John Lithgow

One of my favorite actors, he really is witty and self-depreciating

A good New York Post article

He IS John Lithgow!

His book DRAMA is a lot of fun

His wife is a well-regarded professor at Ucla.

One of my all-time favorites. Loved him in Garp and Terms of Endearment. The delivery of the line in TOE to the rude cashier, "Well, then, you must be from New York." Priceless. He's the real thing.

I really appreciate his wide variety of roles and appearances in film and television over the years. Especially powerful as the Trinity Killer in Dexter.

That said, he also starred in one of the worst movies I've ever seen - Raising Cain. The only movie I've ever walked out of because it was SO BAD, not even in the it-was-so-bad-it-was-good sense, just an awful mess.

He's a terrific actor.

He's always pinged for me.

I adore this man. He and Kate Mulgrew pretty much raised me, growing up all but abandoned in front of the TV.

Like r1 said, he's wonderfully self-deprecating. He once joked at one of those Variety roundtables about being an actorish actor, not necessarily an actor's actor.

Why is 3rd Rock from the Sun so hard to stream for free?

[quote] His profile was further elevated in the 1980's with films such as The Twilight Zone, Footloose, and Harry and the Hendersons all the while receiving Tony nominations in M. Butterfly and Requiem for a Heavyweight.

He WON two Tony awards, OP. (The Changing Room and Sweet Smell of Success.)

My first memory of him was Obsession.

He was fantastic in the first of the recent Planet of the Apes series as James Franco’s father suffering from dementia, the cure to which turned out to be temporary as well as the catalyst for ape supremacy.

Lithgow is quite touching and conveys the tragedy of slowly losing oneself to Alzheimer’s.

He and his wife have lived in my neighborhood for years. Always the nicest, friendliest couple and believe it or not, his kids were all great.

Great character actor. One of the best American ones too.

[quote] in the American Middle West,

Mary!

He was very brave to take on his role in Garp.

His take on Roberta Muldoon was excellent and very true to the character as written by John Irving.

If you missed it, Roberta is a transexual former football star. In the hands of a lesser talent it could have been cringey.

The book and movie are both very good and the film brings us Glenn Closes' screen debut.

He was really wonderful in the series The Old Man with Jeff Bridges.

Very talented actor and seems like a nice man as well. He’s as adept at drama as he is comedy.

He's a favorite of mine, he's equally as good at menacing evilness and wacky comedy. I think he's pretty damned fantastic. His son sounds exactly like him on 3rd Rock. 3rd Rock was streaming on several streaming services including free ones until recently. bummer.

R12- 1976- He was young then and they made him look so old

He also looks almost heterosexual in that photo too.

John Lithgow breaks down his career

John Lithgow discussing Lear

Do you think there's an Oscar in a biopic?

A number of years ago I saw his one-man show on Broadway. What an afternoon! He was John Lithgow and then became different characters from a book his family had and read from when he was a child (his father ran a theatre company and John has a brother and sister - I think his mom was a housewife(?)).

For a number years he lived in western MA to care for his parents (or one of them). He really does come across as a sincerely good guy.

Ha, I thought he was English!

I remember busting a gut during one 3rd Rock episode with him in drag. He was dying to bust in on Jane Curtin's womans group meeting so he dressed in drag to get in. Hijinks ensued.

You Dutch be crazy…he’s American as Apple pie.

Harvard man.

He was physically all wrong as Churchill (Churchill was a small man, and Lithgow is enromously tall), but he was wonderful in the part in "The Crown." My favorite episode is when Graham Sutherland is painting Churchill's portrait for his 80th birthday.

Saw him in a play very early in his career. He was fascinating to watch and I couldn't take my eyes off him. He won a Tony a few years later then his career really took off. Similar experience with (dare I mention his name) Kevin Spacey. Amazing how some actors have 'it,' which can't be taught, and others don't no matter how much they train and study.

Isn't he an honorary Python or something?

Trial and Error is one of the funniest comedies I've seen in years (so of course it was cancelled) -- and part of the reason is that John Lithgow is funny beyond belief, had no idea he was such a gifted comedian. Perfect timing and delivery.

It is a great show, BTW. Look for it.

R27 That show was pretty funny. Just the assortment of personalities on that show alone made it interesting.

Let’s not forget Trinity on Dexter.

[quote] Do any of Brad's exes have more power in Hollywood than he does?

R7 didn’t.

I like him but he is one of the most unattractive actors. Ugh.

[quote]Amazing how some actors have 'it,' which can't be taught, and others don't no matter how much they train and study.

You might even say that some people got it and make it pay, while some people can't even give it away!

[quote] I like him but he is one of the most unattractive actors. Ugh.

It sounds like you should just stick to soap operas and porn.

I thought he was great in "Beatriz at Dinner," which was written by Mike White. He plays against type as a sleazy tycoon and does some great sparring with Salma Hayek. Underrated movie.

[quote]He WON two Tony awards, OP. (The Changing Room and Sweet Smell of Success.)

"The Changing Room" is about the locker room of a Rugby League Team in the North of England and Mr Lithgow was nude. The cast did some promotional shots in a women's magazine that featured nudity called Viva.

I saw that Requiem for a Heavyweight on Broadway while in high school. I remember very little about it. It flopped financially.

Viva! I used to steal that from the drugstore! Age 11

Lithgow and Eric Porter have both played U.K. prime ministers, Churchill and Chamberlain respectively

He was amazing as the Trinity Killer on Dexter. I'd never seen him in a serious role before that and he was just fantastically evil.

R37, if Lithgow and John C. Reilly were in a beauty contest, Lithgow would win. And then I would shoot John C. Reilly for having the temerity to enter a beauty contest.

Loved him in well, everything

This never fails to make me laugh my ass off. Great writers and Jane Curtin is great too.

The American Middle West, OP? Are you Robert Crawley residing at Downton Abbey?

I read through this thread from curiosity, trying to see what others see in the guy, but Lithgow creeps the fuck out of me.

In every role it's as though I'm watching an old episode of PBS 'Inside the Actors Studio' with James Lipton interviewing James Lipton.

He stars in one of my favorite comedy shows ever -- Trial and Error. A incredibly talented comedian. And a great, overlooked tv show.

Lithgow was in The Changing Room with Paul Rudd. No, not that Paul Rudd but a highly respected young stage actor that people were saying was the next Brando. Obviously that never came about. And there was Streep's stage rival, Pamela Payton Wright, another one who went nowhere.

Arthur Mitchell in Dexter. I adore John Lithgow and even own a pair of jeans that he wore in Dexter(charity auction).

He was menacing and pure evil and fabulous in this role. When he walked into the police station and behind Dexter? And his finger trails across Dexters back without Dexter knowing? So creepy!!!! So well acted. He definitely deserved the Emmy. "Hello Dexter Morgan"

John Lithgow plays villains beautifully. He has a dark side.

R51 I loved Trial and Error! A great parody of the whole "The Staircase" incident.

The series was brilliant. It should've gotten a bigger audience.

I've worked with them all and John Lithgow is one of the sweetest, smartest and most generous in every way. I adored him.

[QUOTE] I thought he was great in "Beatriz at Dinner," which was written by Mike White. He plays against type as a sleazy tycoon and does some great sparring with Salma Hayek. Underrated movie.

I was going to mention this. He is fabulous in this as is Salma Hayek (she should have been nominated that year in lead). He’s a total Trumpian asshole in it and does wonders with the role.

One of my favorite actors. He is truly wonderful in The World According to Garp. Perfect encapsulation of that character from the novel.

By far his greatest performance, hands down, was in the b-movie "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension"

Dr. Emilio Lizardo / Lord John Whorfin is one of the most amazing characters ever created for the screen. I am not kidding.

Would he have been successful in Back To The Future as Christopher Lloyd was? I would have loved to see it.

He is such an accomplished ACTOR! He has such a broad range. And, as some of the posts above suggest, he's a good guy and doesn't have any of that star-diva bullshit going on.

Based on a few posts above, I'm going to watch Trial & Error. Surprisingly, it's on Prime and for FREE!

R59 You won't regret it. It is hysterically funny, and the guy who plays the lawyer who takes Lithgow's case is hot as fuck.

He is a CAPITAL actor.

[quote] the guy who plays the lawyer who takes Lithgow's case is hot as fuck.

What’s his name?

Is it Nicholas D'Agosto???

He is hot

R63 Yes, that's him. But he's much cuter in the show than he is in that picture.

That series was so good that it even made like the usually detestable Sherri Shepherd.

They did a paperback book about "Third Rock From The Sun" probably in the second season and Lithgow did a signing in NY. Big crowd, when he signed mine, I ask if he could include "I'm gorgeous!", he laughed, said "sure", and did.

I love that you started this thread, OP. Lithgow isn't typical DL fare, but what a remarkable career. He might be the most consistently employed and successful character actor of the past... 45 years? Between film, TV and theatre I don't think there's been a single calendar year since the early 80s in which he hasn't had multiple credits. A testament to his talent, reliability and, one assumes, friendly disposition.

R65 And even she's hilarious in it as the woman with every rare medical syndrome ever diagnosed.

Love seeing all the love for Trial and Error! It was SO good. Didn’t know it was on Prime—I’m going to watch it again.

Trustfund kid

Murder board, murder board

Season two really suffered without Lithgow

R71 Season 2 wasn't great, but Season 1 was brilliant.

"Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep...to completion."

Then there was Judge Horsedich, but it's pronounced "Hosendoch."

John Lithgow was anything but a trust fund kid. Though his parents were well-bred and educated people, they were simply hard-working actors, barn-storming across America in productions Lithgow senior produced himself, classical plays not commercial fare. As a kid, John and his siblings all worked backstage, occasionally rising to supporting roles in their father's shows.

John Lithgow for a Kennedy Center Honor!

Lithgow was also excellent in the Perry Mason reboot with hottie Matthew Rhys.