John Lithgow is only getting better with age.
With his latest Tony Awards win for actor in a play for “Giant,” Lithgow, 80, became the oldest man ever to win a competitive acting Tony. The record was previously held by Roy Dotrice at 77, for featured actor in a play in the 2000 “A Moon for the Misbegotten,” followed by two veteran performers. The late Dick Latessa won featured actor in a musical for “Hairspray” in 2003 at 73, while André De Shields tied it in 2019 for “Hadestown.” De Shields, himself 80 this year, was nominated again tonight in the featured actor in a musical category for his turn as Old Deuteronomy in the revival “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” but lost to Ali Louis Bourzgui from “The Lost Boys.”
In “Giant,” a drama about Roald Dahl’s antisemitism, Lithgow also opened the longest gap between competitive acting Tony wins in the awards’ history at 53 years. His first came in 1973, for featured actor in a play in “The Changing Room,” a span that surpasses Angela Lansbury’s previous mark of 43 years — 1966 to 2009 — by a full decade, with Patti LuPone (42 years) and Frank Langella (41) close behind.
John Lithgow in the West End production of “Giant.”
Johan Persson
