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Danny Glover, Actor, and Activist born

Danny Glover

Danny Glover was born on this date in 1946. He is a Black actor and director, and activist.

Danny Lebern Glover was born in San Francisco. He is a graduate of San Francisco State University. As a young man, he was a member of the Black Panther Party.  At the University, he met and married his wife, Asake Bomani, in 1975; they have one child named Mandisa.

Glover received dramatic training at the American Conservatory Theatre's Black Actors' Workshop. He made his film debut in "Escape from Alcatraz" (1979).  In the early 1980s, Glover made his name portraying characters ranging from the sympathetic in "Places in the Heart" (1984) to  "The Color Purple" (1984) and Witness (1985).

He reached box office gold status with the three Lethal Weapon movies. Glover contributed an amusing cameo in "Maverick"(1994). That same year Glover made his directorial debut with the Showtime channel short film "Override." In 1998, Glover again had his role in "Lethal Weapon 4," That same year gave a stirring performance in the little-seen "Beloved." He also joined the ranks of actors such as Humphrey Bogart, Elliot Gould, and Robert Mitchum, who have portrayed Raymond Chandler's private eye detective Phillip Marlowe in the episode "Red Wind" of the Showtime network's 1995 series "Fallen Angels."

On television, Glover played the title role in "Mandela" (1987), Joshua Deets in the 1989 miniseries "Lonesome Dove," legendary railroad man John Henry in a 1988 installment of Shelley Duvall's "Tall Tales," and the mercurial leading character in the 1989 "American Playhouse" revival of "A Raisin in the Sun."

In March 1998, he was appointed ambassador to the United Nations Development Program. Among his many awards, he has won five NAACP Image Awards for his achievements as a black actor. Danny Glover is also chairman of TransAfrica.

In the 21st century, Glover sought to make a film biography of Toussaint Louverture for his directorial debut.  In May 2006, the film production, estimated to cost $30 million, was planned to begin in Poland, filming from late 2006 into early 2007. 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.  In April 2008, the Venezuelan National Assembly authorized an additional $9,840,505 for Glover's film, which is still in planning.

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