diff --git a/redis/client.py b/redis/client.py
index b12ad578d6..3b142177b4 100755
--- a/redis/client.py
+++ b/redis/client.py
@@ -1149,6 +1149,12 @@ def __del__(self):
         self.close()
 
     def close(self):
+        # In case a connection property does not yet exist
+        # (due to a crash earlier in the Redis() constructor), return
+        # immediately as there is nothing to clean-up.
+        if not hasattr(self, "connection"):
+            return
+
         conn = self.connection
         if conn:
             self.connection = None