Will Glenn Close finally win an Oscar, for Sunset Boulevard, her next big screen role? The seven-time Oscar nominee and loser, will star in the production, reprising the role she played to great acclaim on Broadway twice before, winning the Tony award, her third, for her take on Norma Desmond in 1994.
Close reprised the part to great acclaim in a 2016 revival that played both London and New York. The musical features a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. The original production won seven Tonys in all, including best musical, book and original score.
Tony-winning choreographer Rob Ashford is attached to direct Paramount’s big-screen take of Broadway’s musical adaptation of the screen classic Sunset Boulevard.
Ironically, Sunset Boulevard is Close’s follow up to The Wife, which every pundit, including Tim Nasson at Wild About Movies, predicted she would win the Oscar for.
How glorious it will be to see her walk up on the Oscar ceremony stage in 2021 to collect her long deserved Oscar – as of this year, she has been nominated 7 times and lost all seven times – for a role she has won the Tony for.
The original Sunset Boulevard was released in theaters in 1950 and earned 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress (Gloria Swanson) and Best Actor (William Holden). It won only three Oscars, for screenplay, art direction and original score.
There is reason to believe that Close will actually win the Oscar for this role. Actors who have gone on to reprise their Tony winning roles in films for which they are nominated for the Oscar for the same role, generally also win the Oscar.
Here are the complete list of actors who have won both the Tony and Oscar for the same role:
Jose Ferrer
As Cyrano de Bergerac in “Cyrano de Bergerac” (real person – lived 1619-55)
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play (1947) Oscar for Best Actor (1950)
Shirley Booth
As Lola Delaney in “Come Back, Little Sheba” (fictional character)
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (1950) Oscar for Best Actress (1952)
Yul Brynner
As King Mungkot of Siam in “The King and I” (real person – lived 1804-68)
Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (1952) Oscar for Best Actor (1956)
Anne Bancroft
As Annie Sullivan in “The Miracle Worker” (real person – lived 1866-1936)
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (1960) Oscar for Best Actress (1962)
Rex Harrison
As Professor Henry Higgins in “My Fair Lady” (fictional character)
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical (1957) Oscar for Best Actor (1964)
Paul Scofield
As Thomas More in “A Man For All Seasons” (real person – lived 1478-1535)
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play (1962) Oscar for Best Actor (1966)
Jack Albertson
As John Cleary in “The Subject Was Roses” (fictional character)
Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play (1965) Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (1968)
Joel Grey
As the Master of Ceremonies in “Cabaret” (fictional character)
Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (1967) Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (1972)
Lila Kedrova
As Madame Hortense in the movie “Zorba the Greek” and the Broadway musical “Zorba” (fictional character)
Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (1964) Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (1984)
Helen Mirren
As Queen Elizabeth II in the movie “The Queen” and the Broadway play “The Audience” (real person – born 1926)
Oscar for Best Actress (2006) Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play (2015)
Viola Davis
As Rose Maxson in “Fences” (fictional character)
Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play (2010) Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (2016)
