THE PEOPLE and IDEAS SHAPING the CULTURE - CLOSE Encounters

In the first edition of his new column, THE DISPATCH, DEREK BLASBERG talks to GLENN CLOSE about LONGEVITY, OSCARS, and her most ICONIC roles—and why it's always important to DRESS the PART

On a balmy New York evening last spring, Ralph Lauren held his Fall/Holiday 2024 show at his Madison Avenue design studio. Leave it to Ralph to install country-clubby mahogany paneling and handsome leather upholstery in a modern, all-glass Manhattan office building. I was interviewing the legendary Glenn Close backstage, and I mentioned we were marking more than a half-century of Ralph Lauren.

"This September, I will have been a working actress for 50 years," she replied wistfully. She put her hands up to make air quotes and smiled. "Thank God!" Then, transforming into Sunset Boulevard's Norma Desmond, she turned to the production folks filming our chat and asked if they could switch the cameras to highlight her good side (her right) and improve her lighting.

"I'm sorry," she implored, then declared, "Actually, no, I'm not." Truly iconic.

But then, that's Glenn. Her work has spanned five decades across stage and screen and has earned her three Tonys, three Emmys, and a trio of Golden Globe awards.

(She's been nominated for eight Oscars but has not won. Yet.) As a tween, I fell in love with her devilish and stylish Cruella de Vil in 1996's 101 Dalmatians. In high school, I went to Blockbuster to rent her older films, like The Big Chill (1983) and Fatal Attraction (1987), to watch on my parents' sofa on Friday nights and relish her dramatic range. (The term "bunny boiler" is still in the lexicon.) In 2017, I took my mom to see Glenn in Sunset Boulevard on Broadway for her birthday. We waited at the stage door for her to sign copies of Playbill-mother-gayson bonding at its finest. Give this woman the lighting she deserves, people!

Months after Ralph's show, I caught up with Glenn at Sydmonton Court, a grand English estate in Basingstoke and Deane.