(Credits: Far Out / TCM)
Hollywood in the 1980s would have looked a whole lot different without the influence of American actor Glenn Close, a remarkable performer who elevated each and every film she appeared in. Rubbing shoulders with the likes of Michael Douglas, John Malkovich, Keanu Reeves, Michelle Pfeiffer and Uma Thurman in her early career, Close thrived in the late 20th century among a cohort of emerging talent.
As well as one of Hollywood’s greatest actors, she is also known as one of the unluckiest in the industry, having been nominated for nine Academy Awards without ever bringing home an Oscar. Her first nominations came in the early 1980s, being given the nod for stellar performances in The World According to Garp, The Big Chill and The Natural, but Close would find better commercial success later in the decade.
1987 saw the release of Fatal Attraction, an erotic thriller that would become one of the actor’s most iconic releases, whilst, just one year later, she would thrive in the romantic period drama Dangerous Liaisons by director Stephen Frears. To this day, she remains a fearless performer who has delivered some of the greatest characters of modern cinema, from the titular Albert Nobbs from the 2011 film to Joan Castleman in 2017’s The Wife.
Thanks to her success over several decades, Close has collected a great number of fans, with the actor giving them an insight into her own cinematic loves during an interview with Stephen Colbert in 2022.
“I understand one of your favourite movies is maybe my favourite all-time movie and maybe one of my all-time favourite plays, which is A Man For All Seasons…what is it that appeals to you about it,” Colbert asks the actor.
Responding, Close states: “I think it’s about a man who ends up giving his life because he refuses to go against his principles…he has that wonderful speech where he says, ‘in law, if you don’t say something, that means you consent, so why can’t you let me not say anything and you can take it as my consent’”.
Released back in 1966 and directed by Fred Zinnemann, A Man For All Seasons tells the story of Sir Thomas More, one of the only people who ever stood up to King Henry VIII when the notorious British icon rejected the Catholic Church in pursuit of a divorce. Starring the likes of Orson Welles, Robert Shaw and Paul Scofield, the film went on to win ‘Best Picture’ at the Academy Awards.
Continuing her praise of the film, Close adds: “It’s so relevant today, and we can ask ourselves, ‘How far will we go with our principles? How threatened do we have to be to go back on what we think personally is the right thing to do?’. I think that’s something all of us should ask ourselves”.
Take a look at Close talking about her favourite movie of all time below.
