Happy Birthday Glenn Close!
Wednesday, March 19, 2025 at 4:12PM 
Photo via Glenn Close's Instagram (she's great at social media!)
The great and still Oscar-less Glenn Close is 77 today. If seven is a good luck number than we wish her a double-lucky year that somehow leads her to Oscar nomination #9. I bring Glenn up because I promised a longtime reader a retrospective on Fatal Attraction (1987) so long ago that he probably knows how she feels still waiting for that naked gold man for what has been an inexcusably long time. Given that it's Glenn's birthday and given the long-ass wait, I felt compelled to commit publicly to discussing this movie this upcoming weekend scene-by-scene style like we haven't done since just before the pandemic (only I'll do this one solo). It's such a great thriller and it really holds up.
Anyway, before we dive into Glenn's most zeitgeisty moment, let's have a chat about her Oscar history...
8 Oscar nominations
Currently Glenn holds the record for most acting nominations without a win in a tie with Peter O'Toole. The only living actor who is anywhere close to that record is Amy Adams (six noms without a win). Do you think she should have won for any of these titles?
- The World According to Garp (1982) - film debut! LAFCA win, NBR win
- The Big Chill (1983) - second film/second nomination... what a batting average from the jump.
- The Natural (1984) - the kind of nom you only get if they can't get enough of you in that particular time frame.
- Fatal Attraction (1987) - her biggest non-franchise hit as a leading lady.
- Dangerous Liaisons (1988) - when they had such a perfect opportunity to reward her but thought "nah" for still terribly annoying reasons
- Albert Nobbs (2011) - the 'dream project' nod that sometimes happen to well loved actors even if people don't like their film
- The Wife (2018) - Globe & Spirit & SAG win
- Hillbilly Elegy (2020) - the film everyone involved would surely like to forget for current fascist-dystopia reasons
Key non-Oscar nominated turns?
Any actor of Glenn Close's fame and calibre will have non-Oscar roles that were key in some way in the overall story of their career. If we had to pick a handful of films (alongside the Oscar noms) to paint a fuller picture of her film career, it would probably be the following:
- Jagged Edge (1985) - consider it a kind of warm-up to Fatal Attraction
- Reversal of Fortune (1990) - the sign that she had lost her Oscar default status since they were definitely paying attention to the film
- 101 Dalmatians (1996) - her second biggest leading lady hit.
- Heights (2005) - arguably her best film work in the decade when her movie career was sputtering out.
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) - the kind of thankless role in an event film that Hollywood always shoves aging legends into if they're still eager to work. Thankfully two more Oscar brushes were ahead of her still.
QUESTION: If you were a casting director or an auteur-fan what kind of project would you be looking for / writing for her in order to nab her that record-breaking 9th Oscar nomination?
Reader Comments (19)
For her ninth nomination, a collaboration with the Daniels, Greta Gerwig or Emerald Fennell.
It's also Bruce Willis' birthday.
I'd give her an almost Guy Pearce in The Brutalist style role—wealthy, high status woman with rage issues and a passion project that somehow saps the life out of a co-lead.
OMG I am BEYOND happy that you mentioned HEIGHTS. I love that movie and Glenn Close is spectacular in it. The whole cast is really great too. Elizabeth Banks, Jesse Bradford and James Marsden all doing career best work!
I thought she was going to win for THE WIFE, but I would have loved it if she had won for FATAL ATTRACTION. She's magnificent in that.
I look forward the the Fatal Attraction piece though she's is wonderfully iconic in it my heart is with Cher and to a lesser extent Bette Davis in The Whales of August that year with a large side order of Maggie Smith and Emily Lloyd plus a sprinkling of Holly Hunter.
82 Could have won but I choose Kim Stanley
83 a real after glow nomination for a well liked film but Hunt is undeniable.
84 I echo what you wrote,Basinger is better in the same film and how often can you say that
87 Cher is my winner with GC a close 2nd and Maggie Smith 3rd
88 should have won,though very good Foster won in 91 but hindsights a great thing
11 strange film strange performance,no chance,Colman in Tyrannosaur is fantastic
18 should have won a 2nd,she is beyond brilliant all respect to Colman who was better in 2011
20 not bad but the film is,dodged a bullet,it could have been a sentimental win,Seyfied for me.
Cannot believe she was not nominated for Reversal of Fortune but she wouldn't have won anyway over Whoopi but it's one of best peformances.
She should've won for Fatal Attraction or Dangerous Liaisons. Cher is a fun winner, but was also worthy for Silkwood and even Mask.
As much as I was excited for her to win for The Wife, the more time that passes, the more that Olivia Colman win just feels correct.
I do hope she come back again. Obviously it would be amazing to see her win, but even if she didn't, it would be cool for her to set a new record.
I am disappointed that men are still recommending Tyrannosaur.
In the film when the pit bull attacks the young boy, the camera must look through the legs of three men struggling to rescue the child. The audience is spared the brutality.
When James is killed, we only see the aftermath with the bloodied body covered in flies. The audience is spared the slaughter.
When the pit bull is killed, a brick wall prevents the camera from recording the blows that crush the dog’s skull. The audience is spared the violent death.
But when Hannah is anally raped, the camera pulls in close. We see Hannah drunkenly taunt James. We flee up the stairs with her to wait in the bedroom. The image and sound cut to a shocking entry that startles the audience. We watch James rip open his pants, spit on his hand and wet his penis. We see him shove Hannah onto her face. The camera moves in for a tight close up to watch her pain, degradation.
Why is this necessary? I contend that we as a society fail to see women as deserving the dignity we give a man or a child or even a dog. A violent act upon a woman is seen as entertainment. We are voyeurs.
This film is the textbook definition of abuse porn.
Happy Birthday, Glenn Close!
Of course, such a post on a film blog automatically brings up the mention that Glenn Close still doesn't have an Oscar. And I am as controversial as I can be with my opinion: I don't think, at the end of the day, this is a tragedy.
If we're being honest, Glenn Close's career truly flourished in the 1980s. It's a shame she didn't win an Oscar during those years, but over the last thirty years, she's mostly been in mediocre films and some good TV shows, and I dare to risk saying that she didn't deserve her last three Oscar nominations. Not for HILLBILLY ELEGY or ALBERT NOBBS, for sure. And if the question is whether I would have preferred Olivia Colman to win the Oscar over her, I would say that Colman has so far consistently delivered a strong career narrative, and knocked out of the park in THE FAVORITE.
Close is typically the kind of actress in Hollywood who would deserve an Honorary Oscar for her long career. But I wouldn't give her an individual Oscar for her work in the past 30 years. That's just how it is, folks. What bothers me much more, for example, is that Toni Collette doesn't have an Oscar. That woman has been delivering outstanding performances from the early '90s to the present, and she has only one Oscar nomination. Go ahead and stone me, but this bothers me a hundred times more than Glenn Close's case.
No one has ever deserved anything more than Glenn Close deserved an Oscar for Dangerous Liaisons
i clearly remember glenn presenting deborah kerr with her honorary oscar; surely it’s time ampas returned the favour
i loved her debut in garp, i would’ve awarded her then
if she does win in a competitive category i hope it’s not for a feisty grandma role
After reflection, I think Glenn Close would be well served with an English language remake of the French language film Un Belle Course, a compelling story of an aging independent woman taking a taxi ride before moving into an assisted living facility.
When receiving the Lifetime Achievement ward from SAG, Barbra Streisand spoke of how emotionally powerful the film is. Streisand produced Close's Emmy Award winning film Serving in Science. Perhaps magic can strike again.
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@Finbar
Here I am keyboard warrioring again.
I never recommended the film but simply said that Colman was fantastic in it which despite your criticism of the film she is and she took the role so maybe you should direct your judgement at her.
I am against abuse in any form men which you left out,women,animals especially dogs and I don't like the inference in your post that I am somehow championing this sort of thing.
There are many many worse films than this one that could be considered questionable or "abuseporn".
I think she's much better without make-up in a mumblecore-like movie (think Julianne Moore in Eisenberg's first movie, so perfect). She's too much of a ham, so stylization makes her go too broad (just like Bening). So, I wish she'd go for understated roles, playing against her diva instincts.
(Cher is a deserving winner; I am not a fan of Close's theatrics in DL, but I see why she should win there, even if I wouldn't vote for her).
She should have won for The Wife—perfect timing and performance.
HungarianVoice, I agree with you that Close didn't deserve those nominations for Albert Nobbs or Hillbilly. So those eight nominations have been very generous.
And Cal, love your phrasing of how she is too much of a ham, and that "stylization makes her go broad". Couldn't agree more!
To me, Close's best performance, far and away and without question, is in Dangerous Liaisons. The theatricality is right for the piece, as is her beautifully structured face and her glacial hauteur.
Plus, I'm in the camp that thinks Colman is without question the rightful winner of that Oscar. The Wife was Close's best performance in quite a while, but in my opinion it can't compare to the complexity Colman found in The Favourite...a performance that shot off into the stratosphere.
@EricB I don't like Colman at all in that movie; sue me, but Stone was the clear MVP
Close just seems to have had some bad luck, always up in very competitive years.
I would love to know the vote tallies between Colman/Close. I bet it's in single digits. I'm still not sure who I'd have voted for.
1987 Phenomenal, but my vote goes to Holly Hunter
1988 An all-time great performance, but my vote goes to Sigourney Weaver, I think that towering performance is underappreciated.
I'm one of the few who support her nomination for Albert Nobbs (and McTeer's) for a very imperfect movie. Nomination but certainly not a win.
If she wants to win she's got to stop the Ryan Murphy-level wacky grandma camp shtick.
Shout out to great work in Nine Lives, Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her, Cookie's Fortune
Sadly The Wife is a godawful movie—Glenn is given very little to play (and doesn't find more) for at least the first hour, her first scenes with Slater aren't anything to write home about. The framing device which cast her real-life daughter (who canNOT act and looks nothing like her) in flashbacks were painful to watch.
The last few scenes of the movie are spectacular, it's a shame the rest falls so miserably below what Glenn achieves by the end.
I love reading all the discourse here regarding what's her best,it surprises me when people don't get her DL or TW but it's fun to see alternate opinions
By the way Nat she is 78 not 77.
I agree with the David that she needs to stop with the wacky Grandma stuff.
Maybe the new Knives Out movie offers her up a meaty supporting role.
A ranking of her nominations I think is called for
1 Dangerous Liasons
2 Fatal Attraction
3 The World According To Garp
4 The Wife
5 The Big Chill
6 Albert Nobbs
7 Hillbilly Elegy
8 The Natural.
Everyone seems to focus on the lead losses than the supporting ones.
I think 82 would have been a great time for a win out of the supporting ones but everyone has a different winner that year,Warren,Close,Garr or Stanley would have made a fantastic winner not that Lange is bad but the role while sweet asks not much of her.
In 87 Cher is always my winner,to disappear from the Cher persona is some feat for her and she has "Snap out of it",the opera scenes and many other wonderful moments but I get that the role is not meaty per se.
I think one role she should have had a nomination for is in 1990 in Reversal of Fortune but some may have got confused at a top billed Leading Lady pushed as a supporting role and the competition was heavy that year.
I do want her to win a competitive Oscar but unless it's top level something along the lines of Amore most people will know it's career and sentiment.