What is the net worth of John Lithgow?
John Lithgow is an American actor, author and musician who has appeared in a wide range of films, television shows and stage productions. John Lithgow has a net worth of $50 million. On the small screen, he is known for his award-winning roles in the sitcom “3rd Rock from the Sun” and the Netflix historical drama “The Crown.” Lithgow’s film credits include “The World Second to Garp,” “Footloose” and “Love is Strange,” while his stage work includes Tony-winning performances in “The Changing Room” and “The Sweet Smell of Success.”
Youth and education
John Lithgow was born in 1945 in Rochester, New York to Sarah, a retired actress, and Arthur, a theater producer and director. He is of European-American descent and is a descendant of eight Mayflower passengers. Due to his father’s job, Lithgow frequently moved across countries with his family, settling for a time in Yellow Springs, Ohio. There, he and his siblings were cared for by activist Coretta Scott King. As a teenager, Lithgow lived in Akron and Lakewood, Ohio. He then moved to Princeton, New Jersey, where he attended Princeton High School. After this, he attended Harvard College, graduating magna cum laude in 1967 with a degree in history and literature. After graduation, Lithgow received a Fulbright scholarship to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Theatrical career
In 1973, Lithgow began his esteemed acting career on Broadway. An immediate success, he won a Tony Award for his debut performance in David Storey’s The Changing Room. The following year Lithgow starred in the comedy My Fat Friend opposite Lynn Redgrave. Later, in 1976, he starred alongside Meryl Streep and Tom Hulce in Arthur Miller’s A Memory of Two Mondays. Lithgow’s other credits from the decade include “The Secret Service,” “Comedians,” “Anna Christie” and “Once in a Lifetime.” In the early 80s, he was in “Salt Lake City Skyline” and “Division Street.” Lithgow then appeared in Kaufman at Large, Beyond Therapy and Rod Serling’s Requiem for a Heavyweight. In the late 1980s, he starred in Front Page and David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly.”
After a 12-year hiatus from the stage, Lithgow returned to great success in the 2002 musical adaptation of “Sweet Smell of Success.” For his performance as JJ Hunsecker, he won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. Another Tony nomination came in 2005 for Lithgow’s performance in the musical “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”; however, he lost to his co-star Norbert Leo Butz. A few years later, Lithgow made his Royal Shakespeare Company debut in a production of Twelfth Night. He went on to act on Broadway, appearing in such acclaimed plays as “A Delicate Balance” and “Hillary and Clinton.”
Film career
Lithgow made his feature film debut in the 1972 film Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues. Later in the decade, he had significant roles in Brian De Palma’s psychological thriller Obsession, the political comedy The Big Fix, and the Bob Fosse musical All That Jazz. Lithgow continued to flourish on the big screen in the 80s. After appearing in Blow Out and I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can, he had a critically acclaimed role as transgender ex-football player Roberta Muldoon in “Second World after Garp”. For his performance, Lithgow received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He earned another nomination in the same category the following year for his performance in Terms of Endearment. Among Lithgow’
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In the early 1990s, Lithgow starred in the action crime thriller Ricochet alongside Denzel Washington. He also played Huben’s missionary in the literary adaptation At Play in the Fields of the Lord and played a man with multiple personality disorder in Brian De Palma’s Raising Cain. More important roles in the 90s came in “The Wrong Man”, “The Pelican Brief”, “Love, Cheat & Steal”, “Cliffhanger”, “Hollow Point”, “Homegrown” and “A Civil Action”. In the 2000s, Lithgow’s notable credits include ‘Kinsey’, ‘Dreamgirls’ and ‘Shrek’, the latter of which he voiced as Lord Farquaad. Later in the 2010s, Lithgow gained recognition for his performances in the LGBTQ romantic drama “
Television career
Early in his television career, Lithgow received an Emmy Award nomination for the 1983 television film The Day After. He went on to earn multiple nominations for his performances in the anthology series ‘Amazing Stories’ and the television movie ‘Resting Place’.
In the 1990s, Lithgow began his biggest television role in the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun, playing the alien High Commander Dick Solomon. The actor earned six consecutive Emmy nominations for his performance, winning three times. Later, Lithgow gained acclaim for his recurring roles in series such as ‘Dexter’, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and ‘Once Upon a Time in Wonderland’. He gained even more attention for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in the Netflix historical drama “The Crown,” winning another Emmy.
Other Projects
Beyond acting, Lithgow has created numerous children’s books, including “Marsupial Sue,” “Carnival of the Animals” and “I Got Two Dogs.” Also an album recorded for children such as “Singin’ in the Bathtub” and “Farkle and Friends”.
As a satirical author, Lithgow published the poetry collection Dumpty: The Age of Trump in Verse in 2019. A follow-up book, Trumpty Dumpty Wanted a Crown, was released the following year.
Personal life
In 1966, Lithgow married his first wife, Professor Jean Taynton. They had a son, Ian, and divorced in 1980 following Lithgow’s affair with actress Liv Ullmann. Later, Lithgow married UCLA history professor Mary Yeager, with whom he has two children: Nathan and Phoebe.
