Glynn Turman

African American character actor Glynn E. Turman was first introduced to the general public as Lew Miles, teen-aged son of Dr. Harry Miles (Percy Rodriguez) and his wife Alma (Ruby Dee), during the 1968-69 season of the prime-time TV soap opera Peyton Place. Turman went on to star as Chicago high schooler "Preacher" in the 1975 film sleeper Cooley High. Settling into character roles in the 1980s, Turman has most often been seen as judges, military officers, police detectives, and well-to-do patriarches. A departure from these "establishment" assignments was Turman's star turn in the 1981 TV-movie Thornwell, in which he portrayed real-life soldier James Thornwell, who accused the U.S. Army of subjecting him to illegal mind-controlling drugs. Glynn E. Turman's weekly-series roles have included Secretary of State LaRue Hawkes in 1987's Hail to the Chief, and Colonel Clayton Taylor, aka "Dr. War" in the popular Cosby Show spin-off A Different World (1988-93); he also appeared in the 1983 pilot episode of Manimal as Ty Earle, a role essayed by Michael D. Roberts in the series proper.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide