John Lithgow

It's my theory that if you hear enough applause and laughter at a young enough age, you're doomed

— John Lithgow

Instead of being a theater actor who sometimes does movies I became a movie actor who sometimes does theater.

— John Lithgow

When I was a teenager, I remember the extraordinary feeling of accomplishment for completing 'Vanity Fair.' I don't think it was even…

— John Lithgow

In animation, there's this exhilarating moment of discovery when you see the film and you say, Oh THAT'S what I was doing.

— John Lithgow

I was married very young. I lived a very middle class life. I was married at age 21, divorced at 31.

— John Lithgow

There is less difference than you would imagine entertaining little children and entertaining adults.

— John Lithgow

My wife is a professor at UCLA in Los Angeles, but otherwise, I'd be right back living on the Upper West Side.

— John Lithgow

Books make great gifts because they're something you love that you can share.

— John Lithgow

We moved around a lot when I was growing up. I was always the new kid in class, but I was good…

— John Lithgow

I subscribe to the great George G. Scott quote, "All actors are in trouble. Directors who don't help are a pain in…

— John Lithgow

People have expectations from you - and the whole fun of acting is taking expectations and completely upending them. That's how you…

— John Lithgow

I auditioned for soap operas and commercials; I remember auditioning for Lays potato chips. It was a sort of 'Mutiny on the…

— John Lithgow

The first long chapter of my career was almost entirely theater so that, by the time I was 30, 35, I sort…

— John Lithgow

I got a wonderful college education. I went to Harvard. In those four years I accumulated a lot of knowledge but I…

— John Lithgow

I look around, and 50 percent of the big-budget entertainment you are seeing these days is dystopian. This is the era of…

— John Lithgow

You have to overcome enormous self-consciousness, but nudity is about the strongest thing you can do in an acting performance. It's the…

— John Lithgow

You kill three people, they call you a murderer. You kill a million people, they call you a conqueror. Go figure.

— John Lithgow

When good things come along, you end up saying yes to them. Because they're rare.

— John Lithgow

Money is just a low priority for me. I'm more interested in good work than a big bank account.

— John Lithgow

Britain has a great sense of its own national pride. It's like the monarchy is the embodiment of that pride.

— John Lithgow

I'm as vain as the next person, but I've made so much fun of myself over the years, and that's very salutary…

— John Lithgow

I owe my whole career as a storyteller to my father. He was an actor/director/producer and teacher.

— John Lithgow

I like to rehearse and rehearse and have everything exactly calculated before we start shooting - probably to a fault.

— John Lithgow

I'm probably a better granddad than dad because your role as a grandfather is to be fun, and I'm fun.

— John Lithgow

I'm a con artist in that I'm an actor. I make people believe something is real when they know perfectly well it…

— John Lithgow

My very first role was when I was 2 1/2 years old; I was one of Nora's children in 'A Doll's House,'…

— John Lithgow

In 1995, I proposed the Harvard Arts Medal. The idea was to celebrate the fact that, although it's rare, Harvard men and…

— John Lithgow

What fascinated me most was Churchill as a young child. He had a kind of Dickensian childhood. The neglect. And he was…

— John Lithgow

In TV and movies, you get known for a certain thing, and that's what's expected. Onstage, people are more open to whatever…

— John Lithgow

It's a delightful thing to do, to entertain kids. They're a completely different audience because of their total lack of irony. You're…

— John Lithgow

We all have our secrets, and we all have our deceptions. Acting, at its best, is all about deceiving people, and this…

— John Lithgow

My sense of myself is that I'm a character actor, and character actors are ready, willing, and able to do anything, to…

— John Lithgow

I got to have a great big knock-down, drag-out fight with Sylvester Stallone. Every actor should have that much fun at some…

— John Lithgow

I can't get used to the fact that I'm 68 years old. I still feel like a youngster. I am playing a…

— John Lithgow

We should have charity for what the dead say. We may disapprove of what they say, but we should not insult them…

— John Lithgow

The Broadway audience is made up of a greater percentage of tourists now. There's not nearly as much variety and danger and…

— John Lithgow

Any character you play, you're on his side. You do have the third eye that looks at what an appalling creature he…

— John Lithgow

One of the things that gives me a lot of pleasure about both the solo show and the book is that it…

— John Lithgow

If I don't enjoy it, there's something seriously wrong. There's a reason why they call it playing, what we do. It's ecstatic…

— John Lithgow

I tell young people, including my own kids, don't do this, it's too difficult. It's a career full of rejection, disappointment and…

— John Lithgow