Scott Glenn Biography
Born: January 26, 1942
Date of Birth: January 26, 1942
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Scott Glenn grew up in Appalaches. His health was poor as a child and he was bed-ridden for a year while doctors predicted he would be limp for the rest of his life. During his long periods of illness, he read and dreamed of being Lord Byron. He challenged his illness by intense training programs and eventually got rid of his limp. After school Scott entered William and Mary College, where he majored in English.
He spent three years in the Marines and then tried to combine his passion for storytelling with his passion for adventures by working for five months as criminal reporter with the "Kenosha Daily Tribune." Scott planned to become an author but found he had "problems with dialogues," so he decided to overcome it by studying acting.
After learning the rudiments of his craft at the Actors Studio and appearing off-Broadway, Scott made his film debut in 1970's The Baby Maker. He was rescued from low-budget cycle flicks by director Robert Altman, who cast Scott as Private First Class Glenn Kelly in Nashville (1975).
In 1978 Scott got tired of Hollywood and moved his family to Ketchum, Idaho, where he worked as a barman, huntsman and mountain ranger for two years (occasionally acting in Seattle stage productions). James Bridges once more changed the course of Scott's life in 1980 when he offered him the role of Travolta's rival in Urban Cowboy and made him a star.
As rangy and rugged off-camera as on, Scott continued to flourish in western roles. Among his more impressive credits within this genre are Cattle Annie and Little Britches (1981), Silverado (1985), and My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (1993).
The 1990s were a rewarding decade for Scott, in which his performances helped Power Silence of the Lambs, The Hunt for Red October, Backdraft, and Absolute Power to international box office records. He also starred in the Ken Loach festival-honored Carla's Song.
Scott's off-screen life as an adventurer and self-described adrenaline addict in sports such as free-fall sky diving and skiing were perfect preparation for Vertical Limit (2000), where he played the eccentric yet revered mountain climber Montgomery Wick. For the next few years, he kept busy starring in a movie (if not multiple movies) every year. Some of his titles include Sucker Punch (2011), Magic Valley (2011), The Bourne Legacy (2012) and The Paperboy (2012).
In more recent years, Scott has been keeping busy on television. In 2014, he began working on the HBO drama The Leftovers, which also starred Justin Theroux and Liv Tyler and ran for three seasons. In 2015, he joined the cast of the Netflix series Daredevil for a year, then in 2017, he was cast in the Netflix mini-series Marvel's The Defenders. In 2018, he was cast as Alan Pangborn on Hulu's fantasy horror drama Castle Rock.
Along with his motion picture success, Scott has lent his voice to numerous US Navy commercials as well as narrated Navy SEALS: Untold Stories.
Scott lives in the Tribeca area of New York City, Ketchum, and in Mexico with his wife, artist Carol Glenn, to whom he has been married since 1968. They have two daughters together.