Glenn Close Remembers Advice Robin Williams Gave Before Her First ‘SNL’ (Exclusive) ArticlePure

Glenn Close got by with a little help from her friend.

Ahead of her first time hosting Saturday Night Live, the actress, 77, got some sound advice from someone in her inner circle to calm her nerves.

“[I went to] Robin Williams, who was my friend,” Close told PEOPLE exclusively while attending the 12th Annual Bring Change to Mind Revels & Revelations Gala.

“I said, ‘Do you have any advice about Saturday Night Live? And he said, ‘Just don’t do anything you don’t think is funny, because you get all these different fabulous ideas,’ ” she continued.

“I found that helpful,” added Close of the late actor and comedian’s words of wisdom. (Williams died by suicide at age 62 in August 2014.)

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Close first hosted SNL in February 1989, during an episode in which The Gipsy Kings served as the musical guest. She later returned to Studio 8H in December 1992 to host SNL‘s Christmas episode, which featured The Black Crowes as musical guest.

Looking back at her inaugural SNL hosting gig, Close expressed happy sentiments, telling PEOPLE, “Oh, it was great fun.”

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She also recalled how the episode took place “around the time” that Fatal Attraction came out. “We had a skit of my character, Alex Forest, in a group therapy session with her knife and her purse. It was really fun,” Close explained.

Other standout moments from the episode saw the Back in Action star play a woman still jealous of her recently-deceased sister and a woman who musically details her offense at comments made by her partner.

Saturday Night Live airs weekend on NBC. The series is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a special three-hour broadcast, SNL50: The Anniversary Special, live from Studio 8H on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.