Carlin Glynn, the singer/actress who won a Tony Award in 1979 for her role in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, has died. She was 83.
Glynn’s daughter, actress Mary Stuart Masterson, announced on Instagram that Glynn died July 13, following dementia and cancer diagnoses in recent years.
“I was with her. I will always be grateful for those last moments, no matter how hard,” Masterson, 57, wrote in a caption alongside a black-and-white photo of Glynn, a stanza from the poem “Clearances” by the poet Seamus Heaney, and a picture of Glynn with Masterson’s brother Peter that she said was taken at her 80th birthday party.
“Death is like birth in the oddest way. From my first breath to her last,” she continued in the caption. “This thread is as fragile as it is strong.”
The Bad Girls actress described Glynn as “the most graceful clumsy person you would ever meet.”Strong, smart, silly, intuitive, kind, generous, passionate, and a deep listener,” Masterson wrote of her mother. “She was devoted to my father and to the enormous circle of students and collaborators who were considered her chosen family.”
Masterson added in the caption that the third photo in her post was taken “before the worst of dementia and cancer took their toll” on Glynn. “She never lost her sense of joy or wonder… Rest in peace, Mommy,” she added.
Glynn made her onscreen debut in the 1975 film Three Days of the Condor before she set her sights on Broadway with the musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
Her husband Peter Masterson adapted the story and directed the musical. The actress went on to reprise her role as Mona Stanley in a 1982 revival of the show that began shortly after its original run ended, according to Playbill.
“I initially worked on the play only to help out,” Glynn told The New York Times of her role in the musical in 1978. Before her casting in the show, she had spent years away from her aspirations to act, aside from Three Days of the Condor, to raise her children.
“Peter was hesitant to force his wife on his collaborators,” she told the outlet at the time. “Finally, all four of the organizations who wanted to take the show to Broadway wanted me to stay in the part. So then I stopped worrying about nepotism.”
Glynn notably co-starred in 1984’s Sixteen Candles, in which she played Sam Baker’s (Molly Ringwald) mother Brenda.
Her onscreen acting career spanned over three decades, with parts in the television series Mr. President, the 1991 miniseries A Woman Named Jackie (she played former First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson), and 2003’s Lost Junction.
The actress’s husband Peter, who died in 2018 at 84, went on to further adapt The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas which starred Dolly Parton in the role Glynn originally played on Broadway.
Glynn is survived by her daughter Mary Stuart, who most recently starred in this year’s Sid Is Dead, as well as her kids Alexandra and Peter.
In other news – Influencer Christine Tran Ferguson’s 15-month-old son has died
Christine Tran Ferguson is facing an unimaginable loss. The Tour de Lust influencer shared that her son Asher, who she welcomed with husband Ryan Ferguson, died following a fight “for his life in the ICU” two weeks ago. He was 15 months old.
“My heart is utterly broken and shattered into a million pieces,” Christine captioned an Instagram carousel on July 20. “I will never understand why, nothing makes sense, I’m still in shock, I just want to wake up from this unimaginable nightmare and have you back in my arms. Why is this happening to us, why Asher?? You did not deserve any of this.”Read More
