Tony®, Emmy® and Golden Globe®-winning
actor John Lithgow is coming to Turner
Classic Movies (TCM) to host this
summer’s edition of TCM ESSENTIALS JR. Lithgow, who has also earned acclaim as a children’s
author, will present 13 films ideal for parents to introduce to their kids,
beginning Sunday, June 7, with the musical classic Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).
“We’re proud to celebrate the second summer of
TCM ESSENTIALS JR. with John Lithgow, who is not only an acclaimed actor but
also a champion of educating children, which he does through his beloved books
and his numerous activities designed to introduce kids to poetry and classical
music,” said Charles Tabesh, senior vice president of programming for
TCM. “We look forward to working with John as we provide a perfect opportunity
for parents to introduce their children to the movies they loved when they were
young.”
TCM
ESSENTIALS JR. will run each Sunday throughout the summer and will include such
comedies as Father of the Bride
(1950) and Mr. Hulot’s Holiday
(1953), musicals like An American in Paris
(1951) and It Happened at the World’s
Fair (1963), and dramas like High
Noon (1952) and Notorious
(1946). The following is a complete schedule:
June 7 Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
June
14 To Have and Have Not (1944)
June
21 Father of the Bride (1950)
June
28 The Philadelphia
Story (1940)
July 5 Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1953)
July
12 The African Queen (1951)
July
19 An American in Paris
(1951)
July
26 High Noon (1952)
Aug. 2 Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Aug. 9 Notorious (1946)
Aug.
16 It Happened at the World’s Fair
(1963)
Aug.
23 Gaslight (1944)
Aug.
30 You Can’t Take It With You (1938)
John
Lithgow burst onto the scene in 1973, when he won a Tony Award for his work in
David Storey’s The Changing Room.
Since then, he has appeared in nearly 20 Broadway productions, earning another
Tony, three Tony nominations, four Drama Desk Awards and induction into the
Theatre Hall of Fame. Among the many productions in which he has appeared
are My Fat Friend, Trelawney of the ‘Wells’, Comedians, Anna Christie, Bedroom
Farce, Beyond Therapy,
M. Butterfly, The Front Page, Retreat from Moscow, Mrs.
Farnsworth and the musicals Sweet
Smell of Success and Dirty Rotten
Scoundrels. In 2007, he made his Royal Shakespeare Company
debut in Neil Bartlett’s production of Twelfth
Night. He also presented his one-man show, John Lithgow: Stories by Heart, at Lincoln Center and recently returned to the
stage in the Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons.
On screen,
Lithgow most recently appeared in the hit comedy Confessions of a Shopaholic. His extensive list of
film credits includes back-to-back Oscar® nominations for The World According to Garp and Terms of Endearment. He has also
appeared in such films as All That Jazz,
Twilight Zone: The Movie, Footloose, 2010, Buckaroo Banzai,
Harry and the Hendersons, Ricochet, Cliffhanger,
Orange County, Kinsey and Dreamgirls, as well as the Brian De Palma thrillers Obsession, Dressed to Kill, Blow Out
and Raising Cain.
Lithgow
earned an Emmy for his performance in an episode of Amazing Stories and three additional Emmys for his memorably
performance on the long-running comedy 3rd
Rock from the Sun, which also scored him a Golden Globe, two SAG
Awards®, an American Comedy Award and a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame. His other television credits include The Day After, Resting Place,
Baby Girl Scott, My Brother’s Keeper, TNT’s Don Quixote and HBO’s The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.
Lithgow
has penned seven New York Times best-selling children’s books, created
two activities books for parents and children, developed readers for use in
elementary schools and compiled 50 classic poems aimed at young people.
He has earned two Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Awards and four Grammy®
nominations. Simon & Schuster recently released his newest
children’s book, I Got Two Dogs.
Lithgow has also performed concerts for children with the Chicago,
Pittsburgh, Detroit,
Baltimore and San Diego symphony orchestras, and at
Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. He has also
released three albums for kids.
Turner
Classic Movies is a Peabody Award-winning network celebrating 15 years of
presenting great films, uncut and commercial-free, from the largest film
library in the world. Currently seen in more than 80 million homes, TCM
features the insights of veteran primetime host Robert Osborne and weekend
daytime host Ben Mankiewicz, plus interviews with a wide range of special
guests. As the foremost authority in classic films, TCM offers critically
acclaimed original documentaries and specials, along with regular programming
events that include The Essentials, 31 Days
of Oscar and Summer Under the
Stars. TCM also produces a wide range of media about classic
film, including books and DVDs, along with hosting a wealth of materials at its
Web site, www.tcm.com.
TCM is part of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company.
Turner Broadcasting
System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news,
entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and
other platforms for consumers around the world.
Win it:
Three lucky readers will win a copy of John Lithgow's children's book I Got Two Dogs
How to Enter:
Leave a comment telling me you want it.
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This giveaway ends July 10th @ 10:00pm EST. Three winners will be chosen randomly and will have 3 days to claim their prize.