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John Lithgow

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Biography

A distinguished actor of stage, television, and movies who is at home playing everything from menacing villains, big-hearted transsexuals, and loopy aliens, John Lithgow is also a composer and performer of children's songs, a Harvard graduate, a talented painter, and a devoted husband and father: in short, he is a true Renaissance man.

Once hailed by the Wall Street Journal as "the film character actor of his generation," Lithgow is the son of a theater director who once headed Princeton's McCarter Theater and produced a series of Shakespeare festivals in Ohio, where Lithgow was six when he made his first theatrical bow in Henry VI, Part 3. His parents raised Lithgow in a loving home that encouraged artistic self-expression and took a broad view of the world. As a youth, Lithgow was passionate about painting and at age 16, he was actively involved with the Art Students League in New York. When the acting bug bit, Lithgow's father was supportive. After Lithgow graduated from Harvard, he received a Fulbright scholarship to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art; while in England, Lithgow also worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and for the Royal Court Theatre. He returned to the U.S. in the early '70s and worked on Broadway where he won his first Tony and a Drama Desk Award for his part in The Changing Room (1973). Lithgow remained in New York for many years, establishing himself as one of Broadway's most respected stars and would go on to appear in at least one play per year through 1982. He would subsequently receive two more Tony nominations for Requiem for a Heavyweight and M. Butterfly. He made his first film appearance in Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1972). The film itself was an inauspicious affair as were his other subsequent early efforts, though by the early '80s, his film roles improved and diversified dramatically. Though capable of essaying subtle, low-key characters, Lithgow excelled in over-the-top parts as the next decade in his career demonstrates.

He got his first real break and a Best Supporting Actor nomination when he played macho football player-turned-sensitive woman Roberta Muldoon in The World According to Garp (1982). In 1983, he provided one of the highlights of Twilight Zone--The Movie as a terrified airline passenger and earned a second Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination in Terms of Endearment where he appeared with Shirley Maclaine and Jack Nicholson, as well as playing a fiery preacher in Footloose. That year, he won his first Emmy nomination for his work in the scary nuclear holocaust drama The Day After. In 1984, he played the crazed Dr. Lizardo in the cult favorite The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. In Ricochet (1992), Lithgow proved himself a terrifying villain with his portrayal of a psychopathic killer hell-bent for revenge against Denzel Washington, the man who incarcerated him. In 1990, he made Babysong video tapes of his performing old and new children's songs on the guitar and banjo. Though he had already established himself on television as a guest star, Lithgow gained a large and devoted following when he was cast as an alien captain who, along with his clueless crew, attempts to pass for human in the fresh, well-written NBC sitcom Third Rock From the Sun (1996). The role has won him multiple Emmys and Golden Globe awards. When not busy working on the show, in theater, or in feature films, Lithgow is at home playing "Superdad" to his children and his wife, a tenured college professor at U.C.L.A. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Filmography

Shrek 2 (2004) (voice) .... Lord Farquaad
Buckaroo Banzai Declassified (2002) (V) (archive footage) .... Himself, actor
Orange County (2002) .... Bud Brumder
Shrek: Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (2001) (V) (singing voice) .... Lord Farquaad
Creating a Fairy Tale World: The Making of 'Shrek' (2001) (TV) .... Himself
Shrek (2001) (voice) .... Lord Farquaad of Duloc
C-Scam (2000)
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie - Rugrats II (2000) (voice) .... Jean-Claude
... aka Rugrats in Paris - Der Film (2001) (Germany)
... aka Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000) (USA: short title)
Don Quixote (2000) (TV) .... Don Quixote de La Mancha/Alonso Quixano
51st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, The (1999) (TV) .... Himself
Officer Buckle and Gloria (1998) .... Narrator
Civil Action, A (1998) .... Judge Walter J. Skinner
Homegrown (1998) .... Malcolm/Robert Stockman
Christopher Reeve: A Celebration of Hope (1998) (TV) .... Himself
Johnny Skidmarks (1998) .... Sergeant Larry Skovik
Christmas in Washington (1996) (TV) .... Himself
Special Effects: Anything Can Happen (1996) (voice) .... Narrator
... aka Special Effects (1996)
"3rd Rock from the Sun" (1996) TV Series .... High Commander/Professor Dick Solomon
... aka "3rd Rock" (1996) (USA: promotional abbreviation)
... aka "Life As We Know It" (1996)
Hollow Point (1995) .... Thomas Livingston
... aka Rysk Roulette (1995)
Tuskegee Airmen, The (1995) (TV) .... Senator Conyers
Redwood Curtain (1995) (TV) .... Laird Riordan
My Brother's Keeper (1995) (TV) .... Tom & Bob Bradley
"American Cinema" (1995) TV Series .... Host
Silent Fall (1994) .... Dr. Harlinger
Princess Caraboo (1994) .... Professor Wilkinson
Good Man in Africa, A (1994) .... Arthur Fanshawe, British High Commissioner
Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects (1994) (TV) .... Himself
World War II: When Lions Roared (1994) (TV) .... Franklin Delano Roosevelt
... aka Then There Were Giants (1994) (TV)
Pelican Brief, The (1993) .... Smith Keen, Editor Washington Herald
Country Mouse & the City Mouse: A Christmas Tale, The (1993) (TV) .... Alexander
Love, Cheat & Steal (1993) (TV) .... Paul Harrington
"Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (1993) TV Series (uncredited) .... Himself
Wrong Man, The (1993) (TV) .... Phillip Mills
Cliffhanger (1993) .... Eric Qualen
... aka Cliffhanger - l'ultima sfida (1993) (Italy)
... aka Cliffhanger, traqué au sommet (1993) (France)
Raising Cain (1992) .... Carter/Cain/Doctor Nix/Josh/Margo
At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991) .... Leslie Huben
Ricochet (1991) .... Earl Talbott Blake
Boys, The (1991) (TV) .... Artie Margulies
... aka Guys, The (1991) (TV)
L.A. Story (1991) (scenes deleted) .... Harry Zell
Memphis Belle (1990) .... Lt.Col. Bruce Derringer
Ivory Hunters (1990) (TV) .... Robert Carter
... aka Last Elephant, The (1990) (TV)
Traveling Man (1989) (TV) .... Ben Cluett
Out Cold (1989) .... Dave Geary
Distant Thunder (1988) .... Mark Lambert
Harry and the Hendersons (1987) .... George Henderson
... aka Bigfoot and the Hendersons (1987)
Baby Girl Scott (1987) (TV) .... Neil Scott
Mesmerized (1986) .... Oliver Thompson
... aka Shocked (1986)
Manhattan Project, The (1986) .... Dr. John Mathewson
... aka Deadly Game (1987) (USA: video title)
Resting Place (1986) (TV) .... Maj. Kendall Laird
Santa Claus (1985) .... B.Z.
... aka Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)
2010: The Odyssey Continues (1984) (uncredited) .... Himself
2010 (1984) .... Walter Curnow
... aka 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984)
Glitter Dome, The (1984) (TV) .... Sgt. Marty Wellborn
Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, The (1984) .... Lord John Whorfin
... aka Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, The (1984) (USA: short title)
Footloose (1984) .... Reverend Shaw Moore
Terms of Endearment (1983) .... Sam Burns
Day After, The (1983) (TV) .... Joe Huxley
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) .... John Valentine (Segment #4)
Not in Front of the Children (1982) (TV) .... Richard Carruthers
World According to Garp, The (1982) .... Roberta Muldoon
I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982) .... Mr. Brunner
Blow Out (1981) .... Burke
Big Blonde (1980) (TV)
... aka Dorothy Parker's Big Blond (1980) (TV) (USA: complete title)
Mom, the Wolfman and Me (1980) (TV) .... Wally
Oldest Living Graduate, The (1980) (TV) .... Clarence
All That Jazz (1979) .... Lucas Sergeant
Rich Kids (1979) .... Paul Philips
Big Fix, The (1978) .... Sam Sebastian/Oscar Procari Jr.
Secret Service (1977) (TV) .... Thorne
Obsession (1976) .... Robert Lasalle
Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1972) .... John

Links

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