Arthur Lithgow
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Arthur Washington Lithgow III (September 9, 1915 – March 24, 2004) was an American actor and director. He helped pioneer the
regional theater A regional theater or resident theater in the United States is a professional or semi-professional theater company that produces its own seasons. The term ''regional theater'' most often refers to a professional theater outside New York City. A reg ...
movement in the United States and founded two
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
festivals.


Early life

Lithgow was born in Puerto Plata, the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...
, the son of Ina Berenice ( née Robinson), an American nurse, and Arthur Washington Lithgow II, an American-Dominican entrepreneur born to Ellen Prentiss Peirce, American, and Washington G. Lithgow, a Dominican of American descent, who was a vice consul and vice commercial agent in the country. He first appeared onstage in December 1920 at age 5 as a cherub in a Christmas pageant at the Unitarian Church in Melrose, Massachusetts.


Career

He appeared in student productions at
Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was its ...
, where he founded the Antioch Summer Theater in 1935 and where he received his BA in 1938. He made his New York City debut in November 1938, as a soldier in Jacques Deval's anti-Nazi drama, ''Lorelei''. A nomad all his life, Lithgow was in
Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...
near the end of World War II, where he appeared in amateur productions such as the glib cockney scoundrel in an amateur production of the English comic melodrama '' Ladies in Retirement'', produced by the
Rochester Community Players The Rochester Community Players (RCP), the oldest community theatre in New York State, is a local theater group in Rochester, Monroe County, New York, in the United States. Incorporated in 1923, its first production, '' Wedding Bells,'' by play ...
. Lithgow received his MA from
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
on playwriting in 1948 and served as assistant professor of dramatics at Antioch from 1947 to 1956. In summer 1951 he was associate producer of the Shaw Festival at the Rice Playhouse on Martha's Vineyard, where he performed in several plays by
George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
. He first began directing Shakespeare at
Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was its ...
in 1952, when he became the Founder and Artistic Director of the Antioch Shakespeare Festival, or "Shakespeare under the Stars," as it came to be known. Within a period of six years, this festival produced all of the works of Shakespeare, bringing the attention and praise of even the Queen of the United Kingdom. Set on an elaborate, multilevel stage behind Antioch's Main Building, the festival attracted during its five-year run a total attendance of over 135,000. Directing and acting in many of these productions, he played Petruchio in ''The Taming of the Shrew'' opposite
Nancy Marchand Nancy Lou Marchand (June 19, 1928 – June 18, 2000) was an American actress. She began her career in theatre in 1951. She was most famous for her television portrayals of Margaret Pynchon on ''Lou Grant'' and Livia Soprano on ''The Sopranos''. ...
's Kate, and also played Stephano, Peter Quince, Dr. Caius and Henry IV. In 1956, the festival partnered with the Toledo Zoo and works were presented outdoors at Antioch and at the zoo. After leaving Antioch, Lithgow went to
Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts Oak Bluffs is a town located on the island of Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,341 at the 2020 United States Census. It is one of the island's principal points of arrival for summer tourists ...
;
Waterville, Ohio Waterville is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, along the Maumee River, a suburb of Toledo. The population was 6,003 at the 2020 census. History Waterville was platted in 1830 by settler John Pray on the west bank of the upper Maume ...
; and Stockbridge, Massachusetts." In 1958, he moved to Northern Ohio as Executive Director of
Stan Hywet Hall Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens (70 acres) is a historic house museum in Akron, Ohio. The estate includes gardens, a greenhouse, carriage house, and the main mansion, one of the largest houses in the United States. A National Historic Landmark, it is ...
in
Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...
. He produced a summer Shakespeare festival in 1960, but was fired from Stan Hywet in May 1961. Having already scheduled a second summer Shakespeare season in 1961, he produced the festival at the Ohio Theater in Cuyahoga Falls. In the summer of 1962, he founded the ''Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival'' in Lakewood, Ohio (today known as the " Great Lakes Theater"). He appeared on Broadway in ''A Cure for Matrimony'', ''Steel'' and the musical ''
Lorelei The Lorelei ( ; ), spelled Loreley in German, is a , steep slate rock on the right bank of the River Rhine in the Rhine Gorge (or Middle Rhine) at Sankt Goarshausen in Germany, part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site. Th ...
'' (which starred
Carol Channing Carol Elaine Channing (January 31, 1921 – January 15, 2019) was an American actress, singer, dancer and comedian who starred in Broadway and film musicals. Her characters usually had a fervent expressiveness and an easily identifiable voice, ...
and was based on '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes''). In 1963, he became artistic director of the
McCarter Theatre McCarter Theatre Center is a not-for-profit, professional company on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. The institution is currently led by Artistic Director Sarah Rasmussen and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg. ...
at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
until 1972, when he and his family relocated to
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, where he was a visiting professor at the
University of Massachusetts Boston The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massa ...
. He served as administrative director of the Brattleboro Center for the Performing Arts in
Brattleboro, Vermont Brattleboro (), originally Brattleborough, is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The most populous municipality abutting Vermont's eastern border with New Hampshire, which is the Connecticut River, Brattleboro is located about ...
. In 1976, he became a Visiting Associate Professor of the Theatre Arts at the University of South Florida at Tampa. While there he began directing the Alice People Theatre. He returned to Antioch College to direct two summer Shakespeare festivals in 1981 and 1982. At Antioch in 1981, he directed the rarely produced complete versions of all three parts of Shakespeare's ''Henry VI'', performed over three nights. From 1982 to 1984 he taught at Sinclair Community College in
Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...
. In Ithaca, New York, he co-founded the Ithaca Theater Guild along with former Cornell University classmate Edward Kamarck.


Personal life

Lithgow married actress Sarah Jane Price in 1939. They had four children, including
John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...
, who is an Emmy- and Tony-winning actor.


Death

Lithgow died of heart failure at age 88 in Amherst, Massachusetts.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lithgow, Arthur 1915 births 2004 deaths American theatre directors American theatre managers and producers Antioch College alumni Dominican Republic emigrants to the United States People from Brattleboro, Vermont People from Princeton, New Jersey People from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic People from Yellow Springs, Ohio Princeton University faculty Cornell University alumni White Dominicans