Glover first won acclaim for his work on the New York stage in two Athol Fugard plays, a 1980 Off-Broadway revival of "The Blood Knot" and the Broadway premiere of "'Master Harold' ... and the boys" (1982). A highly versatile actor, Glover easily shifts from warmly sympathetic characters ("Places in the Heart" 1984) to sometimes frightening villains ("Witness" and "The Color Purple,” both 1985). He also proved so effective as ANC leader Nelson Mandela in the PBS docudrama, "Mandela" (1986) that he played him again in the HBO biopic "Mandela" (1987), paired with Alfre Woodard as Winnie Mandela in both projects.
Glover first registered with audiences as Moze, a sweet-tempered cotton farmer who allies himself with Sally Field's struggling widow, in Robert Benton's "Places in the Heart" (1984). The following year marked a turning point as he appeared in three high profile features: as the corrupt detective who commits the murder seen by Lukas Haas in Peter Weir's "Witness,” as a cowboy in the Old West in Lawrence Kasdan's "Silverado" and in his first leading role in Steven Spielberg's "The Color Purple.” As Mister, the brutal husband of Whoopi Goldberg's Celie in the latter, Glover managed to humanize a character who was purely villainous in Alice Walker's novel.
It was his next project, "Lethal Weapon" (1987), that established Glover as a widely recognized action hero. As the aging Detective Roger Murtaugh, Glover exuded a world-weary resignation that stood in sharp contrast to the suicidal psychosis of his new partner, Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson). Despite the stark differences between the two detectives, they form a bond as they track down a ruthless drug dealer (Mitchell Ryan) responsible for the murder of Murtaugh’s Vietnam buddy (Tom Atkins). The success of “Lethal Weapon,” truly one of the great action yarns from the big budget 80s, propelled Glover into the realm of international star. He later reprised the role in three sequels of diminishing quality, though all performed exceedingly well at the box office.
The actor's star power made it possible for noted black independent filmmaker Charles Burnett to get his quirky family drama "To Sleep With Anger" (1990) to the screen. Glover signed on as executive producer and star as the Devil on this project. His presence was also a comfort to first-time feature director Bill Duke and executive producer (and co-star) Forest Whitaker on "A Rage in Harlem" (1991) wherein he gave a memorable performance as an eccentric uptown numbers runner. Glover reunited with "Silverado" cohorts Kasdan and Kevin Kline for "Grand Canyon" (also 1991) in a part specifically written for him. He was again paired with Alfre Woodard in this sensitive comic-dramatic look at contemporary urban life. Glover and Woodard put their South African accents to use one more time (to date) in "Bopha!" (1993), Morgan Freeman's feature directorial debut, about a black South African policeman's political awakening.
For much of the latter half of the 1990s, Glover's roles were in far softer material. He was the baseball manager who comes to believe in heavenly intervention in "Angels in the Outfield" (1994) and a Green Beret who leads a team delivering an elephant to a Vietnamese village in "Operation Dumbo Drop" (1995). In 1997, he was paired with his "Lethal Weapon 2" (1989) co-star Joe Pesci in the unfunny comedy "Gone Fishin',” was teamed with Dennis Quaid in the action thriller "SwitchBack" and was featured as the judge in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Rainmaker,” adapted from John Grisham's bestseller. The following year, Glover lent his distinctive voice to characters in two animated features "Antz" and "The Prince of Egypt.” He next appeared in the highly anticipated, but disappointing American slave drama "Beloved,” which had his sensitive ex-slave Paul D romancing Sethe, played by Oprah Winfrey.
He fared better opposite Angela Bassett in the screen adaptation of Fugard's play "Boesman & Lena,” a harrowing tale about a homeless couple who survive the harsh terrain of South Africa's Cape Flats which screened at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. Next, he was seen as a corrupt African president in "Battu" (shown at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival), and delivered one of his most endearing performances as Anjelica Huston's second husband Henry Sherman in Wes Anderson's triumphant ensemble comedy "The Royal Tenenbaums" (2001). Glover returned to the big screen as a judge in the Queen Latifah-produced urban comedy "The Cookout" (2004).
Glover's acting on TV during the 1980s was sporadic, but the medium often gave him a chance to produce and direct. In the early 80s, he had small roles on episodic series such as "Lou Grant", "Palmerstown, USA" and "Hill Street Blues". While he had a minor part in the 1983 CBS miniseries "Chiefs", Glover had leads in "Lonesome Dove" (CBS, 1989) and "Queen" (CBS, 1993), playing Alex Haley's ancestor Alec Haley. Not wishing to limit himself to only acting and producing credits, Glover has directed short films and even helmed the Showtime production "Override" (1994), about an unusual tractor trailer driver. He has also served as executive producer on the 1996 HBO original "Deadly Voyage", about African stowaways on a freighter who are murdered, and "America's Dream" (HBO, 1996), a trilogy of stories about African Americans.
Glover enjoyed another critical success in 1997 when he executive produced and starred in "Buffalo Soldiers", a superior TNT production that told the story of black cavalry troops who battled Native Americans shortly after the Civil War. In the film, he turned in a gem of a performance as a slave turned Army sergeant. "Freedom Song" (TNT, 2000) gave the actor another opportunity to demonstrate his acting chops in a film he felt was important since it explored issues of race and oppression. Glover earned an Emmy nomination for his outstanding performance as a traditional father distressed by his son's involvement in a desegregation group in 1961. Less successful was "Good Fences" (2003), which cast Glover and Whoopi Goldberg as a 1970s-era successful black family trying to establish a new life in a posh, mostly white Connecticut enclave.
Throughout his distinguished career, Glover has also tried his hand at hosting and narrating, including the Showtime series "Storybook Classics" (1989-1990) and "Civil War Journal" (A&E, 1993); "Courage" (2000), the Fox Family Channel's show about ordinary people who have committed extraordinary acts of bravery; and "The Real Eve" (2002), about the search to trace DNA back to the origins of humanity. Although constantly busy with film and TV projects, the actor did not neglect his dedication to the stage, returning to the theater for the world premiere of Phil Kan Gotanda's "Yohen" in Los Angeles, earning excellent reviews for his portrayal of a retired serviceman whose usually timid Japanese wife of 30 years one day forces him to examine their relationship. Back on the big screen, Glover played the venerable, but Uncle Tom-like Wilhelm in Lars Von Trier’s second installment to his U, S and A trilogy, “Manderlay” (2006), a part the actor initially refused to play because of the exclusively white perspective in a story about the slavery of African-Americans.
After a supporting role in a disappointing rehashing of “The Shaggy Dog” (2006), starring Tim Allen as a workaholic DA transformed into a mangy pooch in order to be taught a lesson on the value of family, Glover gave voice to the wise and patient Miles the Mule in “Barnyard: The Original Party Animals” (2006), an aimless and easily forgettable tale about a group of hard-partying farm animals that was, despite its witless storyline, beautifully animated. Glover then found himself in the midst of serious Oscar buzz with his next film, “Dreamgirls” (2006), a big screen version of late director Michael Bennett’s Broadway musical about a the rise and potential fall of a black female singing trio (Beyonce Knowles, Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose) in the 1960s and 1970s. Glover played the trio’s old-school manager who loses his talent to a younger and more ambitious manager (Jaime Foxx), but reunites with the most talented, but attractive member (Jennifer Hudson) when she is demoted to backup singer.
Glover returned to his activist filmmaking with his next project, taking the role of executive producer—as well as making a cameo appearance as a cowboy—on the independently financed “Bamako” (2007). In this satirical speculative fantasy, African society, beleaguered by mounting debt accrued from the enormous shift of wealth from third world countries into corporate pockets, brings action against Western financial interests, putting them on trial in a backyard where every day people—including a bar singer (Aissa Maiga) and her unemployed husband (Tiecoura Traore) —go about their business without caring what happens. Glover then returned to more commercial fare with “Shooter” (2007), playing a colonel who helps set-up a former expert sniper (Mark Wahlberg) in the assassination of the President of the United States.