John Lithgow

His parents are Sarah Jane Price (born 1917) and theater director/producer Arthur Lithgow (1915-2004).

He has said that Chaplin's Modern Times (1936) is his favorite film.

His father ran a Shakespearian Acting company in the 1950s which included David Carradine.

He attended Harvard College and graduated with a Bachelor's degree magna cum laude in history and literature (1967). He lived in Adams House as an undergraduate. Lithgow later served on Harvard's Board of Overseers.

But with critical acclaim came personal confusion, and in the mid 1970s, he and his wife divorced.

He has won two Tony Awards: in 1973, as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic) for David Storey's "The Changing Room"; and in 2002, as Best Actor (Musical) for "Sweet Smell of Success." He has also been nominated on three occasions for Tonys -- two for Best Actor (Play): for "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1985) and "M. Butterfly." (1988), and once for Best Actor (Musical): for "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (2005).

He entered therapy, and in 1982, his life started in a new direction, the movies - he received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Roberta Muldoon in The World According to Garp (1982).

A second Oscar nomination followed for Terms of Endearment (1983), and he met a UCLA economics professor who became his second wife.

He is just 12 years older than Lori Singer, who played his daughter in Footloose (1984).

If "born to the theater" has meaning in determining a person's life path, then John Lithgow is a prime example of this truth. He was born in Rochester, New York, to Sarah Jane (Price), an actress, and Arthur Washington Lithgow III, who was both a theatrical producer and director. John's father was born in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, where the Anglo-American Lithgow family had lived for several generations. John moved frequently as a child, while his father founded and managed local and college theaters and Shakespeare festivals throughout the Midwest of the United States. Not until he was 16, and his father became head of the McCarter Theater in Princeton New Jersey, did the family settle down. But for John, the theater was still not a career. He won a scholarship to Harvard University, where he finally caught the acting bug (as well as found a wife). Harvard was followed by a Fulbright scholarship to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Returning from London, his rigorous dramatic training stood him in good stead, and a distinguished career on Broadway gave him one Tony Award for "The Changing Room", a second nomination in 1985 for "Requiem For a Heavyweight", and a third in 1988 for "M. Butterfly".

Three of his non-film roles have been based on movies involving Frank Oz and Ian McDiarmid. Most of Oz's and McDiarmid's collaborations are the Star Wars films, in which they play Yoda and Darth Sidious, respectively. Lithgow played Yoda on the radio. Oz also directed McDiarmid in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988). Lithgow appeared in the stage musical.

He was considered for the role of The Joker in Batman (1989).

He was considered for the role of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), which went to Anthony Hopkins.

He was the original voice of Hades in Disney's Hercules (1997) and recorded all the dialogue, but his performance was then replaced by the performance of James Woods.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6666 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on May 2, 2001.

In May 2002, he won both the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award as Best Actor in a Broadway musical for his performance in "Sweet Smell of Success".

Biography in: "Contemporary Authors". Volume 217, pg. 219-223. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2004.

He is a celebrity spokesperson for Campbell Select soups since 2006.