“Glenn Close starred in The Big Chill, the first blockbuster hit film about the Baby Boomer generation facing aging, and since then her career has shattered Hollywood’s outmoded, ageist stereotypes. Her steady successes exemplify what AARP’s Movies for Grownups program is all about,” said AARP EVP & Chief Communications and Marketing Officer Martha Boudreau. “We are delighted to recognize Glenn Close—who at age 35 landed her first movie role and her first Oscar nomination, and who at age 77 has a highly acclaimed career that continues to flourish.”
For more than two decades, AARP’s Movies for Grownups has championed movies for grownups, by grownups, by advocating for the 50-plus audience, fighting industry ageism and encouraging films and TV shows that resonate with older viewers.
Glenn Close is soaring higher than ever, starring in 2024’s No. 1 Netflix horror hit The Deliverance, the upcoming Knives Out mystery Wake Up Dead Man, Ryan Murphy’s legal drama All’s Fair, The Summer Book, Back in Action, and six more shows and films—all part of a career so deserving of the Movies for Grownups® Career Achievement Award, our highest honor.
“I am so honored to receive the AARP Movies for Grownups Career Achievement Award even though I feel like I’m still 35, if not younger,” says Close. “I love making movies for grownups and everyone else, and I deeply appreciate the inspiration and support of the people I have worked with over 50 years. Thank you, AARP, for this great honor.”
Close will receive MFG’s top honor at the awards ceremony, which will recognize the best films and filmmakers of 2024, including Best Movie for Grownups, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and more. She joins a prestigious list of previous AARP Movies for Grownups Career Achievement honorees, including Jamie Lee Curtis, George Clooney, Helen Mirren, Michael Douglas, Shirley MacLaine, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Robert Redford, Sharon Stone and Robert De Niro.
Glenn Close is known for illustrious performances spanning five decades. Her breakout film role as Jenny Fields in The World According to Garp (1982) and her iconic roles in The Big Chill (1983) and The Natural (1984) earned her three consecutive nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She leaped higher yet with the sexy $320 million blockbuster Fatal Attraction (1987), which earned her nominations for Academy Award and Golden Globe Best Actress honors, and Dangerous Liaisons (1988), which fetched a second Oscar Best Actress nomination and a BAFTA Film Award nomination for Best Actress. Her repertoire ranges from prestige dramas like The Wife (2018) to the bestseller adaptation Hillbilly Elegy (2020) to children’s films and voice acting in Disney’s 101 Dalmatians (1996) and Tarzan (1999).
Close has conquered the small screen as well, earning her first Primetime Emmy nomination for Something About Amelia (1984), followed by three wins: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie as Margarethe Cammermeyer in the television film Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (1995), and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, twice in a row, for playing Patty Hewes in Damages (2007–2012).
Alan Cumming, the Tony- and Emmy Award-winning host of the widely lauded competition show The Traitors, will return as the host of AARP The Magazine’s Movies for Grownups Awards, which will be broadcast by Great Performances on Sunday, February 23, 2025 at 7/6c on PBS (check local listings), pbs.org/moviesforgrownups, and the PBS app.
Movies for Grownups Awards proceeds benefit AARP Foundation, which works for and with vulnerable older adults—in Los Angeles and across the country—to end senior poverty and reduce financial hardship by building economic opportunity.
