Arthur Lithgow
Arthur Lithgow |
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Arthur Washington Lithgow (1915 – March 24, 2004) was an American actor and director.
Lithgow was born in the Dominican Republic, the son of Ina Berenice (née Robinson), a nurse, and Arthur Washington Lithgow II, an entrepreneur.[1] Lithgow, the father of actor John Lithgow, helped pioneer the regional theater movement and founded two Shakespearian festivals. In 1952 he founded and served as the artistic director of the Antioch Shakespeare Festival at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio. All of the Bard's works were produced in a six-year period. In 1962 he founded the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Lakewood, Ohio (today known as the Great Lakes Theatre Festival and located in Cleveland).
He appeared on Broadway in A Cure for Matrimony, Steel and the musical Lorelei (which starred Carol Channing and was based on Gentlemen Prefer Blondes).
In 1963 he became artistic director of the McCarter Theatre at Princeton University until 1972, when he and his family relocated to Boston, where he was a visiting professor at the University of Massachusetts. He served as administrative director of the Brattleboro Center for the Performing Arts in Brattleboro, Vermont.
He died aged 88 in Amherst, Massachusetts of heart failure.[2].
References
- ^ Arthur Lithgow, 88, Stage Actor Who Led Regional Companies - New York Times
- ^ Theatre World, Vol. #60 (2003-2004), ISBN#1-55783-650-7/ISBN#1-55783-651-5