He was the gawky dad in Back to the Future, but Crispin Glover is an actor, writer, and director who has carved out an even stranger reality for himself. Lorne Jackson spoke to him ahead of his one man Midland show.

Crispin Glover has appeared in numerous Hollywood movies, though he could never be labelled a conventional star.

He’s no Depp, Pitt or Clooney.

Often appearing gangly and gormless on screen, the iconic performer he resembles the most is Big Bird from Sesame Street. Though, admittedly, Glover has fewer feathers than the overgrown chick from the kid’s TV show.

Plus he has the sort of dramatic range that Big Bird could only dream of exploring.

With Glover, you never know quite what to expect – goofball can turn grotesque in an instant.

He comfortably worked himself into the role of Michael J Fox’s dopish dad in the 80’s teen flick, Back To The Future.

Then slithered his way across the screen as the eponymous anti-hero in Willard, a horror flick about a rat-obsessed social misfit.

He was also a sinister villain in the big-screen version of Charlie’s Angels, reprising the role in a sequel.

His idiosyncratic acting talents were put to good use most recently in Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, where he played the Knave of Hearts.

But the 47-year-old won’t be celebrating his skills as a thespian when he appears at Wolverhampton’s Light House next week.

He’ll be in town to showcase his other talents.

You see, Glover is a bit of a Renaissance Man. He writes novels, directs movies and performs his own songs.

All for the sake of art. Though his art is the kind that divides opinion.

Crispin doesn’t merely look a little... unusual. His mind also meanders down very different paths from those well-trammelled avenues trudged by the hack-herd of Hollywood.

His visionary output makes the latest David Lynch flick seem about as experimental as a Hallmark afternoon movie.

Glover has directed films starring mentally and physically disabled actors.

He also had a leading role in one of the wackiest – and most discussed – chat show incidents of all time.

And let’s not forget the gloriously silly songs he warbles or the beautifully bonkers books he writes...

For his show at the Light House, Glover will be reading from those books and showing It Is Fine. EVERYTHING IS FINE! a film he directed.

It’s a self-financed piece, written by Steven C. Stewart, a man with cerebral palsy, who also appears in it.

Stewart died soon after filming finished.

Glover says he’s enormously proud of the work, funded using his Charlie’s Angels wages.

It’s also a topical subject.

This week the Speaker of the House of Commons came under pressure to lecture MPs about their behaviour after new Tory MP, Paul Maynard, was openly mocked for having cerebral palsy.