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Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is a five time Academy Award-nominated American film and stage actor.

Her success which has spanned over the many decades of her career, has not only allowed for her to become a one time Emmy Award-winning made-for-TV movie actress, but also a three time Tony Award-winning stage actress. Apart from winning those awards Glenn Close has received nominations for seven Emmy's, seven Golden Globes and five Oscars.

Personal life

She was born in Greenwich, Connecticut to Bettine Moore and William T. Close (a doctor who operated a clinic in the Belgian Congo). Her parents came from upper-class families of English descent. Her paternal grandfather, Edward Bennett Close, a stockbroker, was first married to Post Cereals' heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, which makes Glenn Close a relative by marriage and/or blood to screenwriter/director Preston Sturges and actress Dina Merrill. She also is a first 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.

Glenn attended Choate Rosemary Hall, a private boarding school in Connecticut, and the College of William and Mary, becoming a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.

Close is also a life-long 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.

Film career

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. 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 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. However, Close only signed on for a one-season role.

Recently, it was announced that Close will reprise the role of Norma Desmond in the 2006 film Sunset Boulevard, based on the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical of the same name. Close won a Tony award playing the role on Broadway in 1994. As of October 2006, Sunset Boulevard has not started production.

Relationships

In February 2006, Close married her longtime boyfriend David E. Shaw. The couple resides 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 (*1987), from her previous relationship with John Starke that ended in 1991.

Broadway productions

Musicals

• Rex (1976) - Richard Rodgers musical about Henry VIII
• Barnum (1980) - musical about Phineas T. Barnum
• Sunset Boulevard (1994) - Andrew Lloyd Webber musical based on the classic 1950 movie Sunset Boulevard starring Gloria Swanson in Close's role of faded screen star Norma Desmond.
• South Pacific - Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
• Busker Alley - Sherman Brothers musical (a one night charity event directed by Tony Walton based on the 1938 movie St. Martin's Lane.)

Drama

• Love for Love (1974)
• The Crucifer of Blood (1978)
• The Real Thing (1983) - by Tom Stoppard
• Benefactors (1985)
• Death and the Maiden (1992)

Off-Broadway

• Uncommon Women and Others (1977}

Filmography

Documentaries

• 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 Work

• The Rules of the Game (1975)
• Too Far to Go (1979)
• Orphan Train (1979)
• The Elephant Man (1982)
• Something About Ameila (1984)
• Stones for Ibarra (1988)
• She'll Take Romance (1990)
• Sarah, Plain and Tall (1991)
• Skylark (1993)
• Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (1995)
• In the Gloaming (1997)
• Sarah, Plain and Tall: Winter's End (1999)
• Baby (2000) (narrator)
• The Ballad of Lucy Whipple (2001)
• South Pacific (2001) also produced
• Brush with Fate (2003)
• The Lion in Winter (2003)
• Strip Search (2004)
• The Shield (cast member in 2005)

External links

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