Danny Glover | |
|---|---|
 Glover in 2019 | |
| Born | (1946-07-22)July 22, 1946 (age 78) San Francisco,California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, producer |
| Years active | 1964–present |
| Known for | Roger Murtaugh inLethal Weapon |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | louverturefilms |
Danny Glover (/ˈɡlʌvər/GLUV-ər; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, producer, and political activist. Over his career he has receivednumerous accolades including theJean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, theNAACP'sPresident's Award, as well as nominations for fiveEmmy Awards and fourGrammy Awards.
Glover made his film acting debut inEscape from Alcatraz in 1979. He rose to fame in the late 1980s for playingRoger Murtaugh in theLethal Weapon film series. Glover's other notable films includePlaces in the Heart (1984),The Color Purple (1985),Witness (1985),To Sleep with Anger (1990),Grand Canyon (1991),Bopha! (1993),Angels in the Outfield (1994),The Royal Tenenbaums (2001),Saw (2004),Dreamgirls (2006),Shooter (2007),2012 (2009),Death at a Funeral (2010),Beyond the Lights (2014),Sorry to Bother You (2018), andThe Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019).
He is known for his work in television, receiving fourPrimetime Emmy Award nominations for his roles asNelson Mandela in theHBO television filmMandela (1987),Joshua Deets inCBSwestern miniseriesLonesome Dove (1989),Philip Marlowe in theShowtimeneo-noir seriesFallen Angels (1995), and Will Walker inTNT biographical filmFreedom Song (2000). He had recurring roles inHill Street Blues,ER, andBrothers & Sisters.
Glover is also an active supporter of various political causes. He is a member theTransAfrica Forum, and theCenter for Economic and Policy Research. For his political work he was awarded the Cuban NationalMedal of Friendship by theCuban Council of State.
Glover was born on July 22, 1946,[1] inSan Francisco,California, the son of Carrie (née Hunley) and James Glover.[2] Both of his parents were postal workers,[3] and were active in theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), working to advance equal rights.[4] Glover's mother, daughter of amidwife, was born inLouisville, Georgia, and graduated fromPaine College inAugusta, Georgia.[5] His father was a World War II veteran. He graduated fromGeorge Washington High School in San Francisco.[6]
As an adolescent and a young adult, Glover hadepilepsy but has not had aseizure since age 35.[7] He attendedSan Francisco State University (SFSU) in the late 1960s but did not graduate. SFSU later awarded him the Presidential Medal of San Francisco State University for his service to education.[8] Glover trained at the Black Actors' Workshop of theAmerican Conservatory Theater.[9]
Glover originally worked in city administration working on community development[10] before transitioning to theater. He has said:
I didn't think it was a difficult transition. Acting is a platform that can become a conveyer for ideas. Art is a way of understanding, of confronting issues and confronting your own feelings—all within that realm of the capacity it represents. It may have been a leap of faith for me, given not only my learning disability (dyslexia) but also the fact that I felt awkward. I felt all the things that someone that's 6'3" or 6'4" feels and with my own diminished expectations of who I could be [and] would feel. Whether it's art, acting or theater that I've devoted myself to I put more passion and more energy into it.[11]
His first theater involvement was with theAmerican Conservatory Theater, a regional training program in San Francisco.[12] Glover also trained with Jean Shelton at theShelton Actors Lab in San Francisco. In an interview onInside the Actors Studio, Glover credited Jean Shelton for much of his development as an actor. Deciding that he wanted to be an actor, Glover resigned from his city administration job and soon began his career as a stage actor. Glover then moved to Los Angeles for more opportunities in acting.[citation needed]
Glover made his film acting debut inEscape from Alcatraz (1979). He has since had a variety of film, stage and television roles. His earlier work included a recurring role onHill Street Blues, and the role of Moses Hadner in the 1984 drama filmPlaces in the Heart.
Glover gained acclaim in 1985[citation needed] starring as the husband toWhoopi Goldberg's character Celie in the celebrated literary adaptationThe Color Purple. The same year he played Lieutenant James McFee in the crime thriller filmWitness, and Mal in the western filmSilverado.
Glover is best known for playing Los Angeles police SergeantRoger Murtaugh in the action filmLethal Weapon (1987), and in the1989,1992 and1998 sequels of thefilm series, starring alongsideMel Gibson. He receivedPrimetime Emmy Award[citation needed] nominations for his roles asNelson Mandela in theHBO television filmMandela (1987) andJoshua Deets inCBSwestern miniseriesLonesome Dove (1989). In 1990, he earned top billing for the first time in the blockbusterPredator 2 withGary Busey, the sequel to thescience-fiction action filmPredator. That same year, he starred inCharles Burnett'sTo Sleep with Anger, for which he won theIndependent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead.[citation needed] He also appeared in films such asGrand Canyon (1991) andBopha! (1993).
During his career, Glover has also made several cameos, appearing, for example, in theMichael Jackson video "Liberian Girl" of 1987. In 1994, Glover and actorBen Guillory founded theRobey Theatre Company in Los Angeles in honor of the actor and concert singerPaul Robeson.[13] Its purpose was to focus on theatre by and about Black people.[14]
Also in 1994, Glover made his directorial debut with theShowtime channel short filmOverride. That same year, he played the role of baseball manager George Knox inAngels in the Outfield forWalt Disney Pictures. Disney originally wantedBob Hoskins for the role of George Knox, but he was considered too short for the role and Glover was cast because of his height and is the same size as the actors playingthe California Angels.[citation needed]
In common withHumphrey Bogart,Elliott Gould andRobert Mitchum, who have playedRaymond Chandler's private eye detectivePhilip Marlowe, Glover played the role in the episode "Red Wind" of the Showtime network's 1995 seriesFallen Angels, earning him aPrimetime Emmy Award[citation needed] nomination. Also that year, Glover played Captain Sam Cahill in the war filmOperation Dumbo Drop.[15]
In 1997, under his former production company banner Carrie Films, Glover executive produced numerous films of first time directors including Pamm Malveaux'sneo-noir short filmFinal Act starring Joe Morton, which aired on theIndependent Film Channel. In 1998, he starred as Paul D. in the drama filmBeloved, based onToni Morrison's novel. In addition, Glover has been a voice actor in many children's movies includingThe Prince of Egypt (1998),Antz (1998) andOur Friend, Martin (1999). In 2000, he played Will Walker inTNT biographical filmFreedom Song, which earned him anotherPrimetime Emmy Award[citation needed] nomination.
Glover was featured in theWes Anderson directed 2001 filmThe Royal Tenenbaums, also starringGwyneth Paltrow,Anjelica Huston,Ben Stiller andOwen Wilson.
.jpg)
In 2004, he appeared in the low-budget horror filmSaw asDetective David Tapp. In 2005, Glover and Joslyn Barnes announced plans to makeNo FEAR,[16] a film about Dr.Marsha Coleman-Adebayo's experience. Coleman-Adebayo won a 2000 jury trial against theUS Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The jury found the EPA guilty of violating the civil rights of Coleman-Adebayo on the basis of race, sex, color and a hostile work environment, under theCivil Rights Act of 1964. Coleman-Adebayo was terminated shortly after she revealed the environmental and human disaster taking place in theBrits, South Africavanadium mines. Her experience inspired the passage of the Notification and Federal Employee Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 (No-FEAR Act). As of 2013[update] theNo Fear title has not appeared butThe Marsha Coleman-Adebayo Story was announced as the next major project of No Fear Media Productions.[17]
Glover portrayed David Keaton in the television filmThe Exonerated (2005)—a real-life story of Keaton's experience of being arrested, jailed, and then freed from death row. In 2006, he voiced Miles, an elderly mule, in the animated filmBarnyard, and played Marty Madison in the musicalDreamgirls. In 2007, he played Colonel Isaac Johnson in the action thrillerShooter.
In 2009, Glover performed inThe People Speak, a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historianHoward Zinn'sA People's History of the United States.[18] He also had recurring roles on the showsER andBrothers & Sisters.
Glover played President Wilson, the President of the United States in2012, a disaster film directed byRoland Emmerich and released in theaters November 13, 2009. In 2010, Glover participated in the black comedy filmDeath at a Funeral, and a Spanish film calledI Want to Be a Soldier. In 2012, he starred in the filmDonovan's Echo.
Glover co-starred in the science fiction comedy filmSorry to Bother You,[19] which was released in theaters on July 6, 2018.[20] He also appeared in the filmThe Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019). In December 2019, he played Milo Walker in the action comedy filmJumanji: The Next Level starringDwayne Johnson,Kevin Hart,Jack Black andKaren Gillan.
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(August 2019) |
Glover sought to make a film biography ofToussaint Louverture for his directorial debut. In May 2006, the film had included cast membersWesley Snipes,Angela Bassett,Don Cheadle,Jonathan Rhys Meyers,Chiwetel Ejiofor,Roger Guenveur Smith,Mos Def,Isaach de Bankolé andRichard Bohringer. Production, estimated to cost $30 million, was planned to begin in Poland, filming from late 2006 into early 2007.[21] In May 2007,President of VenezuelaHugo Chávez contributed $18 million to fund the production ofToussaint for Glover, who was a prominent U.S. supporter of Chávez. The contribution annoyed some Venezuelan filmmakers, who said the money could have funded other homegrown films and that Glover's film was not even about Venezuela.[22][23]
In April 2008, the Venezuelan National Assembly authorized an additional $9,840,505 for Glover's film.[24] In 2015, Glover gave an update on the Toussaint project, stating, "The film that we always missed is a movie on the Haitian revolution and Toussaint Louverture. The company is fortuitously named after him and that was the movie that I wanted to do. We've developed a script. We thought we were going to get it done four years ago. We thought we were going to be making it right now. But also there are other kinds of things that intrigue me."[25]
Glover appeared atLondon Film and Comic Con 2013 at Earls Court 2 over 2.5 days during Friday 5th to Sunday, July 7. He participated in a panel discussion in McComb, Mississippi on July 16, 2015.[26] The event, co-sponsored by The Gloster Project and Jubilee Performing Arts Center, included noted authorsTerry McMillan and Quincy Troupe.
On January 30, 2015, Glover was the Keynote Speaker and 2015 Honoree for the MLK Celebration Series at the Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, RI). Glover used his career and personal story to speak on the topic "Creativity and Democracy: Social Change through the Arts". At the University of the Virgin Islands, Glover gave a speech that encouraged the graduates in their upcoming journey.[27]
It was announced in July 2018 that Glover will be the featured guest at the Port Townsend Film Festival in Washington State.[citation needed]
Mr Glover attended the Seattle Storm versus Los Angeles Sparks on September 15, 2024. He was announced over the public address system and received a standing ovation.[citation needed]
Glover married Asake Bomani in 1975 and they have a daughter, Mandisa, born in 1976. Glover and Bomani divorced in 2000. Glover married Eliane Cavalleiro in 2009.[28] They divorced in 2022.[29]
Glover purchased a 6,000-square-foot (560 m2) house inDunthorpe, Oregon, in 1999.[30][31] As of 2011, he no longer lives in Oregon.[32]
While attendingSan Francisco State University (SFSU), Glover was a member of the Black Students' Union,[33] which, along with theThird World Liberation Front and theAmerican Federation of Teachers, collaborated in a five-month student-led strike to establish a Department ofBlack Studies. The strike was the longest student walkout in U.S. history.[34] It helped create not only the first Department of Black Studies but also the first School of Ethnic Studies in the United States.[citation needed]
Hari Dillon, current president of theVanguard Public Foundation, was a fellow striker at SFSU. Glover later co-chaired Vanguard's board. He is also a board member of theAlgebra Project, the Black AIDS Institute, Walden House andCheryl Byron'sSomething Positive Dance Group. He was charged with disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly after being arrested outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington during a protest over Sudan'shumanitarian crisis inDarfur.[35]
In 1999, he used his leverage as a former San Francisco cab driver to raise awareness about African Americans being passed over for white passengers.[36] In response, Rudolph Giuliani launched Operation Refusal, which suspended the licenses of cab drivers who favored white passengers over black ones.[37]
Glover's long history of union activism includes support for theUnited Farm Workers,UNITE HERE, and numerous service unions.[38] In March 2010, Glover supported 375 union workers in Ohio by calling upon all actors at the 2010 Academy Awards to boycottHugo Boss suits following announcement of Hugo Boss's decision to close a manufacturing plant in Ohio after a proposed pay decrease from $13 to $8.30 an hour was rejected by the Workers United Union.[39]
On November 1, 2011, Glover spoke to the crowd atOccupy Oakland on the day before the OaklandGeneral Strike where thousands of protestors shut down thePort of Oakland.[40]
Glover was an early supporter of formerNorth Carolina SenatorJohn Edwards in the2008 Democratic presidential primaries until Edwards' withdrawal,[41] although some news reports indicated that he had endorsedOhio CongressmanDennis Kucinich,[42] whom he had endorsed in2004.[43] After Edwards dropped out, Glover then endorsedBarack Obama.[44] In February 2016, Glover endorsedVermont SenatorBernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination.[45] In February 2019, Glover again endorsed Sanders for US president in 2020.[46]
In 2017, he co-authored a petition along withNoam Chomsky,Mark Ruffalo,Nancy Fraser,Oliver Stone andEve Ensler, urging French citizens to vote for candidateJean-Luc Mélenchon in the2017 presidential election.[47]
Glover was an outspoken critic ofGeorge W. Bush, calling him a known racist. "Yes, he's racist. We all knew that. As Texas's governor, Bush led a penitentiary system that executed more people than all the other U.S. states together. And most of the people who died were Afro-Americans or Hispanics."[48]
Glover's support ofCalifornia Proposition 7 (2008) led him to use his voice in an automated phone call to generate support for the measure before the election.[49]
On April 16, 2010, Glover was arrested in Maryland during a protest bySEIU workers forSodexo's alleged unfair and illegal treatment of workers.[50] He was given a citation and later released. The Associated Press reports "Glover and others stepped past yellow police tape and were asked to step back three times at Sodexo headquarters. When they refused, officers arrested them."[51]
On the foreign policy of the Obama administration, Glover said: "I think the Obama administration has followed the same playbook, to a large extent, almost verbatim, as the Bush administration. I don't see anything different... On the domestic side, look here: What's so clear is that this country from the outset is protecting the interests of wealth and property. Look at the bailout of Wall Street. Why not the bailout of Main Street? He may be just a different face, and that face may happen to be black, and if it wereHillary Clinton, it would happen to be a woman.... But what choices do they have within the structure?"[52]
Glover wrote the foreword to Phyllis Bennis' book,Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy US Power.[53] Glover is also a member of the board of directors of theCenter for Economic and Policy Research, athink tank led by economistDean Baker.
Glover is an active board member of theTransAfrica Forum.[54] On April 6, 2009, Glover was given achieftaincy title inImo State, Nigeria.[55] His title, "Enyioma ofNkwerre", meansA Good Friend in the language of theIgbo people of Eastern Nigeria.[citation needed]
In 2018, Glover, as the UN Goodwill Ambassador, met withLula to express solidarity and support for his presidential candidacy. During a trip toBrazil, he also met with the family ofMarielle Franco, the City Council member andLGBT activist murdered inRio de Janeiro.[56]
On January 13, 2010, Glover compared the scale and devastation of the2010 Haiti earthquake to the predicament other island nations may face as a result of the failedCopenhagen summit the previous year. Glover said: "the threat of what happens to Haiti is a threat that can happen anywhere in the Caribbean to these island nations ... they're all in peril because of global warming ... because of climate change ... when we did what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens".[57] In the same statement, he called for a new form of international partnership with Haiti and other Caribbean nations and praised Venezuela, Brazil and Cuba, for already accepting this partnership.
Danny Glover had been an outspoken critic of the Iraq War before it began in March 2003. In February 2003, he was one of the featured speakers atJustin Herman Plaza in San Francisco where other notable speakers included names such as authorAlice Walker, singerJoan Baez,United Farm Workers co-founderDolores Huerta and Rep.Barbara Lee, D-Oakland.Glover was a signatory to the April 2003 anti-war letter "To the Conscience of the World" that criticized the unilateral American invasion of Iraq that led to "massive loss of civilian life" and "devastation of one of the cultural patrimonies of humanity".[58]
During an anti-war demonstration in Downtown Oakland in March 2003, Glover praised the community leaders for their anti-war efforts saying that "They're on the front lines because they are trying to make a better America. ... The world has come together and said 'no' to this war—and we must stand with them."[citation needed]
In January 2006,Harry Belafonte led a delegation of activists, including Glover, activist/professorCornel West, and activist/Santa Cruz Barrios Unidos Founder and Executive Director Daniel NANE Alejandrez in a meeting withPresident of VenezuelaHugo Chávez. In 2006, Glover had begun working on a film aboutToussaint Louverture, who led the 18th century revolt in Haiti and, it was reported, that Chavez supported the film, "hoping the historical epic will sprinkle Hollywood stardust on his effort to mobilise world public opinion against imperialism and western oppression."[59][60] In 2007, Glover agreed with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez that the Touissant Louverture film would be financed by Venezuela. On May 19, 2007, the National Assembly of Venezuela approved giving Glover $18 million for the film.[61] The following year, on April 9, 2008, the National Assembly of Venezuela, at the request of the Chávez, approved another $9 million to be handed to Glover in order to "continue" the filming of the film about Touissant. Surprisingly, in an interview dated January 5, 2015, published inFilmmaker magazine, Glover says, "The film that we always missed is a movie on the Haitian revolution and Toussaint Louverture. The company is fortuitously named after him and that was the movie that I wanted to do. We've developed a script. We thought we were going to get it done four years ago. We thought we were going to be making it right now. But also there are other kinds of things that intrigue me". As of 2015[update], the film had not been made.[62]
Glover was also a board member ofTeleSUR, a media network primarily funded by the Venezuelan government.[59] During the beginning of the2014 Venezuelan protests, Glover extended his support to Chávez's successor, PresidentNicolás Maduro, calling members of his government "the stewards" of Venezuela's democracy. Glover also told Venezuelan government supporters to go fight for the sovereignty of Maduro's government.[63] Through thecrisis in Bolivarian Venezuela, Glover continued to show his support for the Bolivarian government and President Maduro's administration.[64]
On September 2, 2009, Glover signed an open letter of objection to the inclusion of a series of films intended to showcase Tel Aviv—without the participation ofPalestinian filmmakers, at theToronto International Film Festival.[65]
Glover has become an active member of board of directors of TheJazz Foundation of America.[66] He became involved with The Jazz Foundation in 2005, and has been a featured host for their annual benefitA Great Night in Harlem[67] for several years, as well appearing as a celebrity MC at other events for the foundation. In 2006, Britain's leading African theatre companyTiata Fahodzi appointed Glover as one of its three Patrons, joiningChiwetel Ejiofor andJocelyn Jee Esien opening the organization's tenth-anniversary celebrations (February 2, 2008) at theTheatre Royal Stratford East, London.[citation needed]
In 2010, Glover delivered the Commencement Address and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree fromUtah State University.[68]
He was also the recipient of a tribute paid by the Deauville American Film Festival in France on September 7, 2011.[69]
Glover was awarded the Cuban NationalMedal of Friendship by theCuban Council of State on December 29, 2016, in a ceremony inHavana for his solidarity with theCuban 5 during their time of incarceration in the United States.[70][71][72]
On March 25, 2022, theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) presented Glover with theJean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at theGovernors Awards ceremony.[73][74][75] In 2023, he was inducted into theBlack Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame inAtlanta,Georgia.[76]IndieWire named him one of the best actors never to have received anAcademy Award nomination.[77]
These particular rails slice through Dunthorpe, the most legendarily exclusive neighborhood in Portland (or rather, unincorporated Multnomah County, as the mansion-studded enclave—home base of actor Danny Glover, the occasional Trail Blazer, and other notables—refuses to join the city).
