Crispin Glover Biography

Summary

"Crispin Hellion Glover" (born April 20, 1964) is an American film actor and self-published author. Glover is known for portraying eccentric people on screen, such as George McFly in "Back to the Future", Layne in "River's Edge", the undertaker in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape", the 'Creepy Thin Man' in the big screen adaptation of "Charlie's Angels" and Willard Stiles in "Willard". In the early 2000s, Glover started his own production company, Volcanic Eruptions.

Early life

Born in New York City, Glover moved to Los Angeles at the age of five. He was named after the Saint Crispin's Day speech from William Shakespeare's play "Henry V", which his parents enjoyed. 'Hellion,' his real middle name, had earlier been used as a false middle name by his father, who did not like his own real middle name, Herbert. His mother, Marie Elizabeth Lillian Betty Krachey Bloom (née Koerber), was an actress and dancer who retired upon his birth. His father is Bruce Glover, also an actor. As a child, Glover attended The Mirman School for the academically gifted. He then attended both Venice High and Beverly Hills High School and graduated in 1982.

Career

Glover began acting professionally at the age of 13. He appeared in several sitcoms as a teenager, including "Happy Days" and "Family Ties". His first film role was in 1983's "My Tutor". That led to roles in "Teachers" (1984) and "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter" (1984). He then worked with quirky director Trent Harris on the third chapter of the Beaver Trilogy, entitled The Orkly Kid. In this short film, he portrayed a small town man who organizes a local talent show to showcase his obsession with Olivia Newton-John, much to the embarrassment of the local community. At the climax of the film, Glover does his rendition, in full drag, of Olivia Newton-John's 'Please Don't Keep Me Waiting' from her 1979 album "Totally Hot".

His breakout role was as George McFly in Robert Zemeckis's "Back to the Future", an international box office success following its release in 1985. Glover did not, however, come to an agreement with the producers to appear in the sequels. Zemeckis used previously filmed footage of Glover from the first movie, and Jeffrey Weissman was introduced using various obfuscating methods (background, sunglasses, rear shot, even upside down) to play the role of George McFly in the sequel. Displeased with the apparent use of body prosthetics on another actor to make audiences believe he was in the movie, Glover then sued the producers (including Steven Spielberg) on the grounds that his contract for the first film did not allow subsequent use of his portrayal of George McFly in new films, and that the use of a false nose and cheekbones on Weissman combined with practiced impressions of Glover's realization of the George McFly character were evidence of such. Because of Glover's lawsuit The Screen Actors Guild (TV/Film performer labor union) would later alter collective bargaining agreements with clauses to the effect that such use would be open to negotiation, with acceptance at the performers' discretion. According to Glover, even some of his close friends thought that he was in the sequel, also.

He has continued to play exceedingly eccentric types, e.g. playing Andy Warhol in Oliver Stone's "The Doors" in 1991, as well as the title characters in "Bartleby" (2001) and "Willard" (2003). He received mainstream attention as the 'Creepy Thin Man' in the "Charlie's Angels" films; the character had initially been cast as a speaking role, but Glover, not liking the lines as written, convinced the producers to eliminate the lines to create a darker image for the character.

Glover mediated the special feature commentary for the DVD of Werner Herzog's "Even Dwarfs Started Small" and "Fata Margana".

Glover starred in the 2007 film "Beowulf" as the monster Grendel, playing the part via performance capture technology. The film was Glover's first collaboration with director Robert Zemeckis since the original "Back to the Future" film.

Glover is slated to appear in the 2010 Tim Burton film "Alice in Wonderland" alongside Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway.

"Late Night" appearance

Glover is often remembered for his appearance on "Late Night with David Letterman" on July 28, 1987, to promote his movie "River's Edge". Unbeknownst to Letterman and the audience, Glover appeared in character as 'Rubin,' from a then-unreleased movie "Rubin and Ed", wearing platform shoes and a wig. Rather than a conventional interview, Glover staged an Andy Kaufman-like shtick. After being goaded by a woman in the audience (who some argue had been planted), Glover became incensed and stated that he 'knew that this was gonna happen' and that 'the press, they can do things, they can twist things around'. After a failed attempt to challenge Letterman to an arm-wrestling match, Glover delivered an impromptu karate kick just inches from Letterman's face while shouting, 'I'm strong... I can kick!'. Letterman then abruptly ended the segment by walking off stage, saying 'I'm going to check on the Top 10', and the program cut to commercial. The studio audience and Letterman himself were apparently shocked by Glover's behavior and assumed he was being himself.

The subsequent confusion and controversy surrounding his appearance was compounded by the fact that "Rubin and Ed" was not actually released until 1991; however the movie had been in development since before "Back to the Future" - Crispin had actually already devised Rubin's 'look' by 1985. Almost no-one, apparently including Letterman, understood what Glover was doing and the interview became the hallmark of the 'weird' TV guest. Most people still are unaware that it was a performance.

Glover returned to the Letterman show two-and-a-half years later for a much more normal interview, although when asked about his previous appearance on the show, he began telling a rambling tale seemingly unrelated to the event, after a while Letterman cut him off without Glover ever talking about the incident. To this day, speculation remains on whether or not Glover's appearance on the show was simply a staged performance, or if Glover's behavior was genuine).

But Glover has consistently refused to go into detail about the reasons for his behavior, other than to mention that he's flattered that fans are still speculating on the performance over 20 years later. Glover has also mentioned that he prefers there to be an 'aura of mystery' about the appearance.

Music

In 1989, during a hiatus from films, Glover released an album called "The Big Problem Does Not Equal the Solution, The Solution Equals Let It Be" through Restless Records, produced by Barnes & Barnes (of 'Fish Heads' fame). The album features original songs like 'Clowny Clown Clown', warped covers of Lee Hazlewood's 'These Boots Are Made for Walkin'' and Charles Manson's 'I'll Never Say Never to Always' (sung in falsetto), and readings from his art books "Rat Catching" and "Oak Mot" (Glover modified old books with expired copyrights by adding or deleting pictures, text, and drawings). Sample pages from these books are featured in the album's liner notes.

The back cover of the album is a collage of figures relating to each track on the album, with a puzzle: 'All words and lyrics point to THE BIG PROBLEM. The solution lay within the title; LET IT BE. Crispin Hellion Glover wants to know what you think these nine things all have in common.' He included his home phone number with copies of the album, encouraging listeners to phone when they had 'solved' his puzzle. Glover later commented that he was surprised how many people figured it out.

In 2003, he recorded a cover version of the Michael Jackson song 'Ben' to coincide with the release of the film "Willard". In the eccentric music video for the song, which is included on the "Willard" DVD, he sings to a rat named Ben.

A handful of songs using Glover's name as the title have been recorded by various artists, including New Jersey-based band Children In Adult Jails, goth rock band Scarling., as well as Wesley Willis. Rapcore band Warlock Pinchers released a song entitled 'Where the Hell is Crispin Glover?' featured as a B-side to 'Morrissey Rides a Cockhorse.' Alternative rock band (Smile) released the song 'Crispin Glover vs. Tom Snyder' on their 1996 "Masterlocks" EP. In addition, some members of the pop punk rock band Reggie and the Full Effect were once in a local Kansas City band known as Onward Crispin Glover.

Books

Crispin has written between 15-20 books, many of which are featured during his Big Slide Show presentation. Thus far, only four of his books have been published through his publishing company, Volcanic Eruptions. Other known titles include: The Backward Swing and Round My House.

†The publishing years listed above may not represent first edition publication dates, but may include subsequent available editions.

?Not published.

Re-issued.

Out of Print.

Directorial work

Glover made his directorial debut with 2005's "What Is It?", a strange and surreal art film. It premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. The movie had a budget of only $150,000 and took almost a decade to complete, originally intended to be a short film with shooting beginning in Los Angeles. Most of the primary footage was shot in 12 days, stretched over a two-and-a-half year period. Production was mostly funded by the actor's roles in "Willard" and the "Charlie's Angels" films. Glover's second film, "It is Fine. Everything is Fine!" was written by Utah writer-actor Steven C. Stewart. Steven C. Stewart was born with a severe case of cerebral palsy and had been virtually locked in a nursing home for about ten years. He did get out of the nursing home and then wrote this screenplay which is a fantastical psycho-sexual re-telling of his point of view of life. It premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Glover is planning a third film called "It is Mine" and will end the 'It?" Trilogy.