John Lithgow

John Lithgow: [On fan response to his role on Dexter] They are so enthusiastic. They seem to have a taste for horror... They sort of lick their chops at Dexter. They're thrilled. I would have thought that people would run from me in terror.

John: I can't imagine doing an hour-long dramatic series because it's so much work. A sitcom is a wonderful gig. You work from 10 to 4 every day, it's fun, and you get to live at home.

John: I draw pictures on a great big board as I sing. I draw all the animals.

John Lithgow: When you come back to New York after a long period of time, not one, but two generations of actors have come and gone. It shows you how quickly things change.

John Lithgow: When I do theater, it's like coming back to my roots in so many ways.

John Lithgow: What you aspire to on a sitcom is the feeling of live comedy.

John Lithgow: Up there with my awards, I have a great big statue of Groucho Marx, just to put everything in perspective.

John Lithgow: Time sneaks up on you like a windshield on a bug.

John Lithgow: There's nothing like spending an evening with an audience every night.

John Lithgow: The museum was a favorite place to bring my own children when they were young.

John Lithgow: Take care, be kind, be considerate of other people and other species, and be loving.

John Lithgow: Putting together a musical is like the Manhattan Project. It is huge and it is draining, and we actors get all the fun.

John Lithgow: My parents were wonderful; very supportive of whatever I wanted to do.

John Lithgow: In the past I've been a villain and more recently a comic, so they must have thought I'd be the ideal comic villain.

John Lithgow: If it's well written and well directed and you've got good actors to work with, acting is easy. But making sure all the ducks are in a row is the hard part. It's very rare.

John Lithgow: I wanted to give parents some ideas of ways to relate to their kids. Then, if it doesn't work out, they can blame it on me.

John Lithgow: I used to play April Fool's jokes on the cast of 3rd Rock.

John Lithgow: I think I'm having more fun than the audience, and that's saying a lot.

John Lithgow: I never get tired of hearing compliments.

John Lithgow: I keep looking for things I haven't done yet.

John Lithgow: I gave up shame a long time ago.

John: I felt that before we began recording anything, it was necessary for us to do some concerts, so we really knew which songs kids responded to. We certainly found out what kids liked and what they didn't!

John: I don't want to do anything that's not as good as 3rd Rock.

John: Every comedy needs a bit of audience sweetening. John: Everybody's a dreamer. John: For me, it's all about changing gears. John: I don't know why, but early on, I wanted to be an artist.

John: Academics tend to have wonderfully infantile senses of humor. John: As far as I can see, every actor in Hollywood thinks what I do on 3rd Rock from the Sun is completely disgraceful! John: Audiences are really growing and growing, which, being up on stage, is great to see.

John Lithgow: [talking about one of his co-workers on 3rd Rock from the Sun] Jane Curtin and I are old hams.

John Lithgow: [When asked what he does when he is bored] If you take a good look at the world around you, you'll find that almost anything can become a game, a story, or a nifty toy. You'd be surprised by what you can come up with when you exercise your creative muscle—your brain. You'll never be bored again!

John Lithgow: [When asked which instrument would he choose to reflect his personality] My personality? The kazoo. Requires enthusiasm but no skill whatsoever.

John Lithgow: Shakespeare is like mother's milk to me, I was in 20 Shakespearean plays by the time I was 20. It was the family business.

John Lithgow Writing children's books is not something that I pursued. It pursued me.

John Lithgow: I'm a fun father, but not a good father, The hard decisions always went to my wife.

John Lithgow: [About his first marriage] My only regret is that we didn't have more kids... I came from a family of four kids, but my wife and I just started too late.

John Lithgow: When I became interested in theater, my parents were wonderfully supportive but also full of dread because they knew what was in store for me.