Dave Davies
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Appearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
From WHYY in Philadelphia, this is Fresh Air Weekend.
I'm Dave Davies.
Today, John Lithgow, veteran of hundreds of performances on stage, screen, and television.
To play Winston Churchill in the series The Crown, he had an idea to help him nail the statesman's gravelly voice.
He spooned pieces of apple with a melon baller and stuck them in the back of his cheeks for his first reading with the cast.
And stuck them in the back and spoke.
Lithgow is currently starring in the play Giant on Broadway.
He plays the renowned children's author Roald Dahl, caught in a public controversy after he wrote an article laced with anti-Semitic statements.
Also, we'll talk about Stephen Sondheim's life in music with Daniel Okrent, author of a new book, Stephen Sondheim, Art Isn't Easy.
That's coming up on Fresh Air Weekend.
This is Fresh Air Weekend.
I'm Dave Davies.
Our first guest today, John Lithgow, is an actor you can probably recall from a half dozen rolls off the top of your head.
But the remarkable thing about his nearly 200 performances on stage, screen, and television is that at age 80, he's still going strong.
You can see him playing an intelligence agent with Jeff Bridges in the FX action series The Old Man.
He plays the character Dumbledore in a new HBO Harry Potter series that premieres in December.
And he's starring now on Broadway, doing eight performances a week in the play Giant, about a troubling side to renowned children's author Roald Dahl.
Among Lithgow's many career honors are Oscar nominations for his roles in the film The World According to Garp and Terms of Endearment, and six Primetime Emmy Awards for playing Winston Churchill in The Crown, a serial killer in the series Dexter, and an alien visiting Earth in the sitcom Third Rock from the Sun.
He's been nominated for six Tony Awards and won twice, including once for his very first appearance on Broadway.
Lithgow has also written several children's books, a memoir titled Drama, an Actor's Education, and the Dumpty Trilogy, three books of satirical poems inspired by the current occupant of the White House.