John Lithgow: 'It's a Good Thing to Grow Old' (Q&A)

You've made a reputation as a reliable actor who can play comedy or tragedy, sitcom or PBS historical, or scary movies. Do you ever doubt your talent?

Of course. That doesn't go away. When I think, “Boy, I just can't do this role,” that's often when I do my best work. A rehearsal period is a process of flailing around. We're in a business where you put your insecurities to work.

Has maturity eased that anxiety?

It's a good thing to grow old and know you've accumulated a lot of experience to get over your fears. I know who I am by now. I have many other things in my life that are just as important to me as acting, if not more so. My family. My wife. I entertain children. I have a book of poetry coming out in the fall. I danced for the NYC Ballet and sang with Met Opera stars at Carnegie Hall. I've had these extraordinary opportunities. I tend to think that both grounds me, and makes me levitate.

You have highly developed acting skills — what don't you know?

Sciences and math. I had a spotty education in eight different schools. Never took a single chemistry class. I've grown up thinking I missed out there. Also, I can't read music or play the piano. I play a mediocre guitar.

You make wonderful music with Danner, and sing “Muskrat Love” together. Was it easy falling in love with her on screen?

That was easy. I've known her for years, although I didn't know her that well. I knew we'd have a wonderful and easy time together — and we did!

And off camera?

We never stopped talking. We had 1970s theater in common, so many mutual friends, and we would tell stories over and over. We bored everybody to tears.

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You make falling in love at a grocery store so romantic. How does that echo your memories of wooing your wife?

I often think about my wife while doing Hillary and Clinton. My reference point is much more my marriage. We aren't really telling their story — and it's much more a marriage play than a historical or political play. Theirs is a long and complicated marriage. I have a long and complicated marriage. I'm bound to see the parallels and differences, and that was also the case with Blythe.

How did you meet your wife?

I met Mary when both of us were a few years after our first marriages in our mid 30s and we fell in love like high school kids. Total infatuation. Two years passed before we got married, but we talked about getting married after two weeks.

Does she share your love for acting?

She's a retired professor as of last December, after 40 years teaching economic and business history at UCLA. I was almost the first actor she'd ever met — and she'd never heard of me.

Is it a challenge that she's not in the industry?

We've always had completely different worlds and rhythms of life and two different circles of friends. She's not crazy about the role of stage-door johnny. She's always been bewildered by the whole urge to act or perform, but she's used to it by now.

You've played King Lear, and, now Glenda Jackson, 82, is too. If we're flipping gender in Shakespeare, what female role would you like to play?

He didn't write too many great roles for older women. Gertrude in Hamlet; Volumnia in Coriolanus. I would have loved to have played Viola from Twelfth Night or Rosalind in As You Like It when I was young. At 6 foot 4, I'm a little bit tall for that, it seems to me.

You'd make a wicked Lady Macbeth, wouldn't you?

Well, yes, but who'd you find for Macbeth, then? Brian Dennehy? You'd need a big man.