Bio
Crispin Glover is an American actor, painter, filmmaker, author, musician, and collector and archivist of esoterica. He is known to portray eccentric people on screen such as George McFly in Back to the Future or Willard Stiles in Willard.
Other films he has appeared in include Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), Twister (1989), Wild at Heart (1990), The Doors (1991), Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), Nurse Betty (2000), Charlie's Angels (2000), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), and Simon Says (2006).
His work in television has been restricted to minor roles early in his career in The Facts Of Life, Happy Days, Hill Street Blues, Family Ties, and Hotel Room.
Glover has also acted in the made-for-TV movies Best of Times (1981), The Kid with the 200 I.Q. (1983), and High School U.S.A. (1983).
Glover's breakout role was as George McFly in Robert Zemeckis's Back to the Future (1985). Glover refused to participate in the film's two sequels, reportedly because he wanted more money and his salary demands were not met.
Nevertheless, Zemeckis used previously filmed footage and body prosthetics on another actor, Jeffrey Weissman, to simulate Glover on screen.
Glover then sued the producers (including Steven Spielberg) and won a landmark victory, setting a precedent for how actors' images may be used in films.
In 1987, Glover appeared on Late Night with David Letterman to promote his new movie River's Edge and his album. Dressed as his character from the film Rubin and Ed, he wore a long wig and platform shoes.
His bizarre appearance was exceeded only by his strange behaviour, which was thought by some to have been influenced by drugs, while others presume it was an Andy Kaufman-style stunt.
After a failed attempt to challenge Letterman to an arm-wrestling match, Glover delivered an impromptu karate kick just inches from Letterman's face. A noticeably irked Dave abruptly ended the segment and cut to commercial.
Glover has later commented, on The Adam Carolla Show and Tom Green Live among others, that he neither denies nor admits any of the rumours surrounding the incident.
Glover made his directorial debut with 2005's What is It?, a strange and surreal art film similar in style to the work of Alejandro Jodorowsky which has been described as "The adventures of a young man whose principal interests are snails, salt, a pipe, and how to get home, and is tormented by a hubristic, racist inner psyche."
The movie had a budget of only $125,000 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.
Glover's second film, It is Fine. Everything is Fine! was written by Utah writer-actor Steven C. Stewart. It premiered at the 2007 Sundance film festival.
Glover is planning a third film called It is Mine. It is an original screenplay written by Ryan Page, Mike Pallagi and Glover and is the third part of the What is It? trilogy.