John Lithgow is an actor from the United States with his own personalized star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Over the years, he has won such prestigious awards as the Golden Globe, Tony and Emmy Awards. In addition to this, Lithgow was nominated twice for an Oscar (in 1983 and 1984) and four times for a Grammy.
Family and education
John Lithgow was born in October 1945 in the American city of Rochester (Monroe County, New York). The life of his parents was closely connected with the theater - his mother was an actress, and his father was a theater director.
After school, John Lithgow entered the world famous Harvard University. Here he studied literature and history and eventually earned a BA with magna cum laude honors.
It was at Harvard that Lithgow became interested in theatrical work. And after graduating from this university, he decided to get another acting education - at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.
The beginning of acting and nominations for "Oscar"
Returning from England, John Lithgow began performing on the Broadway stage. And in 1973 he was honored for the first time with a Tony Award for his performance in The Locker Room directed by David Storey.
In the seventies, Lithgow began to get roles in films. During this period, he took part, among others, in such tapes as "The Country Girl" (1974), "Obsession" (1976), "The Big Conspiracy" (1978), "All That Jazz" (1979).
In the eighties, the talented actor twice nominated for an Oscar (and both times in the Best Supporting Actor nomination): in 1983 - for the role of Roberta Muldoon in The World According to Garp, and in 1984 - for the role of Sam Burns in the melodrama "The Language of Tenderness". However, unfortunately, it was not possible to become the winner of Lithgow - the award in both the first and second cases went to the competitors.
Lithgow's career from the nineties to the present day
Since the mid-nineties, the actor began to appear in many TV series. From 1996 to 2001, he played one of the main roles (the role of the alien Dick Solomon) in the TV series The Third Planet from the Sun. This series was quite popular with the audience. The actor, thanks to his filming in it, received several Emmy awards. On the other hand, there were at that time and projects where the actor appeared in only one or a few episodes (for example, the series "Tales from the Crypt" and "Cosby").
In the early 2000s, John Lithgow made his debut as a children's writer. Now he has more than ten books on his account. Here are the names of some of them - "Marsupial Sue" (2001), "I am a manatee" (2003), "Carnival of animals" (2004), "I have two dogs" (2008). A special mention should be made of the book by Litgow "Mouse Mahalia Goes to College" (2007) - illustrations for it for the publishing house Simon & Schuster were made by the Russian artist Igor Oleinikov.
Also at the beginning of the 21st century, Lithgow again showed himself as a wonderful theatrical actor. In 2002, he won a second Tony Award for his role as Hansecker in Sweet Smell of Success.
In 2010, John Lithgow played another bright serial role - in the fourth season of the famous TV series "Dexter" he appeared in the image of the maniac Arthur "Trinity" Mitchell. This work was highly appreciated - he received for his participation in "Dexter" Golden Globe and Emmy.
In recent years, John Lithgow can still be seen in movies and TV shows of the highest caliber. He played Jerry Whitaker in How I Met Your Mother (this character appears in four episodes), Charles Rodman in the blockbuster Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Old Donald in Interstellar (2014), and the father of one of the main characters in the family comedy “Hello, Dad, New Year! 2 (2017).
Personal life
Back in 1966, John Lithgow married teacher Jean Tainton. In 1972, the couple had a son, Yang. The couple broke up because of John's betrayal - he had an affair with film actress Liv Ullman, about which Jean became aware. The divorce was filed in 1980.
In 1981, Lithgow married a second time - to a professor at the University of California, Mary Yager. From this marriage (it lasts to this day), John Lithgow has two children - daughter Phoebe and son Nathan.
