Glenn Close’s Top 10 Roles

By Rachel West. 18 Mar 2022 4:01 PM

Glenn Close turns 75 on March 19, 2022, so we’re celebrating the screen icon’s birthday with our picks for her 10 best acting roles.

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‘Serving in Silence: The Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer Story’

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‘Damages’
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Before it was the norm for big screen actors to dip their toes in the TV world, Glenn Close had already delivered an award-nominated turn on “The Shield”. But it’s her role as ruthless New York lawyer Patty Hewes that earned her accolades, including two Emmys. The complex and manipulative relationship with her mentee law school grad Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) is explored over five seasons, with Close playing the unapologetic Hewes close to ferocious perfection.
‘Fatal Attraction’
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It may be the most significant role of Close’s career and certainly the one most-cemented into pop culture consciousness. Filled with iconic one-liners and over-the-top antics (boiled bunny, anyone?) Close’s portrayal of jilted lover Alex Forrest is the stud of 1990s’ cinematic legend and yet another Oscar-nominated performance for the actress.
‘Reversal Of Fortune’
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Campy, comedic, and complex, Close’s portrayal of would-be murder victim Sunny Von Bulow sees the actress trying out some fantastic hairstyles and costumes. As both the victim and the narrator of the movie, this is a showcase for Close’s talent as she goes toe-to-toe with a scenery-chewing Jeremy Irons.
‘The Wife’
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In a career full of exceptional performances, this may just be a career-best. After living under her arrogant literary husband’s shadow for years, Close’s performance as his wife, Joan, is immensely captivating. As her story unfolds, slowly revealing her past as a once-promising young writer who gave it all up to be a dutiful wife, Joan may have had a much bigger hand in her husband’s success than anyone knows. Simmering with intensity and seething, Close swept most of awards season including the SAG Awards and Golden Globes, but ultimately lost the Oscar to Olivia Colman in “The Favourite”.
‘Dangerous Liaisons’
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Close plays a power-hungry and vengeful, scorned woman with aplomb in her Oscar-nominated turn in “Dangerous Liaisons”. As the devious Marquise Isabelle De Meurteuil, Close is villainously captivating from the film’s opening scene to her final, brutal comeuppance in the closing scenes.
‘The Paper’
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Close showed viewers what it was like to be in a male-dominated industry in Ron Howard’s workplace comedy “The Paper”. As the managing editor of a New York tabloid, Close’s character Alicia will do everything she can to advance her career, regardless of the cost to her journalistic integrity. Because of her determination, she’s painted as cutthroat and catty by colleagues for knowing what she wants and deserves in her career. It may not be one of the first movies that comes to mind when we think of Close’s career, but she absolutely nails the role.
‘The World According To Garp’
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In her scene-stealing debut, Close nabbed an Oscar nomination for her role as the zany, feminist single mother to Robin Williams’ Garp. Though she was only four years older than her on-screen son, Close made the fantastical character from John Irving’s novel into something concrete and real.
‘Serving in Silence: The Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer Story’
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Close earned her first Emmy for her role in this Peabody-winning made-for-TV movie about Washington National Guard Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer who was honourably discharged after revealing she was a lesbian. Cammermeyer, who would go on to become a LGBTQ+ rights activist, fought the discharge with a lawsuit which resulted in a judge ruling the gay military ban was unconstitutional. Almost 30 years after it first aired, it’s still considered a groundbreaking movie for depicting a lesbian kiss on primetime TV.

Close, who was also a producer, reflected on the movie’s impact to EW in 2019, stating: “I was very much in the trenches, developing the script about this lesbian of heroic proportions. When you are doing something that breaks ground, you think about how it’s going to affect your career. There was a growing conservative sentiment in the country at the time. It was one of those occasions where I said to myself, ‘What’s the alternative? Not to do it because you are a coward?’”
‘101 Dalmatians’
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Way before live-action Disney remakes were the norm, Close brought the fur-loving Cruella de Vil to life on the big screen. With a nasty cackle, Close looks like she’s having a blast playing the campy fashion lover in all her cartoonish glory.

“I think Cruella basically has no redeeming human characteristics,” Close said to the Associated Press upon on the film’s release. “Except she does have a sense of humour, albeit wicked. She’s a great character. She’s gleeful in her evilness, and there’s something very engaging about that.”
‘Mars Attacks!’
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You’re not likely to find “Mars Attacks!” on many of Close’s career-best lists, but it’s a shame to overlook Tim Burton’s celeb-filled time capsule from the 1990s. Wacky and wild, Close’s portrayal of U.S. First Lady Marsha Dale opposite Jack Nicholson as President is a joy to watch. It’s totally fitting that this campy romp, about little green men from Mars invading the planet, came immediately after “101 Dalmatians”.

Glenn Close’s Top 10 Roles

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