Happy Birthday Suit: Glenn Close

Glenn Close at 2012 Oscar Ceremony 

Very few actresses make their film debut at age 35 (or anywhere near it), especially in these days, but in 1982, George Roy Hill introduced Glenn Close to cinema-going audiences as Jenny Fields.  She played a lesbian nurse ahead of her time who took motherhood into her own hands (literally and otherwise) way before science caught up in The World According to Garp.  Having read the book, I can't say there would have been a better casting choice.  She would not only get a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, but score two more out of her first three films.  She was to AMPAS nods kind of like Mariah Carey was to #1 charting songs her first time out.  Today, Close turns 65.  She is older than any of The Golden Girls when the show first started.  My, how we view "the elderly" these days has changed in a relatively short period of time.  I will always love me some Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia (yeah, in that order), but I'd pray for their souls if Patty Hewes were ever to come sniffing around their Miami home looking for a slice of cheesecake from the freezer.

[Picture via Just Jared]

1987 would be the year that changed everything for Close.  While she was doing better career-wise than most actresses working at that point, she was becoming a bit of a wallflower.  Her performances were sound and she was getting properly noticed, but did middle-America really know or care who she was?  Not really.  But, along came the role of Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction, a singleton book publisher on the brink of middle age whose weekend affair with a married man reveals her to be one psychotic bitch.  Many of Hollywood's most sought after actresses turned it down for reasons stemming from typecasting fears, moral grounds, etc.  And many more would probably have chopped off a finger (or boiled a bunny), so to speak, to land this plum role.  After campaigning to be cast and receiving support from costar Michael Douglas, Close nabbed the part.  She played against her unassuming type and dove head first into the hyper-sexual and nut-job nature of the villain.  Yeah, Close went there.  And there, and there, and there.  We haven't seen ANYTHING like her Alex Forrest since.

Close sports her slammin' body in the calm before the storm,
the suicide(s), boiled bunny, kidnapping, and wrath of fury.

The movie went on to make a gazillion dollars (a bazillion dollars adjusted for inflation).  Close and Douglas also made the cover of Time magazine (which was kind of a big deal many moons ago).  Everyone was talking about Fatal Attraction in the age of heightened awareness concerning AIDS, as well as the anti-feminist overtones of this socially questionable thriller.

Winning the Oscar for her touchstone performance proved to be difficult.  Subsequent wins would raise an eyebrow on how she could lose in retrospect.  Kathy Bates would brilliantly play a crazy villain in Misery, the only difference being that she is never viewed as a sexual object.  Charlize Theron would play a serial killer based on the life of a real woman, but her film would present her in an extremely sympathetic light.  It seems that the hangups the AMPAS would have back in 1987 would stack the cards against Close.  She would end up losing to Cher, of all people, an actress, who for so many years struggled for respect as an actress would take home the little gold man for a comedy-romance where she puts on a Brooklyn accent.  Don't get me wrong, Cher was absolutely wonderful and deserved to be recognized.  But, if I had my druthers, Close would have went home a winner.

A year later, Close would lose again for an ambiguously lead role in Dangerous Liaisons.  Child-star turned into legitimate adult actor Jodie Foster would eclipse her chances at a "makeup" Oscar and start her ascension to superstardom, as well as a trend to recognize young actresses whose characters endure rape for the sake of awards attention (Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry, Theron in Monster).  After Meryl Streep, along with Jessica Lange, Glenn Close was the most Oscar-nominated actor of the 1980's.  She has won several awards including the Emmy (3), SAG (1), Golden Globe (2), and Tony (3).    Dubiously, she has the distinction for being one of the most nominated actors for an Oscar without winning.

Aside from a delicious turn as real life Sunny Van Bülow, Close, well into her 40's, was experiencing the Hollywood kiss of death for actresses.  Having gotten such a late start on screen, and now being considered "old" within less than a decade, she took on mostly supporting roles in dramas.  She would often play high-level professional women with great responsibilities such as in The Paper and the hugely profitable Air Force One (where she played a U.S. Vice President to Harrison Ford's President right as Hollywood began fetishizing The White House).  She also branched out into broad comedy in big-budget endeavors such as Hook, Mars Attacks! (as the First Lady), The Stepford Wives remake and headlining the 101 Dalmatians franchise as the iconic Cruella de Vil.

In 2012, after almost 25 years, she received her next Academy Award nomination--her sixth--for her passion project Albert Nobbs.  An adaptation of a novel from George Moore, she first performed the title character on Broadway in the early 1980's.  It took her years, but she finally adapted it into a screenplay and secured financing.  While the film didn't make a great deal of money, it was a personal accomplishment and garnered her even more respect within the industry.

These days, however, Close is best known for her award-winning role as Patty Hewes on the FX series Damages, which will bow this summer with its fifth and final season.  She is currently attached to star in the very exciting prospect Thérèse Raquin, opposite rising star Elizabeth Olsen.  While rumors have abounded for years concerning a movie version of the Sunset Boulevard musical, a role which won her a Tony, budgetary reasons have prevented the project from ever reaching full fruition and if she ever had a chance to reprise in the role, it would have been during the Dalmatian movies where her public visibility was still quite high.

As far as her personal life, Close has had a few short marriages, as well as a relationship which produced her only child, Annie.  She married for the third time in 2006 to her longtime partner businessman David E. Shaw.  She is also a renowned canine lover and supports a program where prisoners train service dogs for war veterans.

Previous Actress Retrospectives:

Jennifer Aniston     Drew Barrymore     Glenn Close     Jessica Biel     Juliette Binoche     Geena Davis     Goldie Hawn     Holly Hunter     Eva Mendes     
Rosie O'Donnell     Lena Olin     Meg Ryan     Rachel Weisz