From W.HYY.Y. In Philadelphia, this is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Dave Davies.

Today, John Lithgow, veteran of hundreds of performances on stage, screen, and television.

To play Winston Churchill in the series The Crown, he had an idea to help him nail the statesman's gravelly voice.

He spooned pieces of apple with a melon baller and stuck them in the back of his

cheeks for his first reading with the cast. Stuck them in the back and spoke some of my lines

and I believe I read one of the rest of things. And it was sensational, but my mouth immediately

filled up with apple cider. Lithgow is currently starring in the play Giant on Broadway.

He plays the renowned children's author, Roald Dahl,

caught in a public controversy after he wrote an article

laced with anti-Semitic statements.

Also, we'll talk about Stephen Sondheim's life in music with Daniel O'Krent,

author of a new book, Stephen Sodheim, Art Isn't Easy.

That's coming up on Fresh Air Weekend.

This is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Dave Davies. Our first guest today, John Lithgow, is an actor

you can probably recall from a half dozen rolls off the top of your head.

But the remarkable thing about his nearly 200 performances on stage, screen, and television

is that at age 80, he's still going strong.

You can see him playing an intelligence agent with Jeff Bridges in the FX Action Series, The Old Van.

He plays the character Dumbledore in a new HBO Harry Potter series that premieres in December,

and he's starring now on Broadway, doing eight performances a week in the play Giant,

about a troubling side to renowned children's author Roald Dahl.

Among Lithgow's many career honors are Oscar nominations

...