This Day In History: Danny Glover
Whether you know him from The Color Purple (1985), Lethal Weapon (1987), Saw (2004), Death At A Funeral (2010) or any of his other countless films, Danny Glover has solidified his status as a respected Hollywood actor. Glover began his acting career while in college and has since accumulated over 200 acting credits.
Danny Lebern Glover was born on July 22, 1946, in San Francisco, California, to two civically engaged parents. He attended San Francisco State University where he helped organize the 1968 student strike and was also exposed to the arts. Glover began acting and even acted in a play by Amiri Baraka. However, he delayed his acting career and took a job working with the City of San Francisco for five years after college.
Glover refocused on the art of acting and trained with the Black Actors’ Workshop at the American Conservatory Theater and the Shelton Actors Lab. He made his film debut in Don Siegel’s Escape from Alcatraz (1979). Glover has featured in a plethora of successful box office films including the Lethal Weapon franchise and The Color Purple, but he has also made television appearances in works such as Hill Street Blues (1981), Queen (1993) and ER (1994). He diversified his skillset by voicing characters in the animated films: The Prince of Egypt (1998), Antz (1998) and Our Friend, Martin (1999).
In 1994, Glover co-founded the Robey Theatre Company alongside theater veteran, Ben Guillory. It was founded as a non-profit with the mission of developing new plays about the Black American experience. Glover later co-founded Louverture Films in 2005 with the goal of producing socially-conscious films from around the world.
Although Glover gained national attention for his work on-screen, the actor has made a name for himself as an activist. He was a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations as well as a UNICEF Ambassador. His work focused on poverty, disease and economic development in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Glover even used his platform to advocate for the American Postal Workers Union, United Auto Workers, and Service Employees International Union.
Throughout his career, Glover has received a variety of awards and accolades. Those awards include a 2004 BET Humanitarian Award, several NAACP Image Awards and a Freedom Award from the National Civil Rights Museum. He was also awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture.
