awards, for Best Actress in Dangerous Liaisons and Fatal Attraction, and for Best Supporting Actress in The Natural (film), The Big Chill, and The World According to Garp. 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. She played the role of Sunny von Bülow in the 1990 film Reversal of Fortune to critical acclaim.

In the 1990s, Close took on challenging roles on television as well. She starred in the highly rated presentation of the 1991 Hallmark Hall of Fame drama Sarah, Plain and Tall (and its two sequels) and also in the made-for-TV movie Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (1995); from these roles she was nominated for 8 Emmys (winning one) and 9 Golden Globes (winning one in 2005 and 2007). She also appeared in the newsroom comedy-drama The Paper (1994), the alien invasion satire Mars Attacks! (1996, as The First Lady), the Disney hit 101 Dalmatians (1996, as the sinister Cruella de Vil) and it 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 an elaborate 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. Her appearance on the cop drama was such a success that she is now starring in a new hit series of her own for 2007, Damages (also on FX) instead of continuing her character on The Shield.

Glenn Close (Cruella de Vil) in 101 Dalmatians

Close has had an extensive career performing in many 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 is being considered to reprise the role of Norma Desmond in the 2008 film Sunset Boulevard, based on the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. The film has not started production.⁴ In addition to Sunset Boulevard, Close also won Tony Awards in 1984 for The Real Thing and in 1992 for Death and the Maiden.

Recently, 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.

Personal life

In February 2006, Close married her longtime boyfriend David E. (Evans) Shaw. They reside in Scarborough, Maine. The actress was previously married to Cabot Wade (1969–1973) and James Marlas (1984–1987). She has one child, Annie Maude Starke (born April 26, 1988), from her previous relationship with John Starke that ended in 1991. Annie is currently attending Hamilton College, a private, liberal arts institution in upstate New York.

Close is a big New York Mets fan.

Katharine Hepburn predicted she would never become a star because her feet were too big.⁵

She has donated money to election campaigns of many Democratic politicians, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, Howard Dean and John Edwards.⁶

Stage productions

Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals

• Rex (Broadway, 1976), Richard Rodgers-Sheldon Harnick musical about Henry VIII
• Barnum (Chairy Barnum, Broadway, 1980), Cy Coleman musical about Phineas T. Barnum
• Sunset Boulevard (Norma Desmond, Broadway, 1994), Andrew Lloyd Webber musical based on the classic 1950 motion picture Sunset Boulevard
• 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 Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz (Chelsea Theater Center, 1977)
• Uncommon Women and Others (1977)
• The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs, an adaptation of George Moore's short story directed by French director Simone Benmussa for which she received an Obie Award, (1982).

Filmography

Documentaries

• Divine Garbo (1990)
• The Lady With The Torch (1999)
• Welcome To Hollywood (2001)
• What I Want My Words To Do To You: Voices From Inside A Women's Maximum Security Prison (2003)
• A Closer Walk (2003)
• Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age (2007)

Television credits

Awards

Oscars

• 1983: Best Actress in a Supporting Role (nomination)- The World According to Garp
• 1984: Best Actress in a Supporting Role (nomination)- The Big Chill
• 1985: Best Actress in a Supporting Role (nomination)- The Natural
• 1988: Best Actress in a Leading Role (nomination)- Fatal Attraction
• 1989: Best Actress in a Leading Role (nomination)- Dangerous Liaisons

Emmy Awards

• 1984: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie - Something About Amelia
• 1991: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie - Sarah, Plain and Tall
• 1993: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie - Skylark
• 1995: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie - Serving in Silence (WIN)
• 1997: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie - In the Gloaming
• 2002: Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series - Will & Grace
• 2004: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie - The Lion in Winter
• 2005: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series - The Shield
• 2008: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series - Damages (WIN)

Golden Globes

• 1985: Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie - Something About Amelia
• 1986: Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy/Musical) - Maxie
• 1988: Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama) - Fatal Attraction
• 1992: Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie - Sarah, Plain and Tall
• 1996: Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie - Serving in Silence
• 1997: Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy/Musical) - 101 Dalmatians
• 2004: Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie - The Lion in Winter (WIN)
• 2005: Best Actress in a Drama Series - The Shield
• 2008: Best Actress in a Drama Series - Damages (WIN)

Tony Awards

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

Screen Actors Guild Award

• 2005: Outstanding Actress, Television - The Lion in Winter (WIN)
• 2008: Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series, Television - Damages

Other

• 1988: People's Choice Award - Favorite Motion Picture Actress
• 1992: Golden Camera/ Germany - Best International Actress
• 2008: Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service - For outstanding achievements in the dramatic arts (WIN)

References

• 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.

External links

• Glenn Close at the Internet Broadway Database
• Glenn Close at the Internet Movie Database