Danny Glover

Danny Glover

Danny Glover, January 2008
Born Danny Lebern Glover
July 22, 1947 (1947-07-22) (age 63)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation Actor, director, activist
Years active 1979–present
Spouse Asake Bomani (1975-1999?) (divorced) 1 child

Danny Lebern Glover (born July 22, 1947) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is well known for his roles as Mr. Albert Johnson in The Color Purple, as Michael Harrigan in Predator 2, and as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise. He has also appeared in many other movies, television shows, and theatrical performances. He is very active in and strongly supports various humanitarian and political causes.

Contents

Early life

Glover was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Carrie (née Hunley) and James Glover. His parents, postal workers, were active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), working to advance equal rights.[1] Glover's mother, daughter of a midwife, was born in Louisville, Georgia and graduated from Paine College in Augusta, Georgia.[2] Glover grew up with a love for sports, like his father.

Glover suffered from epilepsy in his second decade and as a young adult. According to his own account, he "developed a way of concentrating so that seizures wouldn't happen." Using this technique, which he describes as "a type of self-hypnosis", Glover says he has not suffered a seizure since the age of thirty-five years.

Glover graduated from George Washington High School in San Francisco before attending City College of San Francisco for a year; he then matriculated to the San Francisco State College (now University), where he graduated with a B.A. in economics in 1968. While in college, he met his future wife Asake Bomani, whom he married in 1975. Their only child and daughter, Mandisa, was born on January 5, 1976. They later divorced.

Career

Danny Glover at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

Glover originally worked in city administration but always had other interests. In his late twenties, he enrolled in the Black Actors Workshop at the American Conservatory Theater, a regional training program in San Francisco. Glover also trained with Jean Shelton at the Shelton Actors Lab in San Francisco. In an interview on Inside the Actor's 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, where he would later go on to co-found the Robey Theatre Company with actor Ben Guillory in honor of the actor, radical activist, and concert singer Paul Robeson in Los Angeles in 1994.

Glover has had a variety of film, stage, and television roles, and is best known for playing Los Angeles police Sgt. Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon series of action films. He made many cameos. Appearing in the Michael Jackson video Liberian Girl of 1987. He has also received notice as the husband to Whoopi Goldberg's character Celie in The Color Purple and as Lieutenant James McFee in Witness. In 1994 he made his directorial debut with the Showtime channel short film Override. Also in 1994, Glover and actor Ben Guillory formed the Robey Theatre Company in Los Angeles, focusing on theatre by and about Black people.

Glover earned top billing for the first time in Predator 2, the sequel to the sci-fi action film Predator. That same year he starred in Charles Burnett's To Sleep with Anger, for which he won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead.

In common with Humphrey Bogart, Elliott Gould and Robert Mitchum, who have played Raymond Chandler's private eye detective Philip Marlowe, Glover played the role in the episode "Red Wind" of the Showtime network's 1995 series Fallen Angels.

In addition, Glover has been a voice actor in many children's movies. Glover was featured in the popular 2001 film Royal Tenenbaums, also starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson.

In 2004, he appeared in the low-budget horror film Saw as Detective David Tapp. In 2005, Glover and Joslyn Barnes announced plans to make No FEAR, a movie about Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo's experience.[3] Coleman-Adebayo won a 2000 jury trial against the US 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 the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Coleman-Adebayo was terminated shortly after she revealed the environmental and human disaster taking place in the Brits, South Africa, vanadium mines. Her experience inspired passage of the Notification and Federal Employee Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 (No FEAR Act).

In 2009, Glover performed in The People Speak a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States”.[4]

Glover played President Wilson, the President of the United States in 2012, a disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich and released in theaters November 13, 2009.

Glover is currently shooting the film I Want To Be A Soldier in Barcelona, Spain, under director Christian Molina and production Co. Canonigo Films.

Planned directorial debut

Glover sought to make a film biography of Toussaint L'ouverture for his directorial debut. In May 2006, the film had included cast members Wesley Snipes, Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Roger Guenveur Smith, Mos Def, Isaach De Bankolé, and Richard Bohringer. Production, estimated to cost $30 million, was planned to begin in South Africa, filming from late 2006 into early 2007.[5] In May 2007, President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez contributed $18 million to fund the production of Toussaint for Glover, who is 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.[6][7] The following June, some Venezuelan filmmakers petitioned for Glover to reconsider using the funds provided by their president while the actor was scouting locations outside the Venezuelan capital Caracas.[8] The petition resulted in the local film guilds Anac and Caveprol being outlawed by Venezuela; the country's state-backed film institute Cnac was also instructed to sever ties with the guild.[9] In April 2008, the Venezuelan National Assembly authorized an additional $9,840,505 for Glover's film, which is still in planning.[10]

Personal life and activism

Glover speaks at a March for Immigrants Rights in Madison, Wisconsin.

While attending San Francisco State University, Glover was a member of the Black Students Union which,[11] along with the Third World Liberation Front and the American Federation of Teachers, collaborated in a five-month student-led strike to establish a Department of Black Studies. The strike was the longest student walkout in U.S. history.[12] It helped create not only the first Department of Black Studies but also the first School of Ethnic Studies in the U.S.

Hari Dillon, current president of the Vanguard Public Foundation, was a fellow striker at SFSU. Glover now sits on Vanguard's advisory board. Glover is also a board member of The Algebra Project, The Black AIDS Institute, Walden House, and Cheryl Byron's Something Positive Dance Group, among others.

In 2004, Glover was arrested in the US outside the Sudan Embassy in Washington during a protest over Sudan's humanitarian crisis in Darfur.[13]

Glover's long history of union activism includes support for the United Farm Workers, UNITE HERE!, and numerous service unions.[14] In March 2010, Danny Glover supported 375 Union workers in Ohio by calling upon all actors at the 2010 Academy Awards to boycott Hugo Boss suits due to Hugo Boss announcement 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.[15]

In January 2006, Harry Belafonte led a delegation of activists, including Glover and activist/professor Cornel West, in a meeting with President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez.

Glover was an early supporter of John Edwards in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary until Edwards' withdrawal. Glover then endorsed Barack Obama.[16] Glover was an outspoken critic of George 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."[17]

Glover's support of California Proposition 7 (2008) led him to use his voice in an automated phone call to generate support for the measure before the election.[18]

On April 6, 2009, Glover was given a chieftancy title in Imo State, Nigeria.[19] Glover was given the title Enyioma of Nkwerre, which means A Good Friend in the language of the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria.

On September 2, 2009, Glover signed an open letter of objection to the inclusion of a series of films intended to showcase Tel Aviv at the Toronto International Film Festival.[20]

Glover has become an active member of Board of Directors of The Jazz Foundation of America.[21] Danny became involved with The Jazz Foundation in 2005, and has been a featured host for their annual benefit A Great Night in Harlem[22] for several years, as well appearing as a celebrity MC at other events for the foundation. In 2006, Britain’s leading African theatre company Tiata Fahodzi appointed Danny Glover as one of its three Patrons, joining Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jocelyn Jee Esien opening the organization’s tenth anniversary celebrations (Sunday 2 February 2008) at Theatre Royal Stratford East, London.

On January 13, 2010, Glover compared the scale and devastation of the 2010 Haiti earthquake to the predicament other island nations may face as a result of the failed Copenhagen 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..."[23] This statement proves that Glover wants to be a comedian. 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.

On April 16, 2010, Glover was arrested in Maryland during a protest by SEIU workers for Sodexo's unfair and illegal treatment of workers.[24] 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, Starks says officers arrested them."[25]

Activism against Iraq war and invasion

Danny Glover has been an outspoken critic of the Iraq war before the war began in March 2003. In February 2003 he was one of the featured speakers at Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco where other notable speakers included names like author Alice Walker, singer Joan Baez, United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores 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" and "devastation of one of the cultural patrimonies of humanity".[26] During an anti-war demonstration in Downtown Oakland in March 2003, Danny 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".

On Obama administration

On the foreign policy of 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 projecting 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 were Hillary Clinton, it would happen to be a woman... But what choices do they have within the structure?"[27]

Activism supporting Cuban political prisoners in US

Glover supports the cause of Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, one of the Cuban Five held in a US prison in Victorville, CA after a judgment based on false trials. Glover joined the thesis according with Mr Hernández worked to denounce and prevent acts of terrorism (like hijacking, explosions in touristic sites) organized in the '90s with US government complaisance against Cuba government. The news of their meeting (on August the 8th, 2010) appears in the Cuban press.

Honors and awards

In 2010, Glover delivered the Commencement Address and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Utah State University.[28]

Before the commencement was to begin, a student called out for the actor to put his hand over his heart as the National Anthem played. When Glover failed to do so, a barrage of boos began that lasted, intermittently, throughout his commencement speech.[29]

Relationship with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

Glover has a well publicized friendship with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Chavez has reportedly approved $18,000,000 to finance Glover's directorial debut in a film about Toussaint Louverture, leader of a slave uprising in Haiti 1791.[30]

Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Notes
1979 Escape from Alcatraz Inmate
1981 Chu Chu and the Philly Flash Morgan
1982 Deadly Drifter Jojo/Roland Alternative title: Out
1984 Iceman Loomis
Places in the Heart Moze
1985 Witness Det. Lt. James McFee
Silverado Malachi 'Mal' Johnson
The Color Purple Albert
1987 Lethal Weapon Sergeant Roger Murtaugh
1988 Bat*21 Capt. Bartholomew Clark
1989 Lethal Weapon 2 Sergeant Roger Murtaugh
1990 To Sleep with Anger Harry Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
Predator 2 Lt. Mike Harrigan
1991 Flight of the Intruder Cmdr. Frank 'Dooke' Camparelli
A Rage in Harlem Easy Money
Grand Canyon Simon
Pure Luck Raymond Campanella
1992 Lethal Weapon 3 Roger Murtaugh
1993 The Saint of Fort Washington Jerry/Narrator
Bopha! Micah Mangena
1994 Maverick Bank Robber Uncredited
Angels in the Outfield George Knox
Override Director, TV Short
1995 Operation Dumbo Drop Capt. Sam Cahill
1997 Wild America Bigfoot Uncredited
The Rainmaker Judge Tyrone Kipler Uncredited
Gone Fishin' Gus Green
Switchback Bob Goodall
1998 Lethal Weapon 4 Roger Murtaugh
The Prince of Egypt Jethro Voice only (speaking)
Beloved Paul D. Garner
Antz Barbatus Voice
1999 Our Friend, Martin Train Conductor Voice
2000 Boesman and Lena Boesman
2001 3 A.M. Charles "Hershey" Riley
The Royal Tenenbaums Henry Sherman
2002 Just a Dream Director
Nominated - Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Children/Youth/Family Special
2004 The Cookout Judge Crowley
Saw Detective David Tapp
2005 Manderlay Wilhelm
Missing in America Jake Neeley
2006 Bamako Cow-boy
Barnyard Miles the Mule Voice
The Shaggy Dog Ken Hollister
Dreamgirls Marty Madison
2007 Shooter Colonel Isaac Johnson
Poor Boy's Game George Nominated - Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Battle for Terra President Chen Voice
Honeydripper Tyrone Purvis
2008 Be Kind Rewind Mr. Fletcher
Gospel Hill John Malcolm
Blindness Old man with the black eye patch/Narrator
The Garden Himself
Saw V Detective David Tapp Cameo
Unstable Fables: Tortoise vs. Hare Walter Tortoise Voice
2009 Night Train Miles
Down For Life (film) Mr. Shannon
The People Speak Himself Documentary
The Harimaya Bridge Joseph Holder
2012 President Wilson Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
At The End of Slavery Narrator
2010 Stride James 'Honeybear' Powell Post-production
Death at a Funeral Uncle Russell
Dear Alice Franzis Original title: För kärleken
Legendary Harry "Red" Newman
Alpha and Omega Winston Voice
Son of Morning Gabriel Peters Post-production
Age of Dragons Ahab Post-production
Mooz-lum Dean Francis Post-production
Highland Park Ed Post-production
I Want to Be a Soldier The Principal Post-production
Five Minarets in New York Marcus Original title: New York’ta Beş Minare
Post-Production
Bad Luck Snake Bite Ernest Pre-production
2011 Heart of Blackness Vaudreuil
Toussaint Director
Producer
Pre-production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1979 B. J. and the Bear Matt Thomas, TV Reporter 1 episode, uncredited
Lou Grant Leroy 1 episode
Paris 1 episode
1980 Palmerstown, U.S.A. Harley Unknown episodes
1981 Keeping On Lester Television movie
The Greatest American Hero Vice officer 1 episode
Hill Street Blues Jesse John Hudson 4 episodes
Gimme a Break! Bill 1 episode
1983 The Face of Rage Gary Television movie
Chiefs Marshall Peters Miniseries
Memorial Day Willie Monroe Television movie
1985 And the Children Shall Lead William Television movie
1986 Tall Tales & Legends John Henry 1 episode
1987 Place at the Table Television movie
Mandela Nelson Mandela Television movie
Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie
1989 A Raisin in the Sun Walter Lee Younger Television movie
Lonesome Dove Joshua Deets Miniseries
Nominated -

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie
Dead Man Out Dr. Alex Marsh Television movie
Alternative title: Dead Man Walking
Saturday Night Live Roger Murtaugh 1 episode
1991 Captain Planet and the Planeteers Professor Apollo (Voice) 1 episode
1992 The Talking Eggs Narrator Television movie
1993 Alex Haley's Queen Alec Haley Miniseries
1995 Fallen Angels Philip Marlowe 1 episode
Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor - Drama Series
1996 America's Dream Silas Television movie (segment "Long Black Song")
1997 Buffalo Soldiers Sgt. Washington Wyatt Television movie
2000 Freedom Song Will Walker Television movie
Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2003 Good Fences Tom Spader Television movie
Biography Narrator 1 episode
The Law and Mr. Lee Henry Lee Television movie
2004 Legend of Earthsea Ogion Miniseries
2005 The Exonerated David Television movie
ER Charlie Pratt Sr. 4 episodes
2006 Take 3 Col. Weldon Television movie
2007–2008 Brothers & Sisters Isaac Marshall 6 episodes
2009 My Name Is Earl Thomas Monroe 1 episode
2010 Human Target Client 1 episode
Theater
Year Title Role
1983 Master Harold...and the Boys Willy
2003 Master Harold...and the Boys Sam

Awards

Year Award Category Film
1989 CableACE Award Actor in a Movie or Miniseries Mandela
1996 Dramatic or Theatrical Special America's Dream (Shared with David Knoller, Carolyn McDonald, Ron Stacker Thompson, and Ashley Tyler)
Actor in a Dramatic Special or Series America's Dream
1989 NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture Lethal Weapon
1990 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Mini-Series or Television Movie Mandela
1995 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series Queen
1999 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture Beloved
2001 Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special Freedom Song
1991 Independent Spirit Award Best Male Lead To Sleep With Anger
2002 Jamerican International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award
-
2008 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Festival President's Award
-
2003 Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award
-
1993 MTV Movie Award Best On-Screen Duo Lethal Weapon 3 (Shared with Mel Gibson)
1993 San Francisco International Film Festival Piper-Heidsieck Award
-
1994 Women in Film Crystal Awards Humanitarian Award
-

References

  1. ↑ Stated in interview on Inside the Actors Studio, 1998
  2. ↑ [1]
  3. ↑ http://www.nofearcoalition.org/index.html
  4. ↑ http://www.thepeoplespeak.com/pages/credits/
  5. ↑ Hopewell, John (2006-05-22). "Glover, Kingsley: Meeting of the minds". Variety (Reed Business Information). http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117943873.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved 2008-07-07. 
  6. ↑ De la Fuente, Anna Marie (2007-05-21). "Venezuela's Chavez funding Glover film". Variety (Reed Business Information). http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117965537.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved 2008-07-07. 
  7. ↑ ÁNGEL RICARDO GÓMEZ (2007-05-23). "Cineastas reprueban coproducción de Glover con Venezuela" (in Spanish). eluniversal.com. http://www.eluniversal.com/2007/05/23/til_art_cineastas-reprueban_295975.shtml. Retrieved 2008-10-25. 
  8. ↑ De la Fuente, Anna Marie (2007-06-04). "Glover asked to reconsider funding". Variety (Reed Business Information). http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117966223.html?categoryid=1043&cs=1. Retrieved 2008-07-07. 
  9. ↑ De la Fuente, Anna Marie (2007-06-04). "Glover letter gets guilds in trouble". Variety (Reed Business Information). http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117966220.html?categoryid=1043&cs=1. Retrieved 2008-07-07. 
  10. ↑ "Asamblea aprueba 9 millones de dólares para Danny Glover". eluniversal.com. 2008-04-10. http://www.eluniversal.com/2008/04/10/til_art_asamblea-aprueba-9-m_800033.shtml. Retrieved 2008-10-25. 
  11. ↑ "Actor and activist Danny Glover to be honored by San Francisco State University". Sfsu.edu. http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/prsrelea/fy98/069.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-25. 
  12. ↑ "SFSU Centennial history - Timeline". SFSU. March 3, 2000. http://www.sfsu.edu/~100years/textonlycent/time/longtime.htm#1968. Retrieved 2008-10-25. 
  13. ↑ "Lethal Weapon star arrested in US". BBC news. 2004-08-26. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3600520.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-18. 
  14. ↑ "Danny Glover convicted of trespassing in Ontario". http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080124/glover_trespass_080124/20080124?hub=Entertainment. 
  15. ↑ "Glover: Help Ohio Plant, Shun Hugo Boss At Oscars". 
  16. ↑ Hayden, Tom; Bill Fletcher, Jr., Chip Glover and Barbara Ehrenreich (2008-03-24). "Progressives for Obama". The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080407/hayden_et_al. Retrieved 2008-03-27. 
  17. ↑ Ligeia Polidora (April 26, 1999). "Actor and activist Danny Glover to be honored by San Francisco State University". San Francisco, CA: cbs2chicago.com. http://cbs2chicago.com/slideshows/hardcore.liberal.celebrities.20.836647.html?rid=8. Retrieved 2008-10-25. 
  18. ↑ "Chip Glover robocalled me today". http://moneydick.com/wordpress/2008/11/03/got-a-robocall-from-danny-glover-today. 
  19. ↑ Ogbu, Rachel. "Forest Whitaker, Danny Glover Find Their Roots in Imo State Nigeria." OnlineNigeria.com. April 6, 2009.
  20. ↑ "Toronto Declaration: No Celebration of Occupation". http://torontodeclaration.blogspot.com/2009/09/toronto-declaration-no-celebration-of.html. 
  21. ↑ looktothestars.org. 2009-13-10. Jazz Foundation of America. Accessed: 2010-01-19. (Archived by looktothestars.org at http://www.looktothestars.org/charity/301-jazz-foundation-of-america)
  22. ↑ highbeam.com. 2009-13-10. URL: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-144569283.html. Accessed: 2009-13-10. (Archived by highbeam.com at http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-144569283.html)
  23. ↑ 13 januari 2010. "GRITtv: Danny Glover and Marie St. Cyr on Haiti". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2ft5JkNWJA. Retrieved 2010-03-08. 
  24. ↑ "Actor Danny Glover arrested during Maryland labor union protest". NY daily news. 2010-04-17. http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2010/04/17/2010-04-17_actor_danny_glover_arrested_in_maryland_labor_protest.html. Retrieved 2010-04-18. 
  25. ↑ Danny Glover & 11 Others Arrested During Union Protest In Maryland
  26. ↑ To the Conscience of the World - Solidarity
  27. ↑ Danny Glover: I See No Difference Between Bush And Obama Policies
  28. ↑ Danny Glover urges USU graduates to be informed, engaged
  29. ↑ Danny Glover Booed At Utah State Graduation!
  30. ↑ Hugo Chavez, Movie Mogul

External links