Glenn Close biography

By the 1990s, Close was in her forties, an age when many actresses have a difficult time finding roles. Many are typecast as mothers, and Close couldn't entirely avoid this: in fact, she played Gertrude to Mel Gibson's Hamlet in the 1990 film version despite being only eight years older than him. Close was lucky, though, and for the most part still had her pick of roles in film and television. Nevertheless, she frequently returned to her first love,

the theater. She won two Tonys for Best Actress, one in 1992 for Death and the Maiden, and one as Andrew Lloyd Weber's handpicked Norma Desmond in the 1995 revival of Sunset Boulevard. She also took more comedic roles, such as Cruella de Vil in 1996's live-action 101 Dalmatians and First Lady Marsha Dale in 1996's Mars Attacks!. Close also had a recurring voice-acting role on the animated television show The Simpsons as Mona Simpson, Homer's estranged mother.

In the 2000s, Glenn Close has primarily focused on television, taking a role in The Shield's fourth season and guest starring on the critically acclaimed drama The West Wing. In 2007, she took a starring role in Damages as lawyer Patty Hewes, and the show has been renewed for a fifth season. "It's rare to have a woman, a mature woman, in a position of real power where she's calling the shots and she's in with the big guys," Close explains. "It's fun." The decade was an important one for Close's personal life, as well: Close married David Shaw on February 3, 2006. She was previously married to Cabot Wade from 1969 to 1971, and to James Marlas from 1984 to 1987.

Despite being one of the most critically acclaimed actresses working today, Glenn Close has no interest in the trappings of fame, and keeps her private life well-guarded. "I don't feel like I'm a public person, and I didn't go into my craft thinking I'm going to, you know, fling myself around as me. It doesn't interest me… I read how [Jackie Kennedy] told her daughter that once you've articulated something in public, it doesn't belong to you anymore. Cold shivers down my back." Because Close's talents are suited to film, television, and theater alike, her career continues to be full of possibility, a fact which delights fans and critics alike.

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