Imposing in both stature and talent, Danny Glover has been a powerful presence in American film and television for four decades. Standing at almost 6’4”, with a robust speaking voice, Glover always brings magnetic presence and humanity to his roles.
Glover has given more than 200 performances in movies and television, as well as establishing himself as a producer, director and international political activist. In 2005, he co-founded the production company Louverture Films, dedicated to works of historical relevance and social purpose.
Daniel Lebern Glover was born July 22, 1946, in San Francisco, CA, and attended San Francisco State University and the American Conservatory Theater. He made his film debut in Escape from Alcatraz (1979). The 1982 Broadway play Master Harold…and the Boys led to Glover’s breakthrough movie role as Moze in Robert Benton’s Places in the Heart (1984). Moze is a drifter who helps Sally Field save her Depression-era cotton farm, and Glover’s empathetic yet unsentimental performance won critical praise.
Other performances of the 1980s include those in Witness and The Color Purple (both 1985). Glover emerged as a big box-office attraction in the Lethal Weapon series, “buddy cop” thriller opposite Mel Gibson, beginning in 1987 and continuing through three sequels.
The independently produced film To Sleep with Anger (1990), written and directed by Charles Burnett, is considered to be one of Glover’s best performances. He plays an uninvited visitor in the home of a Los Angeles family whose members are influenced by his devilish insinuations. Glover won an Independent Spirit Award as Best Male Lead for this portrayal, described by The New Yorker critic Richard Brody as “a performance for the ages.” In his review, Brody lamented the fact that Glover was never even nominated for an Oscar.
In 1994’s Angels in the Outfield, a Walt Disney Pictures remake of the 1951 MGM original, Glover stars as a troubled manager of the California Angels, a baseball team whose luck is changed when a young boy wishes for the team to win the pennant. Glover stars alongside Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd, Joseph-Gordon Levitt and Matthew McConaughey.
Throughout his career, Glover has received four Best Actor nominations. Other notable feature films of his include Bats*21 (1988), Predator 2 (1990), Saw (2004), Death at a Funeral (2010) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019).
By Roger Fristoe
