My father, who passed away during the COVID pandemic, dedicated the years following his retirement from electronics engineering to teaching music and restoring hundreds of discarded instruments for students and children in schools. I have had many emails from people who tell me how profoundly my father changed their lives. Thank You for being a music teacher.
I was an extra in a movie with John Lithgow. I sat next to him in the scene and he had an art pad as a prop. I asked him about it and he took the time to show me the pictures he had drawn. What a nice person.
I'm glad to hear he is as gracious as he seems. I met Don Knots and he refused to give me his autograph. He was my hero. I was 12 and he never got any rest on the set of " The Return of the Apple Dumpling Gang" again. We knew what room he was in and knocked on his door and ran, over and over. He should have given me the autograph. Lol He crushed my image and the respect I had for him. Everyone else gave me their autograph, but I went there for his. I would love to be able to sit with John Lithgow. Such an amazing actor and comedian. Definitely would love to have John's autograph.
@GrandmaBev64 Sorry to hear that about Don. I loved Don to as a kid. Maybe he was just having an off day, or perhaps his testicles were black ⚫️ ⚫️ lol.
It truly is. Art and music are a form of self expression, and they wonder what's wrong with kids today. Give them what they need to self express. They need guidance to get there.
Those teachers were the ones most likely to connect to the kids who didn't quite fit in or too shy to do more than watch other students. ❤ The arts are vilified over sports, both are needed.
My beloved Grandpa worked the mines since childhood. It was a dream and aspiration come true for him when my father went to university and became an electronics engineer. I had it so easy! I went from the military right into college where I became an animation artist. I Thank God and my forefathers for letting me be an artist
There were days during high school when the only reason I had the fortitude to get up and go was because it was a day when I had art class. Thank heavens for Dan Stillman, best teacher I ever had. ❤️
God bless Dan Stillman! Truly, good teachers are among the most valuable individuals in our society. My journey to becoming an animation artist was shaped by teachers whom I continue to hold in deep affection and esteem.
I absolutely adored John in all of his works. None more so than 3rd Rock. If i had ever had a bad day at work or generally feeling down. watching 3rd Rock would give me the lift i needed. If laughter is the best medicine, John was the best cure.
This man has done what all actors should do if possible and take on as many varied roles as any actor I’ve seen. He performs them marvelously. I look forward to every movie or show he’s in.
I was at a Broadway show in NYC a long time ago with my son, his girlfriend and dear friends. I saw John Lithgow in the audience with his children. My son dared me to go talk to him; I had told my son how much I enjoyed John's artistry as an actor. So, I did... walked over and told John how much I loved him as an actor. He was very gracious and thanked me. John had on the most beautiful long black quilted coat... I have always enjoyed that memory. ♡D
I met him through work one day at universal studios. I tried not to act like a rabid fan but i could not help but tell him how much he cracked me up laughing On 3rd Rock. He went into character and claimed he wasn't john Lithgow but the alien character he played in the show. He is a very kind person. and super funny
Thank you John Lithgow, you are absolutely on point. Art and creative expression are a portal to understanding ourselves in this crazy world. Thank you!
My kids went to school in Shakopee, MN. Their schools were filled with superb art teacher. The high school had two choral music teachers. Make Americans Artists!
The whole shcool system needs to be reformed. It was literally made by the Rockefellers to create workers and not thinkers. We need smaller classess, more focus on teaching our children how to think, and no grades to judge them.
I was born in 1955, and I remember first through sixth grade we had an hour a day for art, and seventh through ninth grade we had an entire period for art… I learned a lot.
Loved art in high school, great teacher, ended up following my dream, have been a painter for 50 years, a glorious life even during the lean times. Best wishes to Mr. Lithgow!!
Arts education and foreign language classes disappeared once politicians started demanding standardized testing. When test scores started dropping they brought in remedial classes to no avail. They wouldn't listen to educators who understand child development. The Arts and FL classes are using math and language skills that stimulate other parts of the brain. Cursive handwriting stimulates the learning centers of the brain, but they got rid of that, too.
Creativity enables openmindedness, kindness, boldness and self-actualization - rather than the conformity, closemindedness, competitiveness and ignorance that the US public AND private education system brainwash students minds with. Schooling was designed to contain and control not to liberate and inspire, which is why authentic, meaningful and enjoyable learning rarely happens in most schools.
Love that he’s promoting the arts in school. It’s something every kid can be involved with. Sports is great for the athletic kids but the less coordinated feel left out and sometimes are made fun of. Bring back art and music!
I know who Jon Lithgow is, I love his work, but as famous as he is for his many several roles, he is not John Lithgow the actor on any of them, he creates the role and it grabs you as someone who truly is believably that character, and you love that character, this is a true actor talent not always achieved by just anyone, Mr. Lithgow is a special soul to the world of the passion of acting.
Yes, JOHN!!! Independent decision making is what is developed in visual art, creative writing, improv theatre, music creation , etc, in school! As an artist, arts educator pre-school thru college, special needs, adults and seniors I have seen the power of the arts! We need the arts to return to school.
This man is such an amazing actor - with no more than the change of expression on his face in one minute you want to hug him and the next he becomes absolutely evil.
What art does to us: It teaches us to evaluate: What have we got? What can we make of it? And doing art together is learning to appreciate that everyone sees the ressources, the world and his/her abilities in a totally different way and that it is exiting to mutually discover those ways. Compare this with the opinion that far too many people have: "I know the only truth how the world works!"
4:05... So sad, John. Besides dedicated music, art, shop and even the last dregs of home economics, we had dedicated choir teachers! So by 8th grade I was going to Florida state choir contests... That I kept up when we moved to Chicago- where they light the train tracks on fire to unfreeze them in winter. Soon I was going to Illinois state choir championships. Now I ake theatre and movie props. now and then I bust out a little opera or the Chichester Psalms (in Hebrew) and freak everyone out.
I worked with John when he first conceived the idea for this show. He asked my input. I am very proud that I had just a little connection to this PBS special.
Princeton High School in Princeton, New Jersey is his alma mater. The school is really into arts and music in a major way. The great Bebe Neuwirth (Cheers, Frazier, Jumanji, and so forth) went there. John Popper (from Blues Traveler) went there. By the way, it's a public school, not a private school.
met him through work one day at universal studios. I tried not to act like a rabid fan but i could not help but tell him how much he cracked me up laughing On 3rd Rock. He went into character and claimed he wasn't john Lithgow but the alien character he played in the show. He is a very kind person. and super funny
Lithgow is a distant relative of mine. I absolutely adore this guy. My one criticism of him is his selection of roles. He’s a phenomenal actor who, IMHO, is underrated because he’s accepted a whole host of poor roles. He’s phenomenal. Love him.
Had no idea it's been removed from school. All through elementary school in the 70s i guess we were lucky to have music class every day of those first five years. With you choosing band or not in 5th. But every year of the four previous we played instruments and sang some great rock songs of the early 70s. Was the best part of my early education. And I played trumpet through HS. I can tell there isn't anyone teaching Civics anymore either. It was such a huge part of my education, it would've been boring without it.
I became a fan of John Lithgow upon watching him in, "The World According to Garp," and two years later he shows up in "Buckaroo Banzai" and "Footloose" in the same year - in one role an escaped madman alien and the other a preacher, and I was hooked. Everything he's in is improved by him being there. @3:00 There's a bit on the Graham Norton show where Rowan Atkinson talks about someone 'sort of' recognizing him but just thinks he's the "spitting image of Mr Bean!" and can't be convinced otherwise.
Yes he was great. I fondly remember the movie from my youth. I thought that it was wonderful! The fact that the movie bombed at the box office shows how distorted life in America has become. I think it helps to explain why our politics is so weird and corrupt these days. Such a shame that America is crashing. On the bright side, America has had a wonderful 250 year run as a beacon for the world. But perhaps it is some other country’s turn to lead the world.
One of my dear friends has a classically trained Fine Arts degree and was working in the Detroit school district area...until the funding was cut several years ago. She is doing well as a professional cosplayer and twitch broadcaster but she would agree with Mr Lithgow's perspective. The arts are the key to your own imagination and they need to return.
Brilliant...talented...lovable. I became a fan instantly when I first saw him in "Twilight Zone: the Movie." I stayed in my seat in the theater just to catch his name in the credits. "This guy's great!" I thought. If you've never seen it, you should. He puts the original Shatner performance to shame.
Have loved the wonderful John Lithgow all my life, since his role in "The World According to Garp" and bringing such charm and love and character to a type of human that had never been on screen until that point. I love his voice, his laugh, his wit and warmth. A dearheart of a human. He has never failed to bring such depth and meaningfulness to every character he has ever played. Thank you, John Lithgow, for all the years of art on film. You are human art.
Thanks John. I read the beginning of that joke the other day but the page it was on didn't have the ending and I was too busy to look it up and forgot about it! Your "Rudy" is epic. Wish there was more of it!
I finally got a chance to do a great job when I was 50. That’s when I became a TV/film set painter. Many of us are retiring. Study art, volunteer to learn,then get trained on set, join the union to have a wonderful career. Oh yes --also -make a lot of money.
The BEST performance by John Lithgow was his double characters: Dr. Emilio Lizardo & Lord John Whorfin in the most STAR STUDDED film ever, "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Through the Eight Dimension" Other actors: Peter Weller, Ellen Barkin, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Goldblum, Lewis Smith, Yakov Smirnoff, Jamie Lee Curtis, James Saito... and on and on and on.
His performance in Cliffhanger still makes me laugh sometimes cuz he's this villain, but I only see him as this nice, sweet man. When he gets angry I'm just like stawwwwppp 😂 Gene Hackman is the same for me.
