Content Warning: this article contains mentions of suicide.
The following article was previously published on The Flat Hat’s website during the week of Oct. 23. However, due to an unforeseen technological glitch, it was removed from the website for a period of time and was re-uploaded today, Nov. 6.
As the College of William and Mary celebrated its 2023 Homecoming and Reunion Weekend, acclaimed actress Glenn Close ’74 paid a visit back to her alma mater. Close participated in a plethora of campus festivities, including serving as the Grand Marshal in the Homecoming Parade, attending the Arts Quarter Dedication and participating in a Presidential Conversation with College President Katherine Rowe. The Flat Hat sat down for an exclusive interview with Close following her participation in these Homecoming festivities.
Originally from Greenwich, Conn., Close was admitted to the College in 1970 when she was 22 years old. She had spent the previous 15 years as part of an international spirituality movement called the Moral Re-Armament movement which her parents joined when Close was seven. It was this movement, which Close described as a cult, which originally drew her to the College when they protested in Williamsburg, Va. against the Vietnam War. She described the shocked faces of College students when her group began its performances at the College’s student union.
“I didn’t really have the tools at the time to get out, but when I saw that, I knew the kind of bullshit that I was a part of at the time, I thought ‘I want to come here,’” Close said. “It wasn’t just taking something at face value, and because I was so unhappy, and wanting to leave myself but not knowing how, I thought, ‘When I do, this is where I want to go.’”
Close mentioned how tough the transition was from her time in the MRA to a liberal arts institution, but ultimately reflected on how transformative the College was to her life. Close mentioned that walking into Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall and joining the theater department was her salvation from a life that had previously denied her individuality.
“It was like my life began — I made the conscious decision not to trust my instincts, because I thought they’d been all dictated,” Close said. “I think that for anybody who’s gone through that as profound and as long, a kind of brainwashing, if you want to call, you don’t really unlearn it, but you can learn what the triggers are, and you can learn to either know there’s certain environments that are not good for you, there are certain people that are not good for you.”
As Close discussed cultivating her sense of identity at the College, she also mentioned the impact of technology and its potential to stifle curiosity.
“Any great liberal arts education puts a big value on curiosity,” Close said. “You go down the Instagram hole and all of a sudden two hours have gone by. That’s substituting curiosity, that’s responding to what people are feeding you. It’s very fun to watch, but it’s a waste of time because it’s not giving anything back to you.”
“Any great liberal arts education puts a big value on curiosity,” Close said. “You go down the Instagram hole and all of a sudden two hours have gone by. That’s substituting curiosity, that’s responding to what people are feeding you. It’s very fun to watch, but it’s a waste of time because it’s not giving anything back to you.”
Close attributes lasting inspiration for her career to the College’s former professor of theater Howard Scammon ’34. The pair remained close friends until Scammon passed away in 1999.
“I think he really sensed how serious I was about becoming an actor,” Close said. “He made sure that it wasn’t just about being a star. You know, it was about being a supporting player. It was about being a stage manager. It was about painting sets, it was about learning about costumes, it was about the whole thing.”
After her graduation in May of 1974, Close’s role as Angelica in the November 1974 production of “Love for Love” took place at the Helen Hayes Theatre in New York. Before going through the stage door on opening night, Close recalls seeing Scammon across the street.
“When my first job was a Congreve play on Broadway, I was going into the stage door one night, and I saw this figure across the street. And I said, ‘Is that Dr. Scammon?’ So, I went across the street and asked Dr. Scammon, ‘What are you doing here?’ And he said, ‘I just want to watch you go through the stage door.’”
Scammon attended most of Close’s theater performances and offered her notes and commentary, just as he did when she was his student.
“He would come as long as he was able and see my work, and then write me a letter, would have all these letters, and give me really good notes. I mean, really good notes. And so, he was still helping me form as an artist and there’s no words that can express my indebtedness to him. And he was sycophantic. You know, he was authentic,” Close said.
Close also described two-time Academy Award winning costume designer Ann Roth as a mentor and inspirational figure throughout her career. Roth designed costumes for Close’s roles in the films “The World According to Garp” and “Jagged Edge.” Roth received her latest Oscar in 2021 for Viola Davis’ costumes in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”
“That collaboration and the feedback I had with Ann made me feel that the costume designer is as important as the director, because the costume designers are trying to figure out character as much as you are,” Close said. “She had a great ability to find details, but she expressed herself in shapes and fabrics.”
Close mentioned actress Mariska Hargitay as a close friend and confidante, as well as a group of friends she keeps in touch with from her time at Rosemary Hall, a private school in Connecticut. Close also considers her daughter, Annie Starke, as a source of wisdom.
“My daughter is a wise person, she’s very different from me,” Close said. “I call her an old soul, and I’m a new soul. I still feel incredibly unfinished. But she’s got a good head on her shoulders.”
Throughout Close’s career, she has represented a diverse array of characters both in film and on stage. When reflecting on each character’s unique persona, Close finds that certain parts of the roles have remained with her for many years.
“I think in some ways, they all have, because each of them has informed me in different ways,” Close said. “I think once you go through that journey of trying to understand what is basically another human being, which is presumptuous, because that’s very hard, then there are aspects of them that stay with you. So I think what I’m doing today is literally a sum of all the different characters I’ve played up until now.”
Close said that one of her favorite characters to play was Cruella de Vil in the 1996 live-action film adaptation of “101 Dalmatians.”
“The shoes were killers, and the costumes were challenging, but that was a fun character,” Close said.
Outside of her successful acting career, Close is the founder of Bring Change to Mind, an organization created in 2009 that is dedicated to combating the stigma surrounding mental illness. The organization was inspired by Close’s familial connections to mental illness. Close’s nephew has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, while her sister, Jessie, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her 50s.
The organization began with a 25-school pilot program in 2015 and currently operates in high schools through over 400 clubs and 18 states. Using science to formulate evidence-based peer-to-peer club programs, BC2M encourages healthy conversations about mental illness. To Close, an education without opportunities to learn about mental health is not a complete education.
“A lot of kids need it in order to get everything out of a place like this, because the pressure is high, you know, you can get derailed, you can get depressed, you can get terrible anxiety,” Close said.
Close said that her family never talked about mental health, and it was often misunderstood and stigmatized. She discussed her sister’s diagnosis with Rowe the morning of Oct. 19 at their Presidential Conversation.
“Almost 20 years ago, she came up to me and said, ‘I need help, I can’t stop thinking about killing myself,’ and I was shocked,” Close said during the conversation with Rowe. “I can’t even think about how different her life would be if we had been more cognizant of what she had been going through.”
While spending time on campus during Homecoming Weekend, Close has had the opportunity to tour the McLeod Tyler Wellness Center. She discussed some of the large changes on campus that she has noticed since her time at the College.
“The diversity was so fantastic, inclusive, joyous, expected,” Close said. “That’s where you guys are. You want to live in an international community, you want to live in a community that embraces everyone.”
“The diversity was so fantastic, inclusive, joyous, expected,” Close said. “That’s where you guys are. You want to live in an international community, you want to live in a community that embraces everyone.”
Looking forward, Close plans to continue her work in the film industry and with BC2M, and hopes to continue working after negotiations are finalized between SAG-AFTRA and company executives. She encourages students to cherish their time at the College, utilizing the resources available to them.
“I don’t have any advice except to take advantage of what you have, and stay open and use this incredible opportunity to explore yourself and hopefully find something that you will find personal fulfillment from,” Close said.