Glenn Close: TV Is in Midst of a Golden Age

During acceptance speech for NAB Leadership Award, says TV is the place to be

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/12/2012 9:07:30 AM

Actress Glenn Close, in Washington to receive the National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Award for her fight against discrimination and stigmatization of mental illness, told broadcasters she thought TV was in a new golden age and was definitely the place to be.

She thanked broadcasters, TV and radio, for running her organization's, Bring Change 2 Mind, PSAs, which feature her sister and nephew, both suffering from mental illness, and called on them to help her foster empathy for the mentally ill.

 Close got a glowing intro from NAB President Gordon Smith, whose own son suffered from depression.

"Glenn is a humanitarian in every sense of the word," said Smith. Close had a compliment of her own for Smith, saying he could be "George Clooney's brother."

Close began her acceptance speech with praise for TV. She said that after she had done her first movie -- The World According to Garp -- she was offered a well-written TV movie, but her agent told her it would ruin her film career if she did television. She said her answer was: "Has it ruined the careers of Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Helen Mirren, Dame Judi Dench?" Years later, she said, when she did The Shield, she said she heard that people thought she was washed up because she was doing a series. "All I can say now, is my, how times have changed."

She said they were in the midst of a golden age in television, and it was a place "where everyone wants to be." She thanked the affiliates that "put on our shows," calling them "the engine and inspiration behind the TV industry. "