Los Angeles (AP) - Glenn Close is a good loser. Even with her eighth Oscar nomination, the actress went away empty-handed at the trophy gala last April - but for many she was still the star of the evening. Close caused a sensation with a special dance performance.
During the show, the then 74-year-old jumped up from her seat and spun her hips to the song "Da Butt" from the 80s film "School Daze". She caused a lot of excitement online. On Saturday (March 19) Close will be 75 years old - and there is no stopping him in front of and beyond the camera.
The many Oscar slippers can't seem to discourage her. Since her first nomination for "Garp and How He Saw the World" in 1983, she has failed eight times. She is Hollywood's actress with the worst losing streak, followed by Deborah Kerr, Thelma Ritter and Amy Adams with six Oscar failures each.
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She cannot complain about a lack of roles
At the 93rd Academy Awards last year, Close was in the running with a completely unglamorous supporting role: In the family drama "Hillbilly Elegy" she is hardly recognizable as the strict grandmother Mamaw with a gray wig, mottled skin and sloppy sweaters. In the end, the Oscar went to the South Korean Yuh-Jung Youn for "Minari - Where we put down roots".
Even with gray hair, the actress is constantly in front of the camera, most recently in the future drama "Swan Song" alongside Oscar winner Mahershala Ali. In it, Close embodied an ambitious doctor who clones people in a remote laboratory.
She does not complain about a lack of roles. "I'm getting better with age," she said in 2017 to the German Press Agency at the Toronto International Film Festival before the world premiere of her film "The Nobel Prize Winner's Wife". In the drama by director Björn Runge, she shone as an increasingly frustrated wife alongside a smug writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Small nuances in Close's face show that behind the calm, almost stoic facade things are beginning to seethe - another Oscar-worthy performance.
She didn't leave out any genre
Close knows her way around big relationship dramas in front of the camera. In "A Fateful Affair" (1987) she was the cold-blooded Alex Forrest, who, as the rejected lover of a family man (Michael Douglas), takes revenge with telephone terror and threats of suicide. A year later she was the scheming marquise in Stephen Frears' baroque drama "Dangerous Liaisons". In 1990 she played a comatose aristocrat in "The Affair of Sunny von B.". Whether comedy roles, as the fur lover Cruella De Vil in "101 Dalmatians", or as the tough commander Nova Prime in the superhero spectacle "Guardians of the Galaxy" - Close leaves no genre.
"Albert Nobbs" (2011) was more than just a role for Close. The actress also wrote the script and produced the drama about a woman in Ireland at the end of the 19th century who disguises herself as a man to make a living.
Following her screen successes in the 1980s, Close found a new role. In 1988, at the age of 41, she gave birth to her only child. Daughter Annie Maude comes from the relationship with her boyfriend at the time, the film producer John Starke. The 33-year-old has played alongside her mother several times. Close divorced her third husband, biotech entrepreneur David Shaw, in 2015.
Difficult childhood in the sect
She grew up in the US state of Connecticut in a strictly puritanical family of doctors. When she was young, the family joined the Moral Re-Armament (MRA) movement. As a teenager, she was a member of the MRA vocal group Up with People, which toured the world.
The sect exercised strong control, Close said in 2021 in the sequel to the documentary series "The Me You Can't See: A Path Forward" by US presenter Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry. She only managed to get out at the age of 22. Close also blamed her childhood experiences for her three divorces. "I haven't been successful in my relationships and finding a steady partner and I'm sorry."
For over ten years, Close has been committed to helping people with mental health problems. Her sister has bipolar depression and her nephew has schizoaffective disorder, according to the website of their joint foundation, Bring Change 2 Mind (BC2M). On Instagram, Close refers to the work of the organization and the help for the mentally ill. But even more often she posts photos and stories of her little dog. "Proud to be Pip's most important person," the actress wrote on her profile.
