Glenn Close Biography
Summary
"Glenn Close" (born March 19, 1947) is a five-time Academy Award-nominated American film and stage actress. Close is an Emmy Award- winning TV movie actress, a three-time Tony Award-winning stage actress/singer and has been nominated for seven Emmys and seven Golden Globes.
Biography
Early life
Close was born in Greenwich, Connecticut to Bettine (née Moore) and William Taliaferro Close, a doctor who operated a clinic in the Belgian Congo and served as a personal physician to President Mobutu Sese Seko. Her parents came from upper-class families; her paternal grandfather, Edward Bennett Close, a stockbroker and director of the American Hospital Association, 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, a private boarding school in Connecticut. Michael Douglas, her co-star in "Fatal Attraction", also attended Choate Rosemary Hall. Glenn also attended the College of William and Mary and was elected to membership in the prestigious international 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 Madame de Merteuil in "Dangerous Liaisons" and as the psychotic book editor Alex in "Fatal Attraction". She has been nominated for 5 Academy Awards, for Best Actress in "Dangerous Liaisons" and "Fatal Attraction" and for Best Supporting Actress in "The Natural", "The Big Chill" and "The World According to Garp". 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 7 Golden Globes (winning one 2005). 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".
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" where 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. . In addition to "Sunset Boulevard", Close also won Tony Awards in 1984 for "The Real Thing" and in 1992 for "Death and the Maiden"..
Personal life
Close is a longtime baseball fan of the New York Mets and has sung the National Anthem before Mets games several times, including Game 1 of the 1986 World Series.
In February 2006, Close married her longtime boyfriend David Shaw. They reside in Maine. Close was previously married to Cabot Wade (1969-1971) and James Marlas (1984-1987). Her only child is her daughter, Annie Maude Starke (Born April 26, 1988), from her previous relationship with John Starke that ended in 1991. Annie is currently attending Hamilton College is upstate New York.
She has donated money to election campaigns of many Democratic politicians, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, Howard Dean and John Edwards.
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)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Glenn Close.
