Honestly, if you look at the career of Glenn Close, it’s kinda ridiculous. She didn't even start in movies until she was 35. Most actors are already "aged out" by Hollywood standards by then, but Close just walked onto the set of The World According to Garp in 1982 and snagged an Oscar nomination immediately.
She’s basically the final boss of acting.
Whether she’s playing a terrifying lawyer, a bunny-boiling stalker, or a grandmother in the Appalachian backwoods, there is this stillness to her. It’s unnerving. You’ve probably seen her in something recently—maybe as the chain-smoking Mamaw in Hillbilly Elegy or the elegant, secretive wife in, well, The Wife. But the sheer volume of Glenn Close movies and TV shows is enough to make your head spin if you actually sit down and scroll through her IMDb.
The 80s Run: From "America’s Mother" to Everyone’s Nightmare
In the early 80s, people thought they had her figured out. She was the "good" woman. The nurturing one. In The Big Chill (1983), she was the glue holding a group of grieving friends together. She played Iris in The Natural (1984), literally appearing like an angel in white in the stands of a baseball game.
Then 1987 happened.
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Fatal Attraction changed everything. People legitimately forgot she was ever the "nice" actress. Playing Alex Forrest, she didn't just play a villain; she created a cultural archetype. The "bunny boiler." It’s a role that arguably shadowed her for years, for better or worse. She followed that up with Dangerous Liaisons (1988) as the Marquise de Merteuil. If you want to see a masterclass in "acting with your eyes," watch the final scene where she removes her makeup. It’s devastating.
Television Powerhouse: Damages and The Shield
A lot of movie stars treat TV like a backup plan. Not Glenn. When she joined The Shield in 2005 as Captain Monica Rawling, she brought a weight to that show that shifted its entire DNA. But her real TV legacy? That’s Patty Hewes.
Damages (2007–2012) is sort of the peak of Glenn Close's "scary smart" era. Patty Hewes is a high-stakes litigator who would probably sell her own soul for a win, and Close played her with this razor-sharp precision. She won two Emmys for it. It’s one of those shows that people are still discovering on streaming and realizing it’s actually better than most legal dramas coming out today.
Basically, Patty Hewes makes her Fatal Attraction character look like a cuddly amateur.
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The Roles You Forgot (Or Didn't Realize Were Her)
Here’s the thing about Glenn Close movies and TV shows: she’s a shapeshifter. Did you know she was in Hook? Most people don't. She played a male pirate (Gutless) who gets put in the "Boo Box." She’s completely unrecognizable.
Then there’s Cruella de Vil.
Before Emma Stone took a crack at the character, Glenn Close’s version in the 1996 live-action 101 Dalmatians was the gold standard. It’s campy, it’s over-the-top, and she looks like she’s having the time of her life.
- The Voice of Kala: She was the gorilla mom in Disney’s Tarzan.
- Mona Simpson: She voiced Homer Simpson’s fugitive mother on The Simpsons for nearly 30 years.
- Nova Prime: She even popped up in the MCU for Guardians of the Galaxy.
The "Oscar Curse" and Recent Gems
It is a bit of a running joke at this point—but a frustrating one—that Glenn Close has the most Academy Award nominations (eight!) without a win. People thought The Wife (2017) was going to be the one. Her performance as Joan Castleman is incredibly subtle. She plays a woman who has spent decades in the shadow of her husband, and you can see the resentment simmering under her skin in every frame.
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Then came Hillbilly Elegy in 2020. She went full "transformation" for that one. Big glasses, frizzy hair, baggy t-shirts. Even if the movie got mixed reviews, nobody could look away from her.
What’s Coming Next?
She isn't slowing down. In fact, her 2024 and 2025 slate is packed. She’s in the Netflix thriller The Deliverance and has a role in the upcoming Knives Out sequel, Wake Up Dead Man (2025). There’s also talk about her finally bringing her legendary stage role as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard to the big screen, which fans have been begging for since the 90s.
If you're looking to catch up on the essential Glenn Close movies and TV shows, start with the "Big Three": Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, and Damages. They give you the full spectrum of why she’s stayed relevant for four decades.
Actionable Next Steps:
Check out Damages on Hulu or Disney+ if you want to see her most complex work. For a quick movie night, The Wife is currently one of the best examples of her later-career brilliance. If you’re a completionist, keep an eye out for the Knives Out sequel release in 2025 to see how she handles a "whodunnit" ensemble.