Glenn Close

Acclaimed actress and singer with three Tony Awards, three Emmys, and three Golden Globes.

She has confirmed that her birth name is "Glenn Close," not "Glenda Veronica" as some have claimed.^[1] Glenn Close came into the world on March 19, 1947, in Greenwich, Connecticut; her mother, Elizabeth Mary Hester "Bettine" (née Moore), was a socialite, and her father, Dr. William Taliaferro Close, ran a clinic in the Belgian Congo and acted as the personal physician to Mobutu Sese Seko, the Congolese dictator.^[1] Close's first professional acting work was on stage in 1974, when she was 27 years old.^[2]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Born: 19 March 1947
Birthplace: Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Education: College of William & Mary (BFA)
Occupation: Actress, singer
Years active: 1974–present
Partner: Len Cariou (1979–1983)
Children: Annie Starke
Father: William Close

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

When she was seven, her parents joined the Moral Re-Armament movement, in which her family was involved for 15 years.^[3] She broke away from MRA at age 22, stating that her desire to become an actress allowed her to leave the group.^[4] In 1980, director George Roy Hill discovered Close on Broadway and cast her in her first film role, The World According to Garp.^[5] Close won her third Tony Award for playing faded film star Norma Desmond in the Broadway production of Sunset Boulevard in 1993–94.^[6]

Close pursued a double major in theater and anthropology at The College of William & Mary.^[7] Starting in 2007, Close portrayed the unyielding and brilliant attorney Patty Hewes on the FX series Damages, a role she played for five seasons.^[8]

What the cited sources add

A 2005 Slant Magazine review describes Close's performance in the film Heights as "imposing yet fragile," simultaneously conveying regal force and delicate traces of doubt.^[9] The same review highlights a sidewalk-set scene in which Close "effortlessly flashes the full range of maternal emotions" through barely perceptible facial gestures.^[9] A 2006 Guardian article notes that The Shield attracted actors of the calibre of Glenn Close and Forest Whitaker due to its compelling writing.^[10] The Guardian article also states that Close and Forest Whitaker in The Shield offered 2005's most obvious examples of film actors moving to television.^[10]

References

Wikipedia, "Glenn Close" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Roberts, "Notable Kin - Additional Noted American Cousin: A Five-Year Update, Numbers 326-350", New England Historic Genealogical Society - Founded 1845, 2010; Simpson, "Conscience and the Congo", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 29, 2006; II, "Dr. William Close dies at 84; physician played a key role in stopping the Ebola virus", Los Angeles Times, February 15, 2009; "Glenn Close brings The Wife to theaters during a very relevant time", SiriusXM, August 16, 2018 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Glenn Close" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stated on Inside the Actors Studio, 1995; Stated on Inside the Actors Studio, 1995; Gray, "Glenn Close Looks Back on Her First Theater Role", April 5, 2016 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Glenn Close" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rosemary Hall Alumnae Award from the Choate Rosemary Hall website (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Glenn Close" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Galloway, "Glenn Close Returns to Stage, Reveals Remarkable Childhood in Cult", October 15, 2014 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Glenn Close" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Glenn Close" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Glenn Close" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stated on Inside the Actors Studio, 1995 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Glenn Close" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Galanes, "Glenn Close and Patrick Kennedy on the Weight of Mental Illness", The New York Times, March 11, 2017; "Incredible alumni", William & Mary; Weaver, "Read Katharine Hepburn's Influential Letter to Glenn Close", Vanities (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Glenn Close" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Joyce Eng, "Kristin Chenoweth, Jon Cryer Win First Emmys", TVGuide.com, September 20, 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
"Heights Film Review Slant Magazine", Slant Magazine, June 2, 2005. facts only, no text reused. slantmagazine.com
Patterson, "Move over Hollywood", The Guardian, May 19, 2006. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Glenn Close (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.