Famous stage, screen, and TV actor John Lithgow was born into a theater family. His father, Arthur Lithgow, was a stage actor, director, and producer. He also founded the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Ohio.

 

After graduating from Harvard University, John Lithgow was trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

 

Among many others, his New York theater work include:
The Changing Room, My Fat Friend, The Front Page, M. Butterfly, The Retreat from Moscow, Mrs. Farnsworth, All My Sons, Mr. and Mrs. Fitch, and the musicals Sweet Smell of Success and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Having appeared in more than 30 films, his work include:
The World according to Garp, Terms of Endearment, All That Jazz, Blow Out, Twilight Zone: the Movie, Footloose, 2010, Harry and the Hendersons, Raising Cain, Cliffhanger, Shrek, Kinsey, Dreamgirls, and Confessions of a Shopaholic.

Among his significant work for TV were Third Rock from the Sun (NBC), Don Quixote (TNT), The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (HBO), and the 4th season of Dexter (Showtime).

 

John Lithgow also wrote eight best-selling children's books and recorded three highly successful children's albums. He also performed live for children with major US symphony orchestras and successfully performed his very personal one-man show Stories by Heart in the USA and England. Among many other awards, Mr. Lithgow received two Tony Awards, five Emmy Awards, two Oscar nominations, and four Grammy nominations.

John Lithgow had also worked as a stage director early in his career, and also acts as a painter. He received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2001. Four years later he was included in the New York Theatre Hall of Fame. In the same year he received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Harvard University.

 

Since 2008 we have been working on an academic research project and a documentary film about him. In addition to his versatile acting career, his outstanding work as an author had inspired us.

We will focus on his children's books, the theater and literature influences during his childhood, a selection of his stage, screen, and TV work (some of it being barely known in Germany) as well as on him not only as a successful and versatile artist but also as an exceptional person in the world of showbusiness.

 

AJ-Images Magazine | Articles on Theater: "John Lithgow's 'Stories by Heart'"