After brewing his morning coffee, John Lithgow reclines on a couch in his Central Park West apartment (prewar molding and abstract 1950s oils). Though the 62-year-old actor is smiling paternally and wearing a blue polo and khakis, he can hardly be mistaken for a retiree. His speech is peppered with literary references, and he carries himself with an authority that can make even the preposterous sound plausible. "Maybe there's something deep in me that is afraid this will all collapse and I'd better have something I can go to," he says.
This would strain credulity, if not for the tiny chuckle that follows. After all, Lithgow has been nominated for five best-actor Tonys and won two. From Garp to Shrek, he's acted in dozens of films (with two Oscar nods) and notched three Emmy wins for 3rd Rock From the Sun. He writes children's books, too.
In October, the six-foot-four actor will lead a revival of All My Sons, the first Broadway production of Arthur Miller's work since the playwright's death in 2005. Lithgow's role as a corrupt World War II military contractor recalls modern Rumsfeldian mismanagement, and though this theme is in keeping with the actor's politics — he's an Obama man — he's not looking to pick a fight. "I'd be terrified of going on Bill Maher," he says, "I'm hopelessly evenhanded."
In his recent one-man show, Stories By Heart, Lithgow explored his vagabond, literary upbringing (his father founded several Midwestern Shakespeare festivals) and acted out a beloved P.G. Wodehouse tale. It earned rave reviews for this father of three grown children, but it would be impolite to brag. "I don't have a lot of faith in my own ideas," he says.
Others do, of course. "Acting with Lithgow was all about beats, and precision," says Joseph Gordon-Levitt, his costar on 3rd Rock. "I learned that from him." Gordon-Levitt also notes that Lithgow's acting tips led to life lessons: Be the nicest guy in the room. Learn everyone's name on set, their husbands' and wives', too.
But Lithgow doesn't like to take his work home. His wife of 26 years, Mary Yeager, is a UCLA economics scholar — "Actors and professors were not necessarily intended to marry. They're a different species," he says — and they escape to a northwest Montana cabin. Yes, the New York stage feels like home now, but Lithgow tends to equate comfort zones with fallout zones. He didn't even attempt a Broadway musical until he was 56. "A sort of foolhardy audacity has never been my problem," he says. "I will fling myself into anything."
