John Lithgow, known for his roles in TV series and movies such as 3rd Rock from the Sun, Dexter, Terms of Endearment, and Interstellar, is now ready to face death, according to his own words. Lithgow's perspective of death comes after fighting cancer and, most recently, facing the death of one of his closest friends, actor Douglas McGrath.
Videos by Wide Open Country
John Lithgow went into detail about McGrath's death during the latest Wild Card with Rachel Martin podcast episode. "I directed that wonderful New Yorker, Doug McGrath, in his one-man show that he'd written for himself," he said. "And he didn't show up at the theater one night because, in his office by himself at about four in the afternoon, he'd lain down, had a heart attack and died at age 64,"
Lithgow described this episode as "traumatic," but stated that McGrath did not suffer a painful death. It was, according to him, the sudden nature of his death rather that took a toll on everyone around him, including Lithgow.
"I was startled at how soon I was able to absorb it," Lithgow continued. "It's just having happened and the new reality. This lovely man, who was quite a dear friend having worked together so closely, he was simply gone, and I knew that he was gone."
Putting Life Into Perspective
McGrath's passing shocked Lithgow so much that, when asked how this experience changed his view of death, he said that he felt more comfortable with his own death. "I just know it's coming. It's coming, and I think the best thing is to have a gracious ending," Lithgow said.
He would go on and speak about the several cancers he had to battle throughout his life. First in 1988, then in 2004, and the most recent just a couple of years ago. Thankfully, they were all detected early, with doctors successfully removing melanomas and performing a prostatectomy that took care of Lithgow's prostate cancer.
He described his experience with cancer as a way to put his "life into perspective," saying that it was a "useful experience to have."
"I calculate my exit from any film or television or stage play, and I always wanna have a good ending," John Lithgow said. "Well, I wanna have a good ending to my life, too — that no one grieves over, and is appropriate." He would later laugh about being able to talk about death in such terms.
