by John Lithgow
Harper Books
A lot of people assume acting is easy. All you do is pretend to be someone else and recite some words written by someone else, right? I mean, it's not usually backbreaking work. Simple.
Wrong. If you've ever watched a really bad actor, you know just how good you have to be to even be average at the craft.
Someone who is not average is John Lithgow. I have always enjoyed his performances, whether on television or in movies. Also equally adept on the stage, he is a Tony Award winning actor. Raised by a nomadic actor/producer father and supportive mother, Lithgow never intended to be an actor. His vague goal for himself was to be an artist, even while spending most of his time being a thespian, set builder, curtain puller, etc.
But life has a way of making decisions for us and, after a fairly disastrous attempt at forming a vagabond actor's troupe of his own, Lithgow decided to act while still planning his bigger goal of an art career.
Along the way, he was Harvard-educated and spent time in England studying Shakespeare at the source. Returning from England, he got work on and off Broadway, before starting to get work in Hollywood.
This memoir is full of fantastic anecdotes from an actor's life. He artfully spins a tale of how he got to be the respected, beloved actor he is today. He tells with candor about his shortcomings in his first marriage and with complete devotion about his current one.
If you like John Lithgow or are interested in how an actor is developed, this book is for you. It is a good, smooth read, filled with humor and honesty. An excellent gift for the actor in your family.
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