My Favorite Glenn Close Performances

14.

Teddy Barnes, Jagged Edge





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



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.

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OPEN FLOOR.

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

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

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

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.

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No I wasn't. That makes more sense.

12.

Iris Gaines, The Natural




Close received her third consecutive Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performances 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




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




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



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



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




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.

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




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



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



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



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



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: