John Lithgow – actor, author, poet, musician, and singer. A performer best known for his work on both the silver and small screen as well as the stage. He’s portrayed aliens and psychopaths, a tormented airline passenger and terrorist. And now, he’s adding another role to his vast repertoire: birthday boy!
Happy Birthday, John Lithgow!
John Arthur Lithgow was born on October 19, 1945, which means he’s turning 75 today! The budding thespian – and Harvard graduate – made his professional debut in 1973 in the Broadway production of David Storey’s The Changing Room.
The following year, he returned to the Great White Way opposite Lynn Redgrave in the comedy My Fat Friend and he appeared in his first television part: Paul Unger in The Country Girl.
Lithgow, who has been appearing in feature films since 1972’s Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues, is probably most recognized for his roles in Footloose (he’s the preacher who decries dancing), and the many projects he collaborated on with director Brain De Palma, namely Blow Out, Obsession, and Raising Cain.
Likewise, among his plethora of TV credits, Lithgow is undoubtedly best remembered for playing Dick Solomon, the emissary of an alien species bent on galaxy-wide conquest, on 3rd Rock From the Sun. In addition, he won critical acclaim for the two seasons he spent embodying British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Netflix’s The Crown.
Lithgow’s other acting credits include the movies All That Jazz, The World According to Garp, Twilight Zone: The Movie, and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, theatrical productions like The Frontpage, M. Butterfly and the Sweet Smell of Success, and episodes of 30 Rock, Tales From the Crypt, and Drunk History.
In addition to his work as an actor in live-action productions, Lithgow is also well known for his contributions as a voice-over artist and his voluminous contributions to the children’s literary genre.
Over the course of his lustrous career, Lithgow’s varied performances have earned him numerous accolades and honors including two Tony Awards, six Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe awards. He has been inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame, and he has been granted a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He’s also been nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar twice for his roles in Terms of Endearment and The World According to Garp.
Lithgow has been married to Mary Yeager, a UCLA history teacher, since 1981. They have two children together: a son, Nathan, and a daughter named Phoebe. Lithgow has another child, a son named Ian with his first wife, Jean Taynton.
Entertainment Hub would like to wish John Lithgow a very happy birthday and you can too by clicking on the Twitter link below.
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