An emotional Glenn Close paid tribute to her grandmother after picking up the best actress prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Close was recognised for her role as a spouse living in the shadow of her acclaimed novelist husband in The Wife, in which she stars alongside Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce.
Close, 71, said the film was made before the #MeToo movement rose to prominence but its theme of a woman being unable to achieve her full potential proved to be prescient.
Speaking backstage at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium, she said: “When we made this film, the #MeToo movement didn’t even exist.
“And to have it come out, to talk about the women, like my mom, who – feminism was not in their sensibility. I’m wearing my grandmother’s wedding ring because I found out after she died that the one thing she wanted to be was an actress.
“And she never would’ve been allowed to do that, she was not allowed to do it. And so I feel like I’m fulfilling her dream.”
In The Wife, Close plays Joan Castleman, the beleaguered spouse of brilliant author Professor Joseph Castleman.
While travelling to Stockholm for him to pick up the Nobel Prize, Close’s character questions whether sacrificing her career for her husband’s was worth it.
Close said it was “gob smacking” to see the audience’s reaction when the film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and that “every single nuance” of the on-screen performances was registered.
She said: “I’m still kind of astounded by it. I chose it very subjectively, I’ve never played a character like this before.
“I think the power of the story is because it’s very specific, it’s about a certain marriage, a very complex relationship and I think the more specific and powerful you can make that relationship, the more people will be moved by it, the more baggage they will be able to bring to it and leave the theatre and think, ‘I’m going to ponder myself’.”
Close, who during a glittering career has starred in films including Fatal Attraction, Reversal Of Fortune and 101 Dalmatians, called for “empathy and understanding” as she collected her prize on Sunday.
The awards are administered by the SAG-AFTRA actors union, which Close said she is “proud” to be a part of.
The prize continues a stellar run for Close, who this awards season has already picked up a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for The Wife.
She tied the latter with A Star Is Born’s Lady Gaga. Close is also nominated for a best actress Oscar at next month’s Academy Awards.
Her nomination for The Wife is her seventh, though she has never won.
