Actor Glenn thought he’d be a poet
Film and TV star Scott Glenn never could have scripted the way his career turned out.
A veteran of nearly 100 roles spanning more than five decades — including his latest, “Greenland,” on premium video on demand now — Glenn initially dreamed of becoming a poetry writer, and joined the Marines and worked as a newspaper reporter in Kenosha, Wisconsin, before he even thought about acting.
Everything changed when Glenn was about 27 and accepted a job that didn’t start for six months with a newspaper in the Virgin Islands. A friend suggested he use the downtime to take acting classes in New York City to improve the dialogue in his writing.
He took that advice — and was hooked.
“I stood in front of about 11 people and started to open my mouth and literally, for the first and only time in my life, it was like a light bulb went off between my eyes,” Glenn recalled.
“I thought … I’m an actor. It wasn’t like a big epiphany of creative joy and juices or anything like that. It was just that for the first time my life made sense to me. It happened that fast.”
Glenn, 81, has been an actor ever since, with performances in classic movies such as “Apocalypse Now,” “The Silence of the Lambs,” “The Hunt for Red October” and “The Right Stuff.”
In “Greenland,” he plays a widowed military veteran who remains peaceful as a comet scorches toward Earth.
“To a certain extent, I think every actor probably, whether they intend to or not, uses whatever experiences they’ve had in their lives,” Glenn said of his approach to the film, which also stars Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin, who plays the daughter of Glenn’s character.
“So yeah, it was the Marine Corps, and growing up in Pittsburgh, and whatever things have happened, good and bad, in my life to lead me to this point.”
Glenn’s love of storytelling began at a young age. He overcame scarlet fever as a child and remembers the medical staff isolating him as he battled the illness.
“They wouldn’t let me read in fear it would (hurt) my eyesight,” Glenn said. “So I lived with my imagination for that period of time.”
As he reflects on his career, Glenn feels grateful for the opportunities he’s had, as well as for the chance to continue doing what he loves.
“I didn’t plan on being in classic films, great American films, like ‘Nashville’ or ‘Apocalypse Now’ or ‘The Right Stuff.’ All that stuff just wound up sitting on my lap, so in that way I just feel really, really lucky,” he said. “I never stopped writing poetry. That part of my life is still alive and challenging me every day.”
The actor considers himself a kid at heart.
“Every birthday I have, my daughters always ask me the same question,” Glenn said, “which is, ‘Dad, what are you going to be when you grow up?’ ”
Jan. 3 birthdays: Actor Dabney Coleman is 89. Singer Stephen Stills is 76. Bassist John Paul Jones is 75. Actor Victoria Principal is 71. Actor Mel Gibson is 65. Actor Danica McKellar is 46. Actor Nicholas Gonzalez is 45. Singer Kimberley Locke is 43. Actor Nicole Beharie is 36. R&B singer Lloyd is 35. Actor Florence Pugh is 25.