The Real Reason You Don't Hear From Danny Glover Anymore

Most widely known for his role as Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film series, actor Danny Glover has been a staple of American cinema since the 1980s — with starring roles in The Color Purple, To Sleep with Anger, Predator 2, and Angels in the Outfield, among others.

These days, however, Glover isn't quite the prominent film star he once was. In fact, since the start of the new millennium, he's really only been seen on screen here and there, but that doesn't mean he isn't working. In fact, the Lethal Weapon legend is just as busy as ever!

Here's what Danny Glover's been up to since his on-screen super-cop days faded into the sunset.

You may not hear much from Glover anymore, but plenty of others are listening intently to what the accomplished actor has to say. That's because he gives speeches. Lots of speeches.

As a lifelong social and political activist, Glover has been giving speeches for decades. He's delivered speeches to the American Postal Workers Union, spoken out against the death penalty, and addressed an audience at the same place where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his historic speech against the Vietnam War in 1967. If you can name a social issue, there's a decent chance Glover's spoken about it. He also leverages his public speaking demand for causes he's passionate about. He once refused to speak at a UC-Berkeley graduation ceremony unless 400 custodial workers got a raise.

For Glover, speaking about important issues isn't just an activity — it's a necessity. "I hope that the people are energized by our collective conversation, and it's an opportunity to share many things, to share our common experience at a moment in time where we need to talk about the things that matter," he said in a speech at Quinnipiac University in Feb. 2018. "We need to do something about every single thing, and there is no time to waste."

If you're as politically active and outspoken as Glover is, there are always going to be some in Hollywood who don't quite share your views — especially on particularly controversial subjects.

Two such unpopular stances among Hollywood capitalists are Glover's defense of the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's administration as well as his vocal admiration for the late Venezuelan revolutionary Hugo Chavez. Glover actually gave a speech at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas in praise of both leaders, which was greatly appreciated by Maduro. "You have no idea the pressures any friend of Venezuela in the U.S. receives for saying a few words of support and admiration for Commander Chavez," Maduro said. "These men are very brave, very authentic, as they are capable of speaking out their truth despite pressures and persecutions."

Glover also signed an open letter to the Toronto International Film Festival in 2009 which called the group "complicit in the Israeli propaganda machine" for hosting a celebratory spotlight on Tel Aviv — which might not have gone over well with everyone in Hollywood.

Glover's also busy keeping music alive. The Lethal Weapon star serves on the board of directors for the Jazz Foundation of America — which aims to keep jazz and blues music alive by assisting more than 5,000 musicians a year nationwide.

Glover's always had a keen ear for jazz and claims that, as a child, he "could listen to the Ellington band or Basie band and tell you who's playing what instrument." He also says his love for jazz mainly came from his father. "My dad was a jazz man," he explained. "Not a musician, but he had — how would you say — the demeanor of a jazz musician, even in the way he talked. My dad was the coolest cat I knew, man, you know what I'm saying?"

Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree since Glover's a pretty cool cat himself.

Perhaps the main reason you don't hear much from Glover anymore is that he's transitioned almost entirely from being in front of the camera to behind the scenes.

Together with award-winning filmmaker Joslyn Barnes, Glover founded Louverture Films — a production company which "partners with progressive filmmakers and producers around the world, and particularly from the global South, and proactively supports the employment and training of cast and crew from communities of color in the United States." The company already has a superb filmography, including Abderrahmane Sissako's award-winning 2006 Bamako, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal's Trouble the Water, Eugene Jarecki's The House I Live In, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Palme d'Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Göran Olsson's Concerning Violence.

Glover's desire to produce comes from his time spent as an actor, which is when he realized that he'd like to start making films his way. "When you're an actor, the industry determines what's going to be made," he explained to Filmmaker Magazine. "Whether I'm in it or not, they're going to make Lethal Weapon 2. And then you say, 'If I had an opportunity, what are the films that I would want to do?'"