John Lithgow speaks at the Oxonian Society.John Lithgow is an actor with a broad range of interests and talents in every area of the entertainment industry - and even outside it. He has been working in show business for almost forty years, and has achieved stunning success in wildly varied ventures. In the early 1980's Lithgow began to make a major mark in films. At that time, he was nominated for Oscars in back-to-back years, for The World According to Garp and Terms of Endearment. In the years before and after, he has appeared in over thirty films. Notable among them have been All That Jazz, Blow Out, Twilight Zone: the Movie, Footloose, Shrek, Kinsey, Dreamgirls, Civil Action, Pelican Brief, Manhattan Project, Harry and the Hendersons, and Raising Cain.
He won a Tony Award three weeks after his Broadway debut. Since then, he has appeared on Broadway eighteen more times, earning another Tony, three more Tony nominations, four Drama Desk Awards, and induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame. His performances have included major roles in M. Butterfly, Mrs. Farnsworth, Sweet Smell of Success, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
For his work on television, Lithgow has been nominated for ten Emmy Awards. He has won four of them, one for an episode of Amazing Stories, and three for what is perhaps his most celebrated creation. This was the loopy character of the alien High Commander, Dick Solomon, on the hit NBC comedy series 3rd Rock from the Sun. In that show's six-year run, Lithgow also won the Golden Globe and two SAG Awards.