John Lithgow - Early Life

Early Life

Lithgow was born in Rochester, New York. His mother, Sarah Jane (née Price), was a retired actress, and his father, Arthur Washington Lithgow III, from Dominican Republic was a theatrical producer and director who ran the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. Because of his father's job, the family moved frequently during Lithgow's childhood; he spent his teenage years in Akron and Lakewood, Ohio.

Lithgow attended Harvard College, and graduated with an A.B. magna cum laude in 1967, in history and literature. He lived in Adams House as an undergraduate. Lithgow later served on Harvard's Board of Overseers. Lithgow credits a performance at Harvard of Gilbert and Sullivan's Utopia Limited with helping him decide to become an actor. After graduation, Lithgow won a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.