This book starts with a tender reflection on the cruelty of time balanced with the sweet nostalgia of his father-son relationship. There are enough surprises in this book to help you vicariously observe the happenstance of meeting true legends, some in the ordinary course of life and others in the roiling mess of theatre, film, and TV. Unlike many other biographies, he doesn’t display these interactions with the Bigs as saga of social currency. He stays on point with the storyline.

He was just a boy once, his parents ran legitimately successful Shakespeare festivals, and that was his normal. (This reminds me of Peter Shickley’s lecture at the Mary Pickford Theatre years ago, when he stated with humor, ‘As a kid, I thought it was the most normal thing in the world for my parents and family to host string quartets every Friday night in our Dakota home.’)

And then he was a man, fraught with the usual doubts about direction and profession. We should all be glad he has generously worked in every area of the performing arts, not just because he is good, but because he had a hand in dragging in and elevating some of the very best. That is honorable and necessary for the Arts to thrive. Good on you, Mr. Lithgow. It is a true story, and truly told. ( )

John Lithgow is one of the best human beings I have ever met. Turns out he is also a superb writer. This autobiography covers his career primarily up to about 1980, which leaves me in hopes that there will be a follow-up volume. He writes passionately about his love of theater and his upbringing in it. There is much for the novice actor to learn in these pages and I recommend it highly. Lithgow does not spare himself when describing his failings and he admits justifiable pride in his successes. For anyone who loves the theater, this is a wonderful read by a wonderful man. ( )

Let me start by saying I'm not into theater at all, I've fallen asleep at every play or musical I've ever been to, except Annie when I was around 10. BUT, my mom was a seamstress and she worked backstage at at least a couple plays doing hair, makeup, and costuming, once in a while I dragged along and I always found it pretty fascinating. I even played a mouse, with no lines in a play I can't remember.

I like John Lithgow and I like biographies, so I decided to give it a try. Pretty interesting, and often touching, stuff. He's a surprisingly good writer, certain turns of phrase really wow'd me. The audio was great because he reads it, but then he mentioned some pictures that are in the regular book so now I want to find a copy to look through. What I thought was kind of strange was that he barely talked about "Third Rock From the Sun" at all and he never mentioned Shrek. I thought those would be a big part of it because it's what he's most well-known for, but I guess he wanted it to be a book about acting and directing and maybe there are other books about Third Rock. ( )

Drama: An Actor's Education by John Lithgow

★ ★ ★

In many memoirs I read, one of my gripes is how little detail there is. Many seem to just skim through their lives. The opposite can be said about John Lithgow. Within the first 300 pages of his 316 pages book, he discusses the first 30 years of his 66 year life. He almost goes into too much detail. Last last 16 pages of sort of a skim of his more “recent years” - those being from 1980-now. So while interesting, I became bored with every tiny step of his life. But I give him credit. He is honest. He doesn't skip over the bad and he isn't overly fond of the “look at me!” syndrome so many actors have. His love and adoration for his dad shines through from beginning to end.

He delves mostly into his theatrical work here so if you are into theater or a huge Lithgow fan, this might be a good book to read. For me, personally, I found it somewhat boring at points. But he is a great writer and I do admire John Lithgow's work as an actor. ( )

Narrated by the one and only John Lithgow! I really enjoyed listening to Mr. Lithgow describe his early days in acting, the itinerant childhood and productions his father headed that formed the base of his education in drama, through his struggling New York days and his eventual stage success in the '70s. After finishing this, the rule still holds true: stage actors make the best book readers! ( )