She is also known for her roles in John Hughes' Sixteen Candles (1984) and Peter Masterson's The Trip to Bountiful (1985), which is based on the play of the same name, by Horton Foote.

[1][2] A life member of The Actors Studio,[3] Glynn made her belated but Tony-winning Broadway debut - as 1979's Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical - portraying "Mona Stangley" in the original production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,[1] a musical comedy adapted by Glynn's husband and fellow Studio member, Peter Masterson, from a non-fiction article published in Playboy, in collaboration with the article's author, Larry L. King, and songwriter Carol Hall, and developed at length in workshop performances at the Studio.

Other film credits include roles in Resurrection (1980), Continental Divide (1981), The Escape Artist (1982), Gardens of Stone (1987; in which her husband and daughter also had roles), Blood Red (1989), Night Game (1989), Convicts (1991), Judy Berlin (1999) and Whiskey School (2005).

Carlin Glynn Masterson died at her home in upstate New York on July 13, 2023, aged 83.

She was devoted to my father and to the enormous circle of students and collaborators who were considered her chosen family.