John Lithgow

John Lithgow, born October 19, 1945, in Rochester, New York, has built a career spanning classical theater, television comedy, psychological suspense, film, and children’s literature. His father, Arthur Lithgow, was a theater director and producer whose Shakespeare productions helped shape his son’s early familiarity with performance. Lithgow graduated from Harvard University in 1967 and subsequently studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art on a Fulbright scholarship.

His Broadway breakthrough came in 1973 with David Storey’s “The Changing Room,” which earned him the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Nearly three decades later, he won another Tony, this time as Best Leading Actor in a Musical, playing gossip columnist J. J. Hunsecker in “Sweet Smell of Success.” His Broadway work also includes “M. Butterfly,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” and a revival of Edward Albee’s “A Delicate Balance.”

Film audiences encountered Lithgow in two consecutive Academy Award-nominated supporting performances. In “The World According to Garp” (1982), he played Roberta Muldoon, a transgender woman and former professional football player. In “Terms of Endearment” (1983), he portrayed Sam Burns, a married banker who becomes involved with Debra Winger’s character, Emma. He also played Reverend Shaw Moore, the minister opposing dancing in “Footloose” (1984), and supplied the voice of Lord Farquaad in “Shrek” (2001).

On television, Lithgow became especially recognizable as Dick Solomon in “3rd Rock from the Sun,” which aired from 1996 to 2001. Dick, an extraterrestrial expedition leader posing as a physics professor, allowed Lithgow to combine elaborate physical comedy with theatrical grandiosity. The role brought him three Primetime Emmy Awards.

He later demonstrated a markedly different register as Arthur Mitchell, the outwardly respectable family man secretly known as the Trinity Killer, in the fourth season of “Dexter.” That performance earned him an Emmy in 2010. His portrayal of Winston Churchill in Netflix’s “The Crown” brought another Emmy in 2017.

Lithgow’s other screen credits include Brian De Palma’s “Blow Out” and “Raising Cain,” along with “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” in which he played Charles Rodman, a man living with Alzheimer’s disease.

Alongside acting, Lithgow has written books for young readers, including “Marsupial Sue” and “I Got Two Dogs.” His memoir, “Drama: An Actor’s Education,” published in 2011, examines his upbringing and professional development, emphasizing the theatrical experiences and family relationships behind his unusually varied working life. He has also recorded children’s music, extending his storytelling into another medium.