Who is Glenn Close?

One of the first movies I saw her in was The Natural. It was a small part, Robert Redford had dumped her years before when a baseball groupie lead him astray. But there he was making his comeback, and there she was in the audience standing, after all those years, to give him the inspiration. She was a symbol of being there for your man, but to me, also a symbol of strength in a woman. I don't think that is what she was meant to be, but Glenn Close, in that part, was more than the part was supposed to be.

Before that she was GARP's mother. The crisp and pragmatic Jenny, who calmly raped a comatose man in order to have a child unemcumbered. It was a cold act; in the book she was a cold person. This was again a small part, it was Robin William's movie, but there she was, giving a humanity to Jenny.

Jagged Edge: she plays a lawyer who is hoodwinked by her client, a vicious and wealthy murderer. She was a dupe who needed to be rescued in the end, yet there was an unintended strength. The only movie I didn't like her in was Maixe and only then because she was just so much better than the material that she made it look even worse.

In all these movies, she made the part into something that was better than intended, making the character more than she was meant to be. She did this without ruining the story, but rather adding to it in spite of the script.

And then there was Alex, the psychpathic one night stand who terrified Micheal Douglas. So many people hated her. But also so many sane women identified with her. That might have been because those women recognized that the Douglas character kind of deserved some of what he got. I thought that was it then. However, now, looking back over Close's body of work, I think it was because her talent and personal depth of character was able to let people see the humanity in someone even as deranged and dangerous as Alex. We were able to see it closely enough that we weren't afraid to see ourselves.

And today, Glenn Close works hard to make sure that more people honor the humanity and the dignity of the mentally ill. What a woman!