Drama: An Actor's Education
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

Actor, writer, singer, poetry champion, the multitalented Lithgow is a virtual Renaissance man. After authoring a successful series of children's books, he now joins the swelling ranks of memoirists. Being an actor first and foremost, Lithgow focuses his congenial look backward on his primary craft. As he cared for his dying father, Lithgow began reading a series of beloved short stories aloud to him. Inspired by the way in which his dad responded to these stories, he decided to spin his own tales: the story of his own education and career as an actor. The son of an itinerant actor/drama coach/producer, he saw his entire life predicated by and defined by the theatrical milieu. With grace, wit, and wisdom, he travels back into his past, drawing the reader with him on a captivating journey through the triumphs and failures of both his professional life and his personal experiences. Along the way, he communicates both his amazement of and his gratitude for the tremendous scope of his life and all the storied individuals who walked across his intimate stage.--Flanagan, Margare. Copyright 2010 Booklist

In this audio edition of his memoir, Lithgow pays tribute to his father, John, an actor, director, and producer who introduced the famous actor to the theater as a young boy. With endless musings regarding his personal history, Lithgow weaves together a colorful portrait of life as an actor: the good times, the bad times, and why both were so important to the art of acting itself. Listening to Lithgow is as easy as watching him act. His delivery is seamless, his dedication to the performance unwavering. Not just a memoir but also a statement about the art of acting, this audiobook is an illuminating study of process and method. Listeners will find it hard to turn off. A Harper hardcover. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

More than the run-of-the-mill "And then I met.... And then I was in..." actor's autobiography, this is both a memoir full of emotion and a cautionary tale. Lithgow, well known for dramatic and comedic roles in movies and on television, teaches actors to be on guard against taking themselves too seriously-to understand that "applause is an addiction." He details his early life as his father, a skilled director and producer who established Shakespeare festivals where the young Lithgow learned and honed his craft, moved the family following one tenuous job to another. The need to adapt to being the new kid in town had a huge impact on Lithgow's acting, but he writes that sublimating emotions to cope took a lifetime to repair. Lithgow's movies are mentioned occasionally, but this is primarily a book about theater and the importance of storytelling. VERDICT Lithgow shows that theater-the heightened form of storytelling-is an emotional exercise shared by the actor and the audience; the nature of its benefit is a mystery, but we can't get along without it. A necessary gift for theater students. [See Prepub Alert, 4/18/11.]-Larry Schwartz, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Moorhead (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In a tribute to his father and to his profession, the celebrated stage and screen actor rehearses his early career, cheerfully describing his successes and honestly recording his failures, professional and personal.Lithgow, who has written eight books for children (I Got Two Dogs, 2008, etc.), begins in 2002 when his father's health was failing rapidly. Serendipitously, the author decided to read aloud to him a story by P.G. Wodehouse, a story they both had loved when John was a child. A smile came to his father's face, and the author believes this helped his recovery for another 18 months. (Later, we learn that the story"Uncle Fred Flits By"became the centerpiece of Lithgow's one-man showStories by Heart, a work he still performs regularly.) The author records fondly the peripatetic lifestyle of his childhood. His father, a theatrical nomad, traveled extensively, teaching, starting theater companies and festivals and mounting productions, especially of Shakespeare (one of the author's life-long loves). His father never stayed anywhere long (his ambitions always exceeded his budgetsand, perhaps, his talent, though the author is far too kind to say so). Lithgow struggled through schoolnot with his studies (he graduatedmagna cum laudefrom Harvard) but with his uncertainty about whether to be an artist (painter) or actor. The latter won, of course, and Lithgow tells us about his school performances, his studies here and abroad, his tours and travails and his breaks in New York and Hollywood. He writes admiringly of his first wifetheir marriage fractured when he commenced a number of torrid affairs during what he recognizes as a very late adolescenceand his subsequent 30-year marriage with his second wife, Mary.Not a complex or innovative writer, Lithgow nonetheless emerges as genial, gentle, generous, grateful, self-deprecating and proud but never arrogant.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Actor, writer, singer, poetry champion, the multitalented Lithgow is a virtual Renaissance man. After authoring a successful series of children's books, he now joins the swelling ranks of memoirists. Being an actor first and foremost, Lithgow focuses his congenial look backward on his primary craft. As he cared for his dying father, Lithgow began reading a series of beloved short stories aloud to him. Inspired by the way in which his dad responded to these stories, he decided to spin his own tales: the story of his own education and career as an actor. The son of an itinerant actor/drama coach/producer, he saw his entire life predicated by and defined by the theatrical milieu. With grace, wit, and wisdom, he travels back into his past, drawing the reader with him on a captivating journey through the triumphs and failures of both his professional life and his personal experiences. Along the way, he communicates both his amazement of and his gratitude for the tremendous scope of his life and all the storied individuals who walked across his intimate stage. Copyright 2011 Booklist Reviews.

Not a tell-all confessional. Lithgow talks about working with the likes of Mike Nichols and Meryl Streep while considering what drives actors to act. He places special emphasis on what he learned from his father, Arthur Lithgow, an actor/director/producer who introduced his son to the joys of the stage. Not for celebrity spies but serious theater/film buffs, this promises to be informative and delightful. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

More than the run-of-the-mill "And then I met.... And then I was in..." actor's autobiography, this is both a memoir full of emotion and a cautionary tale. Lithgow, well known for dramatic and comedic roles in movies and on television, teaches actors to be on guard against taking themselves too seriously—to understand that "applause is an addiction." He details his early life as his father, a skilled director and producer who established Shakespeare festivals where the young Lithgow learned and honed his craft, moved the family following one tenuous job to another. The need to adapt to being the new kid in town had a huge impact on Lithgow's acting, but he writes that sublimating emotions to cope took a lifetime to repair. Lithgow's movies are mentioned occasionally, but this is primarily a book about theater and the importance of storytelling. VERDICT Lithgow shows that theater—the heightened form of storytelling—is an emotional exercise shared by the actor and the audience; the nature of its benefit is a mystery, but we can't get along without it. A necessary gift for theater students. [See Prepub Alert, 4/18/11.]—Larry Schwartz, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Moorhead

In this clever and heartfelt memoir, Lithgow, well-known for his role in the movie Terms of Endearment and TV's Third Rock from the Sun, tells of his life in the theater and the effect his father had on his formative years. Arthur Lithgow was himself an actor, director, teacher, and promoter of theater, and the family lived a vagabond life as the son became the proverbial new kid and "the good boy and not necessarily in a good way." As Lithgow writes, his talent propelled him to Harvard; he then studied at the London Academy of Dramatic Art and returned immersed in regional theater acting, designing and directing for his father. His father readily imparted words of wisdom early on, but as Lithgow grew up, his paternal guidance diminished. Their relationship was complicated: while Lithgow's Broadway career surged with a Tony Award, his father's career slid, which left Lithgow feeling guilty. With understated wit, Lithgow delivers insight into the difference between stage and screen acting and offers wonderful anecdotes of directors Brian De Palma and Terrence Malick. (Oct.)