My Favorite Glenn Close Performances
 

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A powerhouse actress whose onscreen power is only exceeded by her versatility. She actually began her career on Broadway and has actually found time to return there on occasion after her movie career took off. She actually received an Oscar nomination for her film debut in 1982 and has been working non-stop ever since. In addition to six other Oscar nominations, she has also earned three Golden Globes and three Emmys. She has spent many an award season being overlooked for her work and joins the ranks of Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter as the only actresses who received seven Oscar nominations and never won the award. But she is an actress who has never really been about awards, it has always been about the work with her and her resume is proof of that..and now, here is my list of favorite performances by the incredible Glenn Close.

I see they're in pre-production for a remake of Sunset Boulevard. She's starring as Norma Desmond, which is pretty damn gutsy. Not for her, but for the decision to remake such a flawless classic.

I wonder if next they'll remake Vertigo?...:D

I did like Close a lot in Fatal Attraction.

25.

Jan/Maxie, Maxie

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Close really seemed to be enjoying herself in this forgotten 1985 comedy about a timid housewife who finds herself being possessed by the soul of an outrageous 1920's flapper. Close's performance was the only really memorable element of this film.

24.

First Lady Marsha Dale, Mars Attacks

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Close was a standout in this all-star cast Tim Burton spoof playing a fictional first lady who has a very different reaction from her husband (Jack Nicholson) when she learns that the earth is being invaded by aliens.

23.

Helen, Father Figures

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Close actually brought a touch of class to the proceedings playing the mother of grown sons (Owen Wilson, Ed Helms) who sends them on a wild goose chase when they corner her about who their real father is.

She’s already played Norma Desmond twice in the Broadway musical. In 1994 & 2017.

22.

Nellie Forbush, South Pacific (2001)

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Technically, she was a little too old for the part, but Close worked very hard to be credible as the young navy nurse who finds romance with a wealthy plantation owner named Emile De Beque (Rade Serbedzija) during WWII

21.

Fanny Leiber, Will and Grace

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Close had me on the floor in this guest shot on the NBC sitcom playing a fresh-out-rehab celebrity photographer who does a photo session with Will and Grace that they won in a contest and gets a little too familiar with both of them.

20.

Claire Wellington, The Stepford Wives (2004)

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Close's performance was one of the few things that worked in this 2004 remake of the 1975 classic. Close played the way-too-cheery welcome wagon lady who along with her husband (Christopher Walken) attempts to make Joanna (Nicole Kidman) and Bobbie (Bette Midler) fit in the ways of the wives of Stepford.

19.

Vice President Kathryn Bennett, Air Force One

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Close made the most of a thankless role as the Vice President who has to step up when she learns that the President (Harrison Ford) and his family are being held hostage by terrorists on Air Force One.

I like Glenn Close, but the 2001 version of South Pacific is my least favorite version.

Re: My Favorite Glenn Close Performances
 

I just can't rep anything positive about that version of Stepford. Sorry.

Honestly, I have never liked South Pacific, I only watched it because Glenn Close was playing Nellie

Agreed it was a terrible movie, but I loved Glenn

I like the version with Reba McEntire.

18.

Gail Bennett, Something About Amelia


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Close was excellent in a complex role in this 1984 TV movie playing a woman who learns that her husband (Ted Danson) has been sexually abusing her daughter (Roxanna Zal).

17.

Camille Dixon, Cookie's Fortune

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Close was a lot of fun as a contemporary Elvira Gulch who learns of her Aunt's suicide and tries to make it look like the woman died during a burglary.

16.

Mrs. Johnson, The Chumscrubber

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Close was funny as hell in this bizarre black comedy playing the slightly crazy mother of a teenage drug dealer who commits suicide whose insane guilt about it manifests itself in a very bizarre way.

Re: My Favorite Glenn Close Performances
 

I don't think I've seen any of the last 3 but I might have The Chumscrubber.

15.

Janet, In the Gloaming


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Close was luminous in this 1997 TV-movie playing a woman whose close relationship with her son (Robert Sean Leonard) becomes even closer when she learns he is dying from AIDS.

14.

Teddy Barnes, Jagged Edge


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Close plays a former DA who left the prosecutor's office because she was tired of helping guilty people go free, who accepts a job defending a wealthy industrialist (Jeff Bridges) accused of murdering his wife. Though all the evidence points to his guilt, Teddy's judgement is clouded when she falls in love with her client.

13.

Captain Monica Rawling, The Shield

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Close was a real eye-opener when she joined the cast of this gritty FX series as a no-nonsense police captain during season 5.

I've never heard of In the Gloaming, but this sounds interesting, and I've liked Robert Sean Leonard ever since I saw him in Dead Poets Society.

Re: My Favorite Glenn Close Performances
 

Jagged Edge is one of the few of these I've seen and she's wonderful in that. :yup:

You're aware this is the film version of the stage musical not a remake of the 1950 film, right?

Re: My Favorite Glenn Close Performances
 

I wonder if her character Mona from The Simpsons will show up? No idea if you watch animated shows or not since I can't recall you ever talking about any, but it's a pretty memorable role.

I also hope to see The Wife on the list. Mindblowingly brilliant performance.

No I wasn't. That makes more sense.

12.

Iris Gaines, The Natural

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Close received her third consecutive Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the sweet-natured childhood sweetheart of a baseball phenom (Robert Redford) who re-enters his life at the height of his fame.

11.

Sunny Von Bulow, Reversal of Fortune


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Close delivers a rich performance playing the legendary millionairess who was allegedly drugged into a coma by husband Klaus Von Bulow (Oscar winner Jeremy Irons). I always felt this performance had to be a particular challenge for Close as the film begins with the character in the coma and the character is revealed in reverse.

10.

Sarah Wheaton, Sarah Plain and Tall


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Close shines in this CBS TV movie as a mail order bride who agrees to marry a Midwestern widower (Christopher Walken) and help him raise his two children.

9.

Jenny Fields, The World According to Garp

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Close made a powerhouse film debut that earned her the first of three consecutive Best Supporting Actress nominations. She plays an independent-minded nurse who raises a son (Robin Williams) on her own who becomes a writer. Though her son writes several books and achieves a modicum of success, Jenny writes one book about her life called "Sexual Suspect" that brings her international fame and fortune. The most impressive thing about this performance is that Close was playing a character about 20 years older than she was at the time.

8.

Patty Hewes, Damages

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Close won a Golden Globe for her work on this powerhouse FX series playing a shark of an attorney who takes a young law school graduate (Rose Byrne) and throws her under the bus on more than one occasion in the name of self-preservation, while trying to raise a son after a very nasty divorce. I found her strongest work was during seasons 1 and 3.

7.

Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer, Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story

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Close won an Emmy for her performance in this 1995 ABC TV movie about a real life Army colonel who put her distinguished military career at serious risk when she came out as a lesbian, Judy Davis also won an Emmy for playing her lover.

Re: My Favorite Glenn Close Performances
 

I've not even heard of that last one, Gideon.

I love her as Sunny von Bulow. It's a wonderful film and her, Irons and Silver are all brilliant.

Reversal of Fortune never got the attention it deserved...it's a brilliant film.

6.

Cruella Deville, 101 Dalmatians


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Close has never been an actress known for scenery chewing, but she does it to maximum effect in this 1996 live action remake of the Disney animated classic as the madwoman determined to turn a bunch of adorable dalmatian puppies into fur coats.

5.

Dr. Sarah Cooper, The Big Chill

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Close received the second of three consecutive Best Supporting Actress nominations for her performance in Lawrence Kasdan's instant classic as a woman who, along with her husband (Kevin Kline), host a reunion of their closest friends from college who are reunited when another friend of theirs commits suicide in their summer home.

4.

Albert Hobbs, Albert Hobbs

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Close received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her complex performance in this moving 2010 costume drama playing a woman who has spent her entire life living as a man who suddenly finds herself in relationships with two very different women.

3.

Joan Castleman, The Wife

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Close was totally robbed of another Best Actress Oscar for her quietly dazzling performance in this highly personal drama playing the wife of a writer (Jonathan Pryce) who has just won the Nobel Prize in Literature for a book that she actually wrote. Close's performance here is just as powerful as it is heartbreaking.

2.

Marquise de Merteuil, Dangerous Liaisons

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Close received yet another Oscar nomination for her chilling and haunting performance in this period costume drama playing a woman plotting revenge on her ex-lover (John Malkovich) without a thought of the other lives that her plan will destroy in the process. This character drips evil at every turn.


And that's # 2...there can't be a lot of suspense about what # 1 is, so I'm just going to go ahead and do it...and now, my favorite Glenn Close performance:

1.

Alex Forrest, Fatal Attraction

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Once again, Close was robbed of the Best Actress Oscar for for her unforgettable performance in this 1987 Best Picture nominee playing a dangerous psychopath who has a weekend affair with a married businessman (Michael Douglas), but the man wants to end it when Monday rolls around, but Alex is just not having it. I'm pretty sure this character kept a lot of husbands who were contemplating adultery from doing so. Close had to fight for this role too...the producers originally wanted to cast a young, unknown starlet in the role, but Close convinced them to go a different way with the role, a role that has now become the role most closely associated with Glenn Close.




Hope someone enjoyed the list

Re: My Favorite Glenn Close Performances
 

Albert Nobbs (2011, btw) and The Wife are both interesting films with great performances by Close - I'm not sure they'd be quite so interesting without her! Dangerous Liaisons is one of my favourite films and another great performance.

she is such a legend. i love to see him, his my fov character. so many peoples I have seen who don't like her, I don't know why because she beautiful and such a talented actress.