American actor John Lithgow has ties to DR

[mami]

i saw this and read it on the dr1 news stuff. Could this be false? I live in Hamilton Twp, New Jersey, John Lithgow graduated from Princeton High School his father ran the McCarter Theatre here in Princeton. He just performed here a few months ago at the War Memorial Theatre at Trenton. (Trenton, PRinceton, Hamilton etc. all part of Mercer County). Because he is a native of this county we often read about him and others in the paper.

I don't think he has family there or ever did or ever lived there. I could be wrong. But I don't believe so.

[Dolores]

Let us know. We received the brief by email and ran it without double checking it, except with the link that was sent. There is a Lithgow family here. Let us know and we will run a correction.

[deelt]

I would not be surprised that this was something put on by
Fausto Arturo Gonzales-Taveras and Amory Baine, the two undergrads
from Harvard that like to visit here promoting Estrella.
I did look up the story within the Harvard website. He is definitely
a Harvard grad class of '67 and on the Honorary Committee supervised by the Board of Trustees.

Princeton High is a feeder school, so does not surprise me.
The story as ran by DR1 had a minor error. There are no
Dominican student associations at Harvard just a general Latino student group. A movement is (slowly) in progress to build an undergrad associations at the national level but our Harvard contact did not have enough candidates...and I would imagine within the potential student candidates their exists divergent agendas between the wealthy Dominicans and the poor Dominican-Americans. Amory and Fausto are of the former.

On the DR link it could very well be. If Fausto and Amory wanted to
brown nose their way into the Harvard connection, which I strongly suspect is the case, it would not surprise me at all.

Here is a quicky bio clip on Lithgow.
JOHN LITHGOW

From: The NBC Web Site
<http://www.nbc.com/ entertainment/shows/rock/index.html>

...cut to avoid getting yelled at

A Harvard graduate, Lithgow won a Fulbright Scholarship and
used it to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic
Art before settling in New York to pursue a stage career. He
received a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for his Broadway
debut in "The Changing Room." From 1973 to 1982, he performed
in a different Broadway play each season. He was nominated for
a Tony in 1985 for his performance in "Requiem for a
Heavyweight." In 1986, he received rave reviews when he
returned to Broadway to star in "The Front Page," and in 1988
he earned a third Tony nomination for his performance in "M.
Butterfly."

Lithgow lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Mary, a history
professor at UCLA, and their daughter, Phoebe and son, Nathan.
Lithgow also has a son, Ian, from a previous marriage.

Originally Posted by mami

i saw this and read it on the dr1 news stuff. Could this be false? I live in Hamilton Twp, New Jersey, John Lithgow graduated from Princeton High School his father ran the McCarter Theatre here in Princeton. He just performed here a few months ago at the War Memorial Theatre at Trenton. (Trenton, PRinceton, Hamilton etc. all part of Mercer County). Because he is a native of this county we often read about him and others in the paper.

I don't think he has family there or ever did or ever lived there. I could be wrong. But I don't believe so.

[deelt]

John Lithgow's dad was Arturo Lithgow:

"Mr. Lithgow was born in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. His father was a utilities executive, his mother was a nurse." Downloaded from

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/85173.html

John surpressed it for sure, until his father's dying day March 25, 2004, a few weeks ago...wonder why? hmmm...Now my curiousity is very peaked...to say the least.
D

[Forbeca]

My sister-in-law's maiden name is Lithgow. I was never curious before because she is a mixed arab. I'll ask her for sure now.

Originally Posted by deelt

John Lithgow's dad was Arturo Lithgow:

"Mr. Lithgow was born in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. His father was a utilities executive, his mother was a nurse." Downloaded from

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/85173.html

John surpressed it for sure, until his father's dying day March 25, 2004, a few weeks ago...wonder why? hmmm...Now my curiousity is very peaked...to say the least.
D

[deelt]

According to the DR1 posting the Lithgow family is of Scottish heritage.
not to take anything away from your mixed arab sister-in-law of course...
DR-Arabic community in DR is very well established...

Originally Posted by Forbeca

My sister-in-law's maiden name is Lithgow. I was never curious before because she is a mixed arab. I'll ask her for sure now.

[mami]

Originally Posted by deelt

John Lithgow's dad was Arturo Lithgow:

"Mr. Lithgow was born in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. His father was a utilities executive, his mother was a nurse." Downloaded from

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/85173.html

John surpressed it for sure, until his father's dying day March 25, 2004, a few weeks ago...wonder why? hmmm...Now my curiousity is very peaked...to say the least.
D

i called the McCarter Theatre last night and the business office said there was no mention of it in his obituary and that they knew him and had never heard it mentioned before.

i did tell them of dr1. com and that we were discussing it. but they would not say anything formally.

[Forbeca]

Well, I asked her and she said there was a rumor in her family once about that, but nothing came of it. Her father is English, her mother is Lebanese born in the DR. Very intereeresting.

Originally Posted by deelt

According to the DR1 posting the Lithgow family is of Scottish heritage.
not to take anything away from your mixed arab sister-in-law of course...
DR-Arabic community in DR is very well established...

[mami]

Arthur Lithgow
Former McCarter director
AMHERST, Mass. — Arthur Lithgow, the former director of McCarter Theatre, died Tuesday. He was 88.
An accomplished actor who transferred his talents to producing and directing, he was the artistic and producing director at McCarter from 1963 to 1971.
"McCarter Theatre was saddened to learn about the passing of Arthur Lithgow," said Emily Mann, McCarter's artistic director, in a statement. "He was a wonderful man, a true pioneer and a champion of the American regional theater movement. He did everything — he was a director, an actor, an able administrator and a fine producer. We especially remember him as a key figure in the evolution of this institution — its executive director from 1963 to 1971 — and as a lifelong friend."
Ms. Mann added, "Under Arthur's leadership, the original vision of Milton Lyon, McCarter's first executive producer, was finally fulfilled: the creation of a resident professional company.
"The roster of actors who appeared during Lithgow's tenure include many who have since gone on to successful careers in film and stage, including Olympia Dukakis, Dom de Luise, Tony Musante, George Hearn, Dustin Hoffman and Lawrence Luckinbill," Ms. Mann said. "It was also during Arthur Lithgow's time at McCarter that two friends who grew up in Princeton made their debuts on the McCarter stage: John Lithgow and Christopher Reeve."
His son John is a stage, television and movie actor as well as author of children's books.
"Perhaps his greatest contribution to McCarter was the creation and success of the student matinee program," Ms. Mann said. "During his years at McCarter, Arthur traveled all over the state visiting schools and talking to English classes. For the Shakespeare Quadricentennial Drama Series in 1964 ("Othello," "Much Ado About Nothing," "Richard III," "Taming of the Shrew," "Romeo and Juliet"), more than 55,000 students from New Jersey's schools and six state colleges attended the 48 scheduled student matinees. Arthur's memory and his many accomplishments will continue to inspire McCarter and its audiences, young and old, for many years to come."
Mr. Lithgow began his directing career at Antioch College, his alma mater, in 1952 when he became the founder and artistic director of Antioch Shakespeare Festival, which became known as Shakespeare Under the Stars. Over six years, all the works of Shakespeare were produced. He held a number of other directing positions in Ohio during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
After leaving McCarter, he held a number of academic and directing positions. Most recently he helped found the Ithaca Theater Guild.
Son of the late Arthur Washington and Ina Bernice Lithgow, he is survived by his wife, Sarah Jane Price Lithgow; children John and Robin of Los Angeles, David of New York and Sarah Jane Bokaer of Ithaca, N.Y.; sisters Marion James of Melrose, Mass., and Jeanette Peverly of Milton, Mass.; and 13 grandchildren

[Tordok]

If any of you want to have fun looking up genealogical stuff on DR families, these pages have plenty of data. As you will see the Lithgows have been around PP for a while.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~domwgw/MHHB/sb_l.htm
Many people -Dominicans and foreigners alike- still have trouble understanding that the DR is not just made up of Spanish surnames. Arab, Portuguese, Italian, German, Jewish, Chinese, Dutch, French, Polish, and British names and lineages abound....thrown in the mix with substantial amounts of DNA from Tainos and West Africans in most cases. We are proudly a genuine melting pot. As in most Latin American countries, everyone becomes integrated into the fabric of Dominican society regardless of your social status or national origins, and families quickly start seeing themselves as nothing other than Dominican. That actor John Lithgow has Dominican kin ought not to be such a surprise.
-Tordok