HOLLYWOOD — A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled July 10 honoring actor Glynn Turman for a movie career that has included roles in “Cooley High,” “Gremlins” and “How Stella Got Her Groove Back.”
Actor Don Cheadle and filmmaker Ava Duvernay were among those joining Turman at the ceremony at 7065 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was also on hand to present Turman with a city proclamation.
Cheadle and Turman were castmates in the 2012-16 Showtime comedy drama about management consultants “House of Lies” and the 1996 made-for-HBO movie, “Rebound: The Legend of Earl ‘The Goat’ Manigault.”
Cheadle directed one of the three episodes Turman appeared in the 2024 Apple TV biographical drama of the escape of Black Panther Party co-founder Huey Newton to Cuba, “The Big Cigar.”
Duvernay created the 2016-22 Oprah Winfrey Network drama “Queen Sugar” that Turman appeared in during the first season as the patriarch of a rural Louisiana family and was an executive producer of “The Red Line,” a 2019 eight-episode CBS drama which Turman portrayed a Chicago alderman in four episodes.
Duvernay was the publicist for the 2000 film drama “The Visit,” whose cast included Turman as a parole board member.
Turman’s star is next to his late friend Sidney Poitier’s star. Turman and Poitier were castmates in the original 1959 production of “A Raisin in the Sun,” which received four Tony nominations, including for best play with Poitier being nominated for best actor in a play.
Turman called the placement next to Poitier “the icing on the cake.”
He thanked everyone in attendance, including his wife, family, friends, producing partners and others. To his fans, he said, “You’ve been a major part of this long journey,” adding, “Y’all ain’t seen nothing yet.”
He joked that he tells “some of my best lies down at the cigar lounges,” but looking toward his star, he said, “I think I found a new spot to fire up. Any of y’all want to come along and fire up right here on the corner? … This is my spot.”
Born Jan. 31, 1947 in New York City, Turman made his television debut on “Black Monday,” the Jan. 16, 1961, edition of the anthology series “The Play of the Week” on WNTA-TV Channel 13 in New York City. The cast for the drama about the first day of integration at a Southern high school also included Robert Redford, Edward Asner, James Caan and Charles Grodin.
After graduating from the High School of Performing Arts, Turman performed at regional and repertory companies throughout the nation and on television. He was a secondary cast member of the ABC prime-time soap opera “Peyton Place” in its final season and also made guest appearances on “Julia” and “Room 222.”
Turman made his film debut in the 1971 interracial romance drama “Honky.” He starred with Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs in the 1975 independent coming-of-age comedy-drama film “Cooley High,” described by NPR in 2015 as a “classic of Black cinema” and “a touchstone for filmmakers like John Singleton and Spike Lee.”
Turman’s other film credits include “The Way Back,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Rustin,” and “80 For Brady.”
Turman’s best known television role was Hillman College mathematics professor and ROTC commander Col. Bradford Taylor on the 1987-93 NBC comedy “A Different World.”
Turman won an outstanding guest actor in a drama series Emmy in 2008 for his portrayal of the father of traumatized fighter pilot Alex Prince (Blair Underwood) on HBO’s “In Treatment.” He also was nominated in the category in 2019 for recurring role as a mentally ill longtime prison inmate on the ABC legal drama thriller “How to Get Away with Murder.”
Turman’s other television credits include recurring roles on the FX Black comedy-crime drama “Fargo” and the Disney+ fantasy series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.”
Turman was inducted into the Western Heritage Multi-Cultural Museum’s Hall of Fame in 2011 for his accomplishments as a rodeo competitor and horseman. He and his wife Jo-An co-founded a free, nonprofit, western style summer camp program Camp Gid D Up for inner-city and at-risk youth.
