John Glover: A Fan Tribute to a Versatile Actor

Photo above by the author, sockii.

John Soursby Glover Jr. was born August 7, 1944 in Kingston, New York, to parents Cade (ne Mullins) and John Soursby Glover Sr. He grew up in Salisbury, Maryland where he attended Wicomico High School. Later he went to Towson State Teachers College, now Towson University, where he became involved in acting. For three summers during college he worked at a small theater in southern Virginia, and made his stage debut in Look Homeward, Angel at the Barter Theater in Virginia in 1963. John moved to New York City in 1967 to continue his acting career and in 1969 appeared in A Scent of Flowers at the Martinique Theatre.

John continued appearing in a prolific number of theatrical roles throughout the 1970s, and first made a notable screen appearance in a small role in Woody Allen's 1977 film Annie Hall. His breakout screen role, however, would come with 1986's 52 Pick-Up, where he played the delightfully evil and memorable villain Alan Raimy. John would continue to work in stage, film and television throughout the 80s and 90s, winning both Tony and Drama Desk awards for his dual-role performance in 1994 in Terrence McNally's Love! Valour! Compassion!

John's appearance as Lionel Luthor in the 2001 series Smallville was originally only to be a recurring guest character. However, for the show's second series he became a full cast member and would appear on and off throughout it's ten-season run.

Since the end of Smallville, John continues to appear in stage and television roles, and in 2012 was seen in the Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman. When not appearing around the country in various stage productions, John lives in the Los Angeles area with his partner, artist Adam Kurtzman.

• More information at Wikipedia
• Biography at Film Reference
• Biography at the IMdB

Enjoy these video clips of John being interviewed through the years...

If you've perhaps seen John on Smallville, Brimstone or another TV series and would like to see more, these are some films I would highly recommend you check out.

eBay is a great way to build your collection of films, video tapes and DVDs featuring John. You can often find rare and out-of-print titles at very good prices.

After the end of the series I grew interested in checking out John's past TV and film work and spent many hours hunting them down and enjoying them on video. Then one day I found out he was actually in New York City appearing in a play, so I hopped the train from Philadelphia to catch what ended up being the final performance of Give Me Your Answer, Do! As much as I'd loved John's screen work, seeing him perform on stage just blew me away.

I started following theater news more closely to see when and where he'd be performing, and eventually got to meet him in person at the stage door after one performance. Over the course of several years, this became a bit of a ritual, and I had set up a small fan site in appreciation of his work. Eventually we connected in Philadelphia when he was on a break from Smallville and appearing in the play The Goat Or, Who Is Sylvia? and made arrangements to convert my John Glover website from "unofficial" to "official" status.

Remembering Brimstone: The TV Series

In the Fall of 1998, FOX premiered one of the most unique supernatural television series of all time (at least in this author’s opinion): Brimstone. The series starred Peter Horton (of Thirtysomething fame) and John Glover, who would later go

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Smallville ran for a grand total of 10 seasons, telling the story of Clark Kent's early years growing up in Smallville, Kansas. Starring Tom Welling as Clark Kent, Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor, and later introducing Erica Durance as Lois Lane, the series had many fans - and introduced quite a few of them to John Glover through his wicked portrayal of Lionel Luthor. Now you can get all those episodes on DVD, from a complete 10-season boxed set to individual season collections.

Are you a Smallville fan? Then you might want to check out these eBay auctions for cool Lionel Luthor merchandise.

John is not just an extremely talented actor, but a strong supporter of important charitable organizations, particularly the Greater Maryland Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. For years he has led a team for their annual Memory Walk, in honor of his father whom he lost to the disease. The Alzheimer's Association is "the leading, global voluntary health organization in Alzheimer's care and support, and the largest private, nonprofit funder of Alzheimer's research." Visit their website to learn more about how you too can get involved in bringing an end to this terrible disease.

• The Official John Glover Website

  John's official website (maintained by yours truly) is the best place to get the latest news and information about John and his current projects.

• John Glover - IMdB

  John's page at the International Movie Database

• John Glover - Facebook Fan Page

  The best place for John's fans to hang out!

• Remembering Brimstone: The TV Series

  A tribute to "Brimstone", the great television series starring Peter Horton and John Glover.

If you collect movie and tv memorabilia, then check out these photos of John currently for auction on eBay.

Thanks for visiting this tribute page to John Glover. If you've got any thoughts to share, you're welcome to leave a comment below.