What is the best John Lithgow acting performance?

By YPB Team

From serial killers to animated villains to Churchill himself, his range spans six decades of film, television, and the stage — including a Tony win at 80 that made history. Which Lithgow performance is the undisputed peak?

Roald Dahl – Giant (Broadway)

Lithgow's 2026 Tony Award-winning performance as author Roald Dahl in the Broadway play Giant, making him the oldest man ever to win a competitive acting Tony Award.

1000pts

Arthur Mitchell – Dexter Season 4

Lithgow's Emmy and Golden Globe-winning performance as the Trinity Killer, a Sunday-school teacher and family man living a horrifying double life as a serial killer.

933pts

Eric Qualen – Cliffhanger

Lithgow's scenery-chewing turn as the ruthless international terrorist and main villain pursuing Sylvester Stallone across the Rocky Mountains in the 1993 action thriller.

933pts

Donald – Interstellar

Lithgow's warm and understated performance as the elderly grandfather holding the family together while Cooper ventures into space in Christopher Nolan's 2014 epic.

874pts

Sam Burns – Terms of Endearment

Lithgow's second consecutive Oscar-nominated role as a shy, sweet banker who forms a romance with Debra Winger's character in James L. Brooks' 1983 tearjerker.

799pts

Dick Solomon – 3rd Rock from the Sun

Lithgow's Emmy-winning turn as an alien physicist hilariously adjusting to human life, anchoring the NBC sitcom for six seasons from 1996 to 2001.

699pts

Sidney Falco – Sweet Smell of Success (Broadway)

Lithgow's Tony Award-winning Broadway turn as the scheming press agent Sidney Falco in the 2002 musical adaptation of the 1957 film noir.

699pts

Roberta Muldoon – The World According to Garp

Lithgow's Oscar-nominated supporting performance as a transgender former NFL player and friend to T.S. Garp in George Roy Hill's 1982 adaptation.

559pts

Harry Henderson – Harry and the Hendersons

Lithgow's lovable lead performance as a suburban dad who discovers and shelters a Bigfoot in this 1987 family comedy that ran for years as a TV series.

559pts

Winston Churchill – The Crown

Lithgow's Emmy-winning portrayal of an aging Winston Churchill navigating his twilight political years in the first two seasons of Netflix's royal drama.

349pts

Rev. Shaw Moore – Footloose

Lithgow's commanding 1984 role as the repressive small-town preacher who has banned dancing and music, and proves surprisingly sympathetic as the story unfolds.

349pts

John Valentine – Twilight Zone: The Movie

Lithgow's frenzied, paranoid performance as an airline passenger convinced he sees a gremlin dismantling the plane's engine, his personal favorite of all his film roles.

349pts