John Glover (actor)

John Soursby Glover Jr. (born August 7, 1944) is an American actor, perhaps best known for a range of villainous roles in films and television, including Lionel Luthor on the Superman-inspired television series Smallville.

Personal life
Glover was born in Kingston, New York, the son of Cade (née Mullins) and John Soursby Glover Sr., a television salesman and was raised in Salisbury, Maryland. Glover attended Wicomico High School and acted at Towson University. Glover is also actively involved with the Alzheimer's Association. His inspiration for joining this cause was his own father's experience with Alzheimer's Disease.

Career
One of his early film performances was a small but pivotal role as a U.S. diplomat in White Nights. Other notable roles include Alan Raimy in 52 Pick-Up, Bryce Cummings in Scrooged, 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. He also had 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. He appeared in one episode of Miami Vice.

He appeared in the TV movie An Early Frost in 1985, the first TV film to touch on the AIDS issue 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 also received a 1994 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his appearance in Frasier.

He is well known for the role of Lionel Luthor on Smallville, having appeared as a guest actor in the show's first season, in the show from 2001-2007, and becoming a full cast member from Season 2 until Season 7. He has signed on to appear in at least two episodes for the tenth and final season of Smallville. There he will once again reprise his role as Lionel Luthor.

He has also 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. He also appeared as "man in the chair/narrator" in The Drowsy Chaperone on Broadway during summer 2007.

Glover also had a small appearance in the Woody Allen film Annie Hall. In a flashback to a scene from the title character's past, he utters the line: "Touch my heart. With your foot". He has a recurring role in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, playing Declan Gage an old friend and mentor to Detective Robert Goren.

Glover is currently appearing in ABC's Brothers & Sisters as Henry, the boyfriend of Saul Holden. He has also appeared in Heroes as the character Sylar's father, Samson Gray.

John Glover played the role of "Lucky" in a new Broadway production of Samuel Becket's Waiting For Godot, for which he earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play.

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. In addition Glover is receiving increasing recognition for narrating audiobooks.