# John Glover (actor)

John Glover (/ˈɡlʌvər/ born August 7, 1944) is an American actor, known for a range of villainous roles in films and television, such as Lionel Luthor in Smallville and the voice of Riddler in the DC Animated Universe. He also played the more comic relief role of Daniel Clamp in Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990).

## Early life

Glover was born in Kingston, New York, and raised in Salisbury, Maryland. His father was a television salesman. Glover attended Wicomico High School and acted at Towson University.
Glover began his career at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, and later studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse under Milton Katselas.

## Career

Glover began his career in television, playing a mentally disturbed kidnapper who kidnapped Joanne, the lead character in Search for Tomorrow. One of his early film performances was a role as a U.S. diplomat in White Nights. His other roles include Alan Raimy in 52 Pick-Up, Bryce Cummings in Scrooged, Tony Gateworth in Masquerade, Daniel Clamp in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, a mobster in Payback, an advertising spokesman in RoboCop 2, Derek Mills in Night of the Running Man, the Riddler in Batman: The Animated Series, Doctor Jason Woodrue in Batman & Robin, Verad in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Invasive Procedures", the Devil in the series Brimstone, and a recurring role in The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd as Cousin Jerry, from Bal'mer, a relative whom no one actually seemed to know.
In 1987, he appeared in the Miami Vice episode "Lend Me an Ear" as Steve Duddy. He also appeared in two episodes of Murder, She Wrote, "One White Rose for Death" and "When Thieves Fall Out". He appeared in the television film An Early Frost in 1985, the first TV film to confront the issue of AIDS, and received an Emmy nomination for his performance as a gay AIDS patient. In 1986, he appeared in the TV film Apology with Lesley Ann Warren.
He appeared in the role of Max Brodsky, an inmate in concentration camps and later a fighter for Israel's independence, in Ian Sharp's 1989 TV miniseries Twist of Fate (also known as Pursuit). That same year, he played a hard-driving, low-on-morals district sales manager in HBO's Traveling Man. He also received a 1994 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his appearance in Frasier.
Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Lionel Luthor on Smallville from 2001 to 2008 where he first appeared as a guest actor in the show's first season and then appeared as a full cast member from seasons two to seven. He later returned in 2010 and 2011 for the tenth and final season as a parallel universe version of the character.
He had a small appearance in the Woody Allen film Annie Hall (1977) in a flashback in which he tells the title character, "Touch my heart. With your foot." He had a recurring role in Law & Order: Criminal Intent as Declan Gage, an old friend and mentor to Detective Robert Goren. On ABC's Brothers & Sisters he played Henry (the boyfriend of Saul Holden) in 2009. In Heroes he had a brief appearance as Samson Gray, the father of Sylar.
He had made notable appearances on stage, winning a Tony Award for Featured Actor in a Play for his dual roles in the Broadway play Love! Valour! Compassion!, which he reprised in the film version. In 2004, he performed with the Philadelphia Theatre Company staging of Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?
He also appeared as "man in the chair/narrator" in The Drowsy Chaperone on Broadway during the summer of 2007. He played the role of Lucky in a Broadway production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, for which he earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play. In 2014, he appeared as Leonato in the Shakespeare in the Park production of Much Ado About Nothing.
He played Telemachus in Yuri Rasovsky's Peabody Award-winning radio dramatization of The Odyssey of Homer and has played in several radio plays of the LA Theatre Works. Glover is receiving increasing recognition for narrating audiobooks. In 2011, he performed the audiobook version of Ghost Story, the thirteenth novel in Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series. In October/November 2011, he performed in David Bar Katz's drama The Atmosphere of Memory at the Bank Street Theatre in New York City, co-starring with Ellen Burstyn in a LAByrinth production. He played the role of Uncle Ben in the 2012 Broadway production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, directed by Mike Nichols. He is seen rehearsing the role of John Kreese in behind-the-scenes pre-production footage from The Karate Kid, indicating he may have been considered for that role. In 2013, Glover starred in the horror anthology Sanitarium. He also guest-starred in an episode of Agent Carter. Glover has done various voice-over work for several projects related to Tron: Legacy: the villain Abraxas in Tron: Evolution, and Dyson in Tron: Uprising. In 2014, he guest-starred on The Blacklist in the episode titled "Berlin".

## Personal life

Glover is gay. He married sculptor Adam Kurtzman in 2016, whom he had been dating since 1993. Additionally, Glover claims to have slept with Freddie Mercury in the 1970s.
Glover is involved with the Alzheimer's Association. His father had Alzheimer's disease, leading Glover to become more active in charity and activism surrounding the disorder.
Glover returns to Towson annually to work with theater students. The theater department awards a scholarship in his name.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1973 | Shamus | Johnnie | |
| 1977 | Annie Hall | Actor Boy Friend | |
| 1977 | Julia | Sammy | |
| 1978 | Somebody Killed Her Husband | Herbert Little | |
| 1979 | Last Embrace | Richard Peabody | |
| 1980 | The American Success Company | Ernst | |
| 1980 | The Mountain Men | Nathan Wyeth | |
| 1980 | Melvin and Howard | Freese, Attorney #2 | |
| 1981 | The Incredible Shrinking Woman | Tom Keller | |
| 1982 | A Little Sex | Walter | |
| 1984 | The Evil That Men Do | Briggs | |
| 1985 | White Nights | Wynn Scott | |
| 1986 | A Killing Affair | Sheb Sheppard | |
| 1986 | 52 Pick-Up | Alan Raimy | |
| 1986 | Willy/Milly | Fred Niceman | |
| 1988 | Masquerade | Tony Gateworth | |
| 1988 | Rocket Gibraltar | Rolo Rockwell | |
| 1988 | Scrooged | Brice Cummings | |
| 1988 | The Chocolate War | Brother Leon | |
| 1989 | Meet the Hollowheads | Henry Hollowhead | |
| 1990 | Gremlins 2: The New Batch | Daniel Clamp | |
| 1990 | RoboCop 2 | Magnavolt Salesman | |
| 1993 | Ed and His Dead Mother | A.J. Pattle | |
| 1994 | In the Mouth of Madness | Saperstein | |
| 1995 | Night of the Running Man | Derek Mills | |
| 1995 | Automatic | Goddard Marx | |
| 1997 | Love! Valour! Compassion! | John Jeckyll / James Jeckyll | |
| 1997 | Batman & Robin | Dr. Jason Woodrue | |
| 1997 | Medusa's Child | Rogers Henry | |
| 1998 | Dead Broke | Sam | |
| 1997 | The Broken Giant | Bennett Hale | |
| 1999 | Payback | Phil | |
| 1999 | Macbeth in Manhattan | Richard, The Director | |
| 2001 | The Body | Jesus Christ Street Actor | |
| 2001 | On Edge | Yuri Moskvin | |
| 2002 | Mid-Century | Bill Gates | |
| 2004 | Tricks | Ralph | |
| 2004 | A Kiss at Kerouac's Grave | Will | |
| 2005 | The Civilization of Maxwell Bright | Ogden | |
| 2013 | Sanitarium | Gustav | Segment: "Figuratively Speaking" |
| 2013 | Sweet Talk | Professor / Count | |
| 2014 | Reality | Zog | |
| 2015 | You Bury Your Own | Detective Gillespie | |
| 2016 | We Go On | Dr. Ellison | |
| 2019 | Shazam! | Mr. Sivana | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1975 | Kojak | Billy Jo | Episode: "Elegy in an Asphalt Graveyard" |
| 1984 | George Washington | Charles Lee | Episode: "Charles Lee" |
| 1985 | ABC Afterschool Specials | Mr. Stewart | Episode: "Don't Touch" |
| 1985 | An Early Frost | Victor DiMato | Television film |
| 1986 | The Twilight Zone | The Alien Ambassador | Episode: "A Small Talent for War" |
| 1986 | Apology | Philip | Cable television film |
| 1986 | Murder, She Wrote | Franz Mueller | Episode: "One White Rose for Death" |
| 1987 | Nutcracker: Money, Madness and Murder | Richard Behrens | Episode: 1-3 (entire miniseries) |
| 1987 | Miami Vice | Steve Duddy | Episode: "Lend Me an Ear" |
| 1987 | Murder, She Wrote | Andrew Durbin | Episode: "When Thieves Fall Out" |
| 1988 | David | Charles Rothenberg | |
| 1989 | Breaking Point | Dr. Gerber | Television film |
| 1989 | Twist of Fate | Max Brodsky | TV miniseries |
| 1989 | The Hitchhiker | Miles Duchet | Episode: "Striptease" |
| 1990 | El Diablo | Autolycus, The Peacher | Television film |
| 1991 | What Ever Happened to... | Billy Korn | Television film |
| 1991 | Tales from the Crypt | Sebastian Esbrook | Episode: "Undertaking Palor" |
| 1992 | Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel | "Loco" Garrison | Television film |
| 1992 | The Ray Bradbury Theater | Walter Grip | Episode: "Silent Towns" |
| 1993 | Frasier | Ned Miller | Episode: "Oops" |
| 1993 | Crime & Punishment | Dennis Atwood | Episode: "Best Laid Plans"; nominated for Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series |
| 1993 | The Legend of Prince Valiant | King Edward | Voice, episode: "The Blackest Poison" |
| 1993 | Animaniacs | Rasputin | Voice, episode: "Nothing but the Tooth" |
| 1993 | Star Trek: Deep Space Nine | Verad | Episode: "Invasive Procedures" |
| 1992–1994 | Dinosaurs | Babysitter / Prosecutor / Lucius | Voice, 3 episodes |
| 1992–1994 | Batman: The Animated Series | Edward Nygma / Riddler | Voice, 3 episodes |
| 1998 | Superman: The Animated Series | Edward Nygma / Riddler | Voice, episode: "Knight Time" |
| 1998 | The New Batman Adventures | Edward Nygma / Riddler | Voice, episode: "Judgement Day" |
| 1998 | Pinky and the Brain | Tycoon | Voice, episode: "Pinky's Turn" |
| 1998–1999 | Brimstone | The Devil, Angel | 13 episodes |
| 1999–2001 | Haunted History | The Narrator | Voice, 25 episodes |
| 2001–2011 | Smallville | Lionel Luthor | 145 episodes |
| 2006 | Numb3rs | Samuel Craft, The Psychic | Episode: "Mind Games" |
| 2006–2008 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Declan Gage | 2 episodes |
| 2009 | Heroes | Samson Gray | Episode: "Shades of Gray" |
| 2011–2015 | The Good Wife | Jared Andrews | 4 episodes |
| 2012–2013 | Tron: Uprising | Dyson | Voice, 4 episodes |
| 2014 | The Blacklist | Dr. Bruce Sanders | Episode: "Berlin" |
| 2014 | Perception | The Devil | Episode: "Possession" |
| 2015 | Agent Carter | SSR Informant | Episode: "The Iron Ceiling" |
| 2019 | The Good Fight | Jared Andrews | Episode: "The One Where a Nazi Gets Punched" |
| 2019 | Tales of the City | Bill Schwartz | Episode: "Next Level Sh*t" |
| 2019 | Evil | Byron Duke | Episode: "3 Stars" |
| 2021 | Fear the Walking Dead | Theodore "Teddy" Maddox | 5 episodes |
| 2021 | Lucifer | Peter Peterson | Episode: "Family Dinner" |
| 2022 | Dead in the Water: A Fear the Walking Dead Story | Theodore "Teddy" Maddox | Web series; episode: "This Ain't It" |
| 2023 | And Just Like That... | Elliot | Episode: "A Hundred Years Ago" |
| 2024 | Gremlins | TBA | Voice |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Voice role |
| 1994 | The Adventures of Batman & Robin | Riddler |
| 2003 | Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo | Help Points |
| 2010 | Tron: Evolution | Abraxas, Jalen |

### Audiobooks

| Year | Title | Author |
| 1992 | The Thief of Always (abridged) | Clive Barker |
| 1999 | Night Shift | Stephen King |
| 1999 | The Lawnmower Man | Stephen King |
| 1999 | Gray Matter | Stephen King |
| 1999 | Thank You for Smoking | Christopher Buckley |
| 2009 | Level 26: Dark Origins | Anthony E. Zuiker |
| 2010 | Worst Case | James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge |
| 2010 | The Bride Collector | Ted Dekker |
| 2010 | The Tempest | William Shakespeare |
| 2010 | Red Harvest | Joe Schreiber |
| 2011 | Gideon's Sword | Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child |
| 2011 | Dracula (Dramatized) | Bram Stoker and Charles Morey |