Glenn Close
She brings new meaning to the word Yankee. Greenwich, Connecticut-born and raised, Glenn Close—like her ancestors since the 1600s—grew up in the cozy continuum of New England: bending birches, mending walls and passing frosty evenings by the fire. Her first stage role was that of Shakespeare’s youthful Capulet. America in her blood, she joined a traveling folk singers group and chose William and Mary College, graduating with honors and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal—except actors, who have to be invented. She set about the task in regional and off-Broadway stage roles, ending up as Mrs. Barnum in the show about her husband. Like Ben Franklin’s key, Glenn drew lightning and the role of Jenny Fields, mother to Garp, was hers. Two new movies with Robert Duvall—The Natural and Stone Boy—are currently on view. Her recent work in television’s Something About Amelia, and on Broadway opposite Jeremy Irons in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, have broadened her audience sizably, and though the Oscar has evaded her twice (this year for the Big Chill), Glenn comes closer every year. A pilgrim’s progress. These photographs will be part of a book entitled Exquisite Creatures, being edited by Jim Clyne for Morro & Co. this coming October.
THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN INTERVIEW’S JULY 1984 ISSUE.
