Danny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover (born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his roles as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.
Lethal Weapon - Roger Murtaugh is too old for this shit.
GRITtv: Danny Glover and Marie St. Cyr on Haiti
Danny Glover speaks on the 12th anniversary of the arrest of the Cuban 5
Danny Glover Reads Frederick Douglass
predator 2 final fight
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.[2] Glover's mother, daughter of a midwife, was born in Louisville, Georgia and graduated from Paine College in Augusta, Georgia. 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 age 34.[4]
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 American 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, and later divorced. He had one daughter with Asake, her name was Mandisa, and she was born on January 5, 1976.
[edit]Career
Danny Glover at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
Glover originally worked in city administration[citation needed]. In his late 20s he played for the 49ers and went to the super bowl,Conservatory Theater]], a regional training program in San Francisco[citation needed]. 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[citation needed].
Glover has had a variety of film, stage, and television roles, and is best known for playing Los Angeles police Sergeant Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon series of action films. During his career, he has made many cameo appearances. For example, he appeared in the Michael Jackson video Liberian Girl of 1987. He has also appeared as the husband to Whoopi Goldberg's character Celie in The Color Purple, and as Lieutenant James McFee in the film 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. 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”.[5]
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[when?] shooting the film I Want To Be A Soldier in Barcelona, Spain, under director Christian Molina and production Co. Canonigo Films.[citation needed]
[edit]Planned directorial debut
Glover sought to make a film biography of Toussaint Louverture 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.[6] 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.[7][8] 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.[9] 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.[10] In April 2008, the Venezuelan National Assembly authorized an additional $9,840,505 for Glover's film, which is still in planning.[11]
[edit]Personal life
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.[12] Glover enjoys spending his summers at his lake house in Miami, Florida. His hobbies include skiing, horseback riding, and playing baseball.
On April 16, 2010, Glover was arrested in Maryland during a protest by SEIU workers for Sodexo's unfair and illegal treatment of workers.[13] 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."[14]
[edit]Activism
Glover speaks at a March for Immigrants Rights in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2007.
While attending San Francisco State University, Glover was a member of the Black Students Union which,[15] 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.[16] 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. He was charged with disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly after being arrested outside the Sudan Embassy in Washington during a protest over Sudan's humanitarian crisis in Darfur.[17]
Glover's long history of union activism includes support for the United Farm Workers, UNITE HERE, and numerous service unions.[18] 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.[19]
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 former North Carolina Senator John Edwards in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries until Edwards' withdrawal,[20] although some news reports indicated that he had endorsed Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich,[21] who he had endorsed in 2004.[22] After Edwards dropped out, Glover then endorsed Barack Obama.[23]
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."[24]
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.[25]
On April 6, 2009, Glover was given a chieftancy title in Imo State, Nigeria.[26] Glover was given the title Enyioma of Nkwerre, which means A Good Friend in the language of the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria.
Glover has become an active member of Board of Directors of The Jazz Foundation of America.[27] Danny became involved with The Jazz Foundation in 2005, and has been a featured host for their annual benefit A Great Night in Harlem[28] 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.
Glover is also an active board member of the TransAfrica Forum.[29]
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..."[30] 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.
[edit]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 such as 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".[31] 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."
[edit]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?".[32]
[edit]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, Calif. 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.
[edit]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 the Haitian Revolution 1791.[33]
[edit]Honors and awards
In 2010, Glover delivered the Commencement Address and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Utah State University.[34]
[edit]Credits in film, television and theatre
List of film credits
Year Title 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
1984 Places in the Heart Moze
1985 Witness Det. Lt. James McFee
1985 Silverado Malachi 'Mal' Johnson
1985 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
1990 Predator 2 Lt. Mike Harrigan
1991 Flight of the Intruder Cmdr. Frank 'Dooke' Camparelli
1991 A Rage in Harlem Easy Money
1991 Grand Canyon Simon
1991 Pure Luck Raymond Campanella
1992 Lethal Weapon 3 Roger Murtaugh
1993 The Saint of Fort Washington Jerry/Narrator
1993 Bopha! Micah Mangena
1994 Maverick Bank Robber Uncredited
1994 Angels in the Outfield George Knox
1994 Override Director, TV Short
1995 Operation Dumbo Drop Capt. Sam Cahill
1997 Wild America Bigfoot Uncredited
1997 The Rainmaker Judge Tyrone Kipler Uncredited
1997 Gone Fishin' Gus Green
1997 Switchback Bob Goodall
1998 Lethal Weapon 4 Roger Murtaugh
1998 The Prince of Egypt Jethro Voice only
1998 Beloved Paul D. Garner
1998 Antz Barbatus Voice only
1999 Our Friend, Martin Train Conductor Voice only
2000 Boesman and Lena Boesman
2001 3 A.M. Charles "Hershey" Riley
2001 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
2004 Saw Detective David Tapp
2005 Manderlay Wilhelm
2005 Missing in America Jake Neeley
2006 Bamako Cow-boy
2006 Barnyard Miles the Mule Voice
2006 The Shaggy Dog Ken Hollister
2006 Dreamgirls Marty Madison
2007 Shooter Colonel Isaac Johnson
2007 Poor Boy's Game George Nominated—Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
2007 Battle for Terra President Chen Voice only
2007 Honeydripper Tyrone Purvis
2008 Be Kind Rewind Mr. Fletcher
2008 Gospel Hill John Malcolm
2008 Blindness Old man with the black eye patch/Narrator
2008 The Garden Himself
2008 Saw V Detective David Tapp Cameo
2008 Unstable Fables: Tortoise vs. Hare Walter Tortoise Voice
2009 Night Train Miles
2009 Down For Life Mr. Shannon
2009 The People Speak Himself Documentary
2009 The Harimaya Bridge Joseph Holder
2009 2012 President Wilson Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
2009 At The End of Slavery Narrator
2010 Stride James 'Honeybear' Powell Post-production
2010 Death at a Funeral Uncle Russell
2010 Dear Alice Franzis Original title: För kärleken
2010 Legendary Harry "Red" Newman
2010 Alpha and Omega Winston Voice
2010 Son of Morning Gabriel Peters Post-production
2010 Age of the Dragons Ahab Post-production
2010 Mooz-lum Dean Francis Post-production
2010 Highland Park Ed Post-production
2010 I Want to Be a Soldier The Principal Post-production
2010 Five Minarets in New York Marcus Original title: New York’ta Beş Minare
2010 Bad Luck Snake Bite Ernest Pre-production
2011 Heart of Blackness Vaudreuil
2011 Toussaint Director, producer
Pre-production
List of television credits
Year Title Role Notes
1979 B. J. and the Bear Matt Thomas, TV Reporter 1 episode, uncredited
1979 Lou Grant Leroy 1 episode
1979 Paris 1 episode
1980 Palmerstown, U.S.A. Harley Unknown episodes
1981 Keeping On Lester Television movie
1981 The Greatest American Hero Vice officer 1 episode
1981 Hill Street Blues Jesse John Hudson 4 episodes
1981 Gimme a Break! Bill 1 episode
1983 The Face of Rage Gary Television movie
1983 Chiefs Marshall Peters Miniseries
1983 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
1987 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
1989 Lonesome Dove Joshua Deets Miniseries
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie
1989 Dead Man Out Dr. Alex Marsh Television movie
Alternative title: Dead Man Walking
1989 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
2003 Biography Narrator 1 episode
2003 The Law and Mr. Lee Henry Lee Television movie
2004 Legend of Earthsea Ogion Miniseries
2005 The Exonerated David Television movie
2005 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
2011 Psych 1 episode
2011 Leverage Charlie Lawson 1 episode, Season 4 Episode 4, "The Van Gogh Job"
2011 Touch[35] Professor Arthur DeWitt Pre-production
List of theatre credits
Year Title Role Notes
1983 Master Harold...and the Boys Willy
2003 Master Harold...and the Boys Sam
[edit]Awards
List of awards
Award Year Category Title of work
CableACE Award 1989 Actor in a Movie or Miniseries Mandela
CableACE Award 1996 Dramatic or Theatrical Special America's Dream (Shared with David Knoller, Carolyn McDonald, Ron Stacker Thompson, and Ashley Tyler)
CableACE Award 1996 Actor in a Dramatic Special or Series America's Dream
NAACP Image Awards 1989 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture Lethal Weapon
NAACP Image Awards 1990 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Mini-Series or Television Movie Mandela
NAACP Image Awards 1995 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series Queen
NAACP Image Awards 1999 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture Beloved
NAACP Image Awards 2001 Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special Freedom Song
Independent Spirit Award 1991 Best Male Lead To Sleep With Anger
Jamerican International Film Festival 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2008 Festival President's Award
Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award
MTV Movie Award 1993 Best On-Screen Duo Lethal Weapon 3 (Shared with Mel Gibson)
San Francisco International Film Festival 1993 Piper-Heidsieck Award
Women in Film Crystal Awards 1994 Humanitarian Award
References from Wikipedia.com