There is something very striking about Glenn Close which makes you sit up and notice….
She is an unconventional beauty but she can capture you with her “fatal attraction”.
Close came from an affluent family but she did not want to reveal much of that background. She started with theatre before filmmaker George Roy Hill gave her an audition for the World According to Garp.
She got the role and went on to get an Oscar nomination in her first film. That began a great run in Hollywood with the 1980s being her most productive one. She also did well on stage and television. She holds the nomination for the most number of nominations without winning an Academy Award.
Here are some films from her productive years:
The World According To Garp (1982)
Cast: Robin Williams, Mary Beth Hurt, Glenn Close, John Lithgow, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy
Director: George Roy Hill
A feminist nurse Jenny Fields (Close) takes advantage of a dying oversexed gunner during the Second World War and get a son Garp (Williams) off him. Jenny then decides to write a book on lust which makes her an overnight sensation, a cult feminist figure.
Garp grows up to be a fictional writer with an interest in wrestling. His first novel impresses his girlfriend Helen (Hurt) and they marry and have two kids. Jenny, meanwhile, opens a centre for abused and troubled women. Garp then finds out that his wife cheated on him and he takes revenge. Then Garp forgives her at his mother’s insistence.
The Natural (1983)
Cast: Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Kim Bassinger, Robert Duvall, Barbara Hershey, Wilford Brimley, Joe Don Baker, Michael Madsen
Director: Barry Levinson
This sports-based film traces the career of a baseball player Roy Hobbs (Redford) whose powers won recognition at a late stage in his career. Hobbs tells his girlfriend Iris (Close) that he has a chance to make it big with the Chicago Cubs and takes a journey to give a try-out.
His ability during a friendly challenge catches the eye of a mysterious woman named Bird (Hershey). But Bird stabs Hobbs in the abdomen and spoils his future. Then at age 35, Hobbs gets a chance with bottom-of-the-table New York Knights. His ability finally gets the distinction it deserves and his play lifts his team to the top.
Maxie (1985)
Cast: Glenn Close, Mandy Patinkin, Ruth Gordon, Barnard Hughes
Director: Paul Aaron
A stifled couple Nick (Patinkin) and Jan (Close) move into an old house where they find a piece of paper saying “Maxie Malone lived here”. Maxie (Close again) was a budding actress who died before she could do a film but there were some clips of hers which makes Jan curious.
Maxie returns as a spirt and enters Jan’s body and this changes the latter’s behaviour. She does wild things at a party which the late Maxie would do in her life. This proves disturbing and the only solution seems to be for Jan to audition for a role and act in a film to get rid of Maxie’s spirit.
Fatal Attraction (1987)
Cast: Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer, Ellen Hamilton Latzen
Director: Adrian Lyne
A brief fling by a Manhattan lawyer Dan Gallagher (Douglas) turns out to be serious affair with many complications. Alex (Close) takes the affair seriously and begins stalking Dan and later his wife Beth (Archer) and daughter Ellen (Latzsen). Dan tries to plead with Alex to let things go but she becomes more persistent.
Claiming that she has become pregnant ande wishes to keep her baby, Alex focuses her attention on Beth as she gets crazier. She tries to kidnap Ellen and later wields a knife and goes after Beth. Dan now needs to do something about it.
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Cast: Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman, Keanu Reeves
Director: Stephen Frears
A scheming Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil (Close) plots revenge against her lover Comte de Bastide. She contacts Vicomte de Valmont (Malkovich) to do the dirty work by seducing Bastde’s fiancée, Cécile de Volanges (Thurman). However, Valmont is plotting a seduction of his own, trying to win over Madame de Tourvel (Pfeiffer).
Merteuil demands a written proof of the liaison from Valmont who agrees. But things get complicated after Cécile falls in love with Danceny (Reeves). Valmont then falls in love with Tourvel after he manages to seduce Cécile. Then Merteuil is exposed.
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