GLENNE HEADLY

Glenne Headly died recently at the too-young age of 62 in her home in Santa Monica, California. While many show biz types blather on and on about family, Ms. Headly walked the walk. After becoming a mom, she continued to work, but only in productions close to her home or during school breaks. Her impressive film resume’ is bunched into the 80's and 90's. After that period most of her work was in TV and on the stage. 
Glenne Headly’s break-out role came in 1988. She landed the juicy part of Janet Colgate in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and she definitely made the most of it. Steve Martin and Michael Caine are sleazy con men fleecing innocent rich people on the Riviera. Their attempt to con Janet is turned on its head by her cleverness. She manages to seem both clueless and intelligent in a difficult part that makes the movie a good one. She came up with the surprise ending that director Frank Oz readily put into his film. Oz credited Ms. Headly with the idea and praised her intelligence and savvy. 
The 1990's had a bunch of movies based on comic strips, some good, some not so good. One of the best was Dick Tracy (1990) with Warren Beatty as the square-jawed gung ho detective and Glenne Headly as Tess Trueheart, his girlfriend. Today’s audiences may find this film a bit simple-minded, but the colors are garish and wonderful and the acting spot-on. Do you remember that this strip gave us the famous two-way wrist radios? Everyone now has an even better one! And Tracy’s enemies were famously unique: Flattop, Pruneface, The Mole, Measles, etc.  
Ordinary Magic (1993) features newcomer Ryan Reynolds as a young man raised in India by a very idealistic and activist father. When the father dies, the young man is sent to live with an aunt, played by Glenne Headly, in Canada. When she is faced with an unfair eviction, her nephew motivates the community against this wrongful situation. The cruel landlord is played by, of all people, Paul Anka! Those of you under 60 may not remember him as a popular singer. 
Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995) stars Richard Dreyfuss as a talented musician and composer who accepts a high school teaching position in order to spend more time with his young wife, Iris, played by Glenne Headly, and his infant son. The bureaucrats are after him from day one, contending that music education is not important and a frill to be cut from an already strained budget. They finally get the music budget cut and Mr. Holland is on his way out. But on his last day at the school something wonderful happens,  crafted by his wife and son and many former students. There’s not a dry eye in the house!
After this part, Ms. Headly voiced Zootie the chimpanzee in the gleeful Babe: Pig In The City (1998) and that’s the last of the good stuff, movie-wise. 
Glenne Headly can be glimpsed as Joan, a minor part in Eleni (1985) and as Olive in Saul Bellow’s Seize The Day (1986).
All of the films in this article are suitable for all ages, factoring in the boredom quotient for littlies.