Danny Glover

Danny Lebern Glover^[1] (born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Michael Harrigan in Predator 2, Mister in The Color Purple, Col. Isaac Johnson in Shooter, and Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon series.

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Biography

Early life

Glover was born in New York City to Carrie (née Hunley) and James Glover, both of whom were postal workers and were active in the NAACP. Glover grew up with a love for sports just like his father. Glover's mother, daughter of a midwife, was born in Louisville, Georgia and graduated from Paine College.^[2] Glover graduated from George Washington High School (San Francisco) before attendeding American University and matriculating at San Francisco State University. At university, he also met his future wife Asake Bomani, whom he married in 1975.

In his late twenties, Glover 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 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, which eventually brought him to Los Angeles.

Glover suffered from epilepsy as a teenager and young adult. It was never said how he contracted the illness, but, 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 hasn't suffered a seizure since the age of 35.^[3]

Career

Glover has had a variety of film, stage, and television roles. He is best known for his role as Los Angeles police Sgt. Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon movie series, and his role as the abusive husband to Whoopi Goldberg's character Celie in The Color Purple. He was given top billing for the first time in Predator 2, the sequel to the sci-fi actioner Predator. In addition, Glover has been a live^[vague] and voice actor in many children's movies. Among many awards, he has won five NAACP Image Awards, for his achievements as an actor of color.

He joined the ranks of actors, such as Humphrey Bogart, Elliott Gould, and Robert Mitchum, who have portrayed Raymond Chandler's private eye detective Philip Marlowe in the episode 'Red Wind' of the Showtime network's 1995 series Fallen Angels. Glover made his directorial debut with the Showtime channel short film Override in 1994. Also in 1994, Glover and actor Ben Guillory formed the Robey Theatre Company in Los Angeles, focusing on theatre by and about the Black experience.

In 2005, Glover and Joslyn Barnes announced plans to make "No FEAR," a movie about Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo's experience.^[4] 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 No FEAR Act.

In 2007, it was announced that Venezuela would give Glover $18 million to make a film version of the 18th-century Haiti slave uprising that was led by Toussaint Louverture. Glover is a friend of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.^[5]

Glover is known for saying "I'm too old for this shit!" in multiple films. It has become a trademark phrase associated with the actor the way Arnold Schwarzenegger is known for saying "I'll be back."

Personal life

While attending San Francisco State University, Glover was a member of the Black Students Union^[6] who along with the Third World Liberation Front led the five month strike for Ethnic Studies. Not only did this create the first school of Ethnic Studies in the U.S., but it was also the longest student strike in the history of the United States.^[7] During the strike, he protested alongside Hari Dillon who is now the president of the Vanguard Public Foundation of which Glover sits on the advisory board.

Glover is a huge fan of the San Francisco Giants.

Glover serves as board member to numerous National and International organizations. He is presently chair of the TransAfrica Forum, "a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the general public — particularly African-Americans — on the economic, political and moral ramifications of U.S. foreign policy as it affects Africa and the Diaspora in the Caribbean and Latin America" and a board member of Cheryl Byron's Something Positive Dance Group. In March 1998, he was appointed ambassador to the United Nations Development Programme.

Glover is among a number of high-profile U.S. supporters of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. The group also includes singer Harry Belafonte and Princeton University scholar Cornel West, who have defended the Venezuelan president against accusations of democratic abuses.^[8] He also serves on the Advisory Council for TeleSUR, "Television of the South", a pan-Latin American television network based in Caracas. It began broadcasting on July 24, 2005. His role in this capacity and resulting interaction with Chávez have drawn criticism for Glover from some Western media^[9], due to, among other things, Chavez's frequent and vehement anti-Bush speeches.^[10] For instance, Glover introduced Chavez at an event in which Chavez reasserted his opinion of President Bush as a devil.

On Friday May 4, 2007 Glover endorsed former Senator John Edwards for the Democratic nomination for President in the 2008 Presidential Race. ^[11]

Filmography

• Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
• Deadly Drifter (1982)
• Places in the Heart (1984)
• Silverado (1985)
• Witness (1985)
• The Color Purple (1985)
• Lethal Weapon (1987)
• Bat*21 (1988)
• Lonesome Dove (1989)
• Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
• A Raisin in the Sun (1989)
• To Sleep With Anger (1990)
• Predator 2 (1990)
• Flight of the Intruder (1991)
• Grand Canyon (1991)
• Pure Luck (1991)
• Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)
• Queen (1993) (TV miniseries)
• The Saint of Fort Washington (1993)
• Bopha! (1993)
• Maverick (1994)
• Angels in the Outfield (1994)
• Operation Dumbo Drop (1995)
• Fallen Angels: Red Wind (1995)
• The Rainmaker (1997)
• Gone Fishin' (1997)
• Switchback (1997)
• Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)
• The Prince of Egypt (1998)
• Beloved (1998)
• Antz (1998)
• Boesman and Lena (2000)
• The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
• The Cookout (2004)
• Saw (2004)
• Legend of Earthsea (2004) (TV miniseries)
• Manderlay (2005)
• Missing in America (2005)
• Bamako (2006)
• Barnyard (2006)
• The Shaggy Dog (2006)
• Dreamgirls (2006)
• Shooter (2007)
• Poor Boy's Game (2007)
• Gospel Hill (2007)
• Miranda Regresa (2007)
• Be Kind Rewind (2008)
• Blindness (2008)
• Por Vida (2008)
• Night Train (2009)

References

• Al Jazeera English's Riz Khan interview with Danny Glover
• A free video excerpt of a lecture by Glover
• InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse: Danny Glover (TV Interview)
• The TransAfrica Forum
• Interview on Democracy Now! (audio)
• Interview in AARP Magazine
• Interview in The Progressive
• Interview (4/5/2007) from Africa On Fire! on KBOO
• Danny Glover in the news supporting Mumia Abu-Jamal
• Danny Glover on Democracy Now! February 26 2007 discussing the Oscars and the Panafrican Film and Television Festival in Burkina Faso
• Danny Glover talks about Bamako
• The ongoing effort to draft Danny Glover into the San Francisco Mayoral race
• Cheryl Byron and Something Positive
• Danny Glover Interview on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos