Anyone who hears enough laughter and applause at a young age will become an actor, whether they intend to or not. John Lithgow More Quotes by John Lithgow More Quotes From John Lithgow If we are ever going to save this society and the world, there has got to be a way for us to work together. That may be more than we can ever hope to achieve, just because of human nature. John Lithgow human-nature working-together world I was very interested in being a painter. I had facility, I had talent, and I loved painting and printmaking, and I was quite serious about it. John Lithgow painting talent serious I really prize and love great painting. It's so out of date now. It's slightly come back in. John Lithgow prize painting and-love I'm as flighty as anybody. You put a lot out there. I've been through the process a lot. When I play a major role, it's my instinct to create a nice atmosphere. People in the major roles dominate the tone of an entire film. To my mind, it's much easier to work creatively when everyone's friendly. John Lithgow atmosphere nice people I always tell that to young people - go to college, do theater, work with an audience. Don't try to learn how to act in front of millions and millions of people. Don't make that your first ambition, to be on a sitcom or get into the movies. Learn who you are as an actor, and the best way to do that is to do it in front of an audience. John Lithgow ambition college people I can't get used to the fact that I'm 68 years old. I still feel like a youngster. I am playing a part even older than 68 - 71 years old. It's kind of startling to see myself in a movie and realize, "Yup. That's exactly what I look like." John Lithgow realizing kind I think there are all sorts of ways of turning into an actor, and there are a vast variety of different actors. You know, you interview plenty of actors and you know they come at it from a different direction and acting means different things to a lot of people. John Lithgow mean people thinking One of the things that gives me a lot of pleasure about both the solo show and the book is that it tells people about my dad. He really was an important man. He was a kind of pioneer of regional theater. He was the first American producer to ever produce all of Shakespeare plays. John Lithgow dad men book I was married very young. I lived a very middle class life. I was married at age 21, divorced at 31. I didn't sleep on people's couches. John Lithgow sleep class people I subscribe to the great George G. Scott quote, "All actors are in trouble. Directors who don't help are a pain in the ass". We all need help from directors. We are all equally insecure. John Lithgow insecure pain helping The problem is that people are pulling farther apart, rather than make an effort to get back together. There have been remarkable moments that united this country. It makes everyone feel relieved. Then because of economic stress, political shifts, we get wrenched apart again. I think it's cyclical. I am an optimist by nature. There are moments, the period after 9/11, the way we responded. The election of Barack Obama. There are moments where the country felt good about being American. I'm waiting for that to happen again. John Lithgow stress country thinking I don't hesitate to do nudity as an actor if it's done well. John Lithgow nudity actors done Any character you play, you're on his side. You do have the third eye that looks at what an appalling creature he is, but you have to look at what's good about him. John Lithgow eye character You have to overcome enormous self-consciousness, but nudity is about the strongest thing you can do in an acting performance. It's the most unsettling or the most comic or the most sexual. John Lithgow acting self overcoming I look for every opportunity to mix comedy and horror and tragedy. I love catching audiences off-guard. John Lithgow tragedy opportunity looks It's nice when you've done enough movies that you can do your own anthology. John Lithgow nice done enough I went to Harvard and immediately fell into the theater gang, and I was already an experienced actor, so you go with the flow! I've already used the phrase "campus star." John Lithgow phrases actors stars I grew up in a theater family. My father was a regional theater classical repertory producer. He created Shakespeare festivals. He produced all of Shakespeare's plays, mostly in Shakespeare festivals in Ohio. One of them, the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland, is still going. So I grew up not wanting to be an actor, not wanting to go into the family business. John Lithgow ohio lakes father Having grown up in the theater family, having done a huge amount of acting from a very little boy to precocious teenager in Shakespeare festivals that my father produced, I went off to college and fell in with the theater gang. I was already an experienced actor. I became a kind of campus star. I heard all this applause and laughter. John Lithgow teenager laughter stars Growing up I didn't want to be an actor. I sort of didn't want to go into the family business; the main reason being there was something I wanted to do far more, which was be an artist. John Lithgow growing-up actors artist
