Talk:John Lithgow/Archive 1

Dexter Spoiler

Maybe someone should slim down the paragraph on his joining the Dexter cast for the upcoming season, or at least put a warning above it. It kinda lets slip a pretty big surprise, I was angry with myself for reading it. 76.19.41.137 (talk) 04:35, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

Band in Children's entertainment

A sentence in "Children's entertainment" section reads: "Farkle and Friends features the vocal talents of Lithgow and Bebe Neuwirth backed by the Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra." While I have no problems with the sentence, Bill Elliott redirects to a NASCAR driver. I went into his page and there is no mention to any musical career. The fact that the band was active during his NASCAR racing years and no mention existing to NASCAR and the band itself on the same (any) website, leads me to think it is some wrong connection. Since I am not American, nor a big fan of NASCAR, I cannot tell though if it is true or not... can someone check this and make sure it is correct?

Thanks for the note, you are right, the Swing Orc. Bill Elliot and the driver are 2 different people. Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra]. I'll fix the wiki link.JeanColumbia (talk) 13:04, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Children's book author

Rather than fix the grammar and spelling, I deleted a line from the introduction relating to a specific children's book Lithgow has written. His authorship of children's books is not addressed in the rest of the article, and I figured it was therefore of little importance. However, should someone else write a section detailing his authorships (perhaps combined with his work on children's music, as that is mentioned in the introduction as well), then I believe some form of introductory sentence relating to that could be added back in. Hmmmmm382 08:08, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Oh, my bad. There already IS a section like that. I just didn't notice it as it was titled "Music Career." Perhaps it should be retitled, as it describes a literary career, too? It could be called "Work with Children" or something along those lines. Hmmmmm382

Lithgow's current residence in Los Angeles

This URL http://www.pittsburghsymphony.org/pghsymph.nsf/bios/john+lithgow and bio from Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra indicates he resides in L.A. Other web based bios indicate the same thing. I think his YS resdency is a popularly held misconception that arises because his father, Arthur Lithgow directed Shakespeare in Yellow Springs in the early 1950s and young John spent some time and did some early theatrical work in the area. http://www.oneglobepublishing.com/yso/drama.shtml#lithgow The immediately preceding URL lists John Lithgow as a former resident of YS. Hope this clears up the confusion. -- Rydra Wong 01:19, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Given that he's in a TV series this season, you can pretty much guarantee he resides in LA right now. Gzuckier 19:44, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Name Pronounciation

Is his name really pronounced "lith-go", as the article states? I saw him on Late Night with Conan O'Brien once, and I'm almost certain I heard him pronounce his own name as "lith-gow", rhyming with "cow". I'm going to remove the reference to pronounciation from the article until this is cleared up. Anty 13:18, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

I have the cast recording of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, in which John Lithgow himself pronounces his name "lith-go." So I'll change it back.Kevin M Marshall 14:05, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

There's another Lithgow with the same "lith-go" pronunciation here: Mike Lithgow Ian Dunster (talk) 20:33, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Worse Razzie

Does anyone know what movie it was for?

Cliffhanger - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001475/awards - Google is your friend. :-)

Children's Books

More than passing reference should be given to his marvelous children's books; they deserve a section of their own, like his other performances. Micawber has fascinated my young daughter from an early age. Lithgow's committment to children and education is substantial, as can be verified by his website, http://www.lithgowforkids.com Bob Kerns 08:50, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

---

no worries, David. All of them were nice. I just chose one that showed a more organic smile and full face effect. All of the pics were great, and any of them would suit the purpose. Thanks for allowing me to initially choose. :) Arcayne 16:22, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Prnounce the Name

[ˈʤɔn ˈlɪθɡaʊ]) in IPA comes out, I believe as if Lithgow rhymes with cow. According my sources, he pronounces it Lithgow, rhymes with mow. Or Moe of 3 Stooges fame. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.75.91.146 (talk) 00:26, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Indeed, he does. I've reverted the "minor" edit by Buechner from 21 February that replaced the "lith-go" pronunciation with the IPA notation that apparently is inacurate. Someone familiar with the IPA should add the correct notation, but without removing the information that far more people are capable of understanding. —David Levy 09:25, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Lith-Go. Thats how he is called in this interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh8TQmscCNQ&feature=related 94.168.179.213 (talk) 22:55, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

2001

He's listed as part of the 2001: A Space Odyssey cast. ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.125.110.223 (talk) 20:42, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

"a pine tree"?

I just removed a dubious sentence stating that some writer named "N. Emlyn Baker" once compared Lithgow to "a Pine tree". Google searches reveal no trace of this allegedly famous author. —Steve Summit (talk) 20:03, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

Interesting -- the only other reference, not derived from the now-deleted Wikipedia reference, states "The famous writer N. Emlyn Baker is a noted fan of Buttigieg." The fame, if not the author as well, appear to be invented as an internet hack. Unfortunately, the deleted reference was captured in several web biographies based on the Wikipedia article. Bob Kerns (talk) 11:34, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Spanish Language Skills

A few times on '3rd Rock From the Sun" Lithow speaks what sounds like well spoken Spanish, how good is his Spanish, and where did he learn it? 71.127.17.39 (talk) —Preceding undated comment was added at 17:19, 18 December 2008 (UTC).

Regarding the following paragraph:

"His time on the set of Footloose lead to what would become a life long love of dance. His preferred style is Breakdancing although Lithgow has shown skill in other forms as well. He has been known to hold dance competitions for inner city youths and to even compete against the winner in a show of sportsmanship"

I think if he was well-known to do this, I would have been able to find something about it. This paragraph has been deleted by someone else, reverted, and I am deleting it again, unless someone can provide a source for this. --Susan118 (talk) 05:16, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

Removed paragraph about breakdancing

Regarding the following paragraph:

"His time on the set of Footloose lead to what would become a life long love of dance. His preferred style is Breakdancing although Lithgow has shown skill in other forms as well. He has been known to hold dance competitions for inner city youths and to even compete against the winner in a show of sportsmanship"

I think if he was well-known to do this, I would have been able to find something about it. This paragraph has been deleted by someone else, reverted, and I am deleting it again, unless someone can provide a source for this. --Susan118 (talk) 05:16, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

Harvard

According to John Lithgow's recent autobiography, Drama, he was a Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard. Dick Kimball (talk) 17:04, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Comedian?

Resolved

@Sro23 and Tenebrae: I have had this discussion before with Tenebrae on the talk page of Alec Baldwin. Coincidentally, I mentioned Lithgow on that discussion. I don't consider Lithgow to be a comedian. However, I am willing to reconsider if anyone has a reliable source, per WP:PROVEIT, that verifies that Lithgow is indeed a comedian. If anyone has a better solution, feel free to discuss it. Comments? Hitcher vs. Candyman (talk) 22:05, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

From Biography.com (FYI / A&E Networks): John Lithgow Biography: Actor( 1945–): "Equally versed in comedy and drama, John Lithgow has won raves for his work in World According to Garp, 3rd Rock from the Sun, and Dexter." --Tenebrae (talk) 23:37, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

From Monty Python: A Chronology, 1969-2012, 2d ed. - Page 181: "February 9, 1997 The 11th Annual American Comedy Awards (Award ceremony). Eric Idle presents the award for Funniest Male in a TV Series to John Lithgow (3rd Rock from the Sun)." --Tenebrae (talk) 23:39, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

From "John Lithgow loves killer comedy, drama roles; both on display these days", BY RICK BENTLEY, Fresno Bee via The Wichita Eagle, MARCH 16, 2017 4:45 PM. --Tenebrae (talk) 23:41, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

From "John Lithgow returns to comedy as a murder suspect in Trial and Error" by FRAZIER MOORE, Associated Press, March 21 2017. --Tenebrae (talk) 23:43, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

From Marsupial Sue By John Lithgow, Simon & Schuster: ",,,actor, comedian, and best-selling author John Lithgow ..." --Tenebrae (talk) 23:46, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

@Tenebrae: The source from Simon and Schuster seems to be the most appropriate to cite because it labels Lithgow as a comedian. Good work, Tenebrae. Hitcher vs. Candyman (talk) 00:20, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Reads like a PowerPoint Presentation

It is not worth trying to address all the issues of this entry but I think I can suggest that if it were written as proper English prose it might help. At the moment it is virtually unreadable it has no flow and is just like a set of PowerPoint presentation bullet points.

It desperately needs someone to take charge of this in order to improve its readability and to align with other Wikipedia biographies. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Adel314 (talk • contribs) 14:07, 9 November 2017 (UTC)

Worth adding mention?

The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts ---Another Believer _(Talk) 20:15, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

Descent from William Bradford

If the information that Lithgow descends from William Bradford (of the Pilgrims/Mayflower fame) was added to this article in October 24, 2016, why did Lithgow act surprised to learn this information from Henry Louis Gates on the Finding Your Roots program in 2021? 173.88.246.138 (talk) 05:02, 17 April 2021 (UTC)

Incomplete reference to J.S. Bach

"As a child, he learned how to play J.S. Bach." As it stands, this is a fairly meaningless bit of information. The cited article isn't available for me to review, so I have no idea if Lithgow performed some of Bach's music on one of several instruments, or if he developed an uncanny ability to impersonate J.S. Bach. If someone could clarify what is meant by that statement, it would improve the article. 68.103.51.244 (talk) 14:13, 22 March 2022 (UTC)