Second Cup Café: John Lithgow

Actor Shares Songs From His New Children's Album

(CBS)  John Lithgow is best known for a stellar career that has earned him numerous awards for his work acting in television, stage and film. But he's also a celebrated children's entertainer.

Lithgow has just released his third children's album, "The Sunny Side of the Street," which features cover versions of classic American songs including, "Getting To Know You" and "Inka Dinka Doo."

He's also authored six best-selling children's books and is currently at work on his seventh.

He visits the Second Cup Café to sing songs from the new album.

Born in Rochester, N.Y., Lithgow had early exposure to theater through his father, who ran Princeton's McCarter Theater and directed Shakespeare festivals throughout Ohio. In fact, Lithgow made his stage debut at age six in his father's production of "Henry VI, Part 3."

Lithgow graduated from Harvard and earned a Fulbright Scholarship, which he used to study at the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. While there, he interned at the Royal Court Theatre and The Royal Shakespeare Company.

He returned to the U.S. and the Broadway stage, where he earned a Tony for best featured actor in a play in 1973's "The Changing Room."

After several successful years on the stage, Lithgow began working in film.

He earned national recognition in 1982 as the transsexual football player Roberta Muldoon in "The World According To Garp." He received his first Oscar nomination as best supporting actor for the role.

Since then, Lithgow has starred in numerous films including "Shrek" (voice of Lord Farquaadt), "The Pelican Brief," "Terms of Endearment," "Cliffhanger," "Ricochet," "Memphis Belle," "2010" and "Footloose."

He's best known to television audiences for his starring role in the hit comedy "3rd Rock From The Sun," which premiered in 1996 and ran for six seasons. He won three Emmy Awards, one Golden Globe Award, an American Comedy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for his work on the show.

In recent years he's appeared on Broadway, earning another Tony award in 2002 for "The Sweet Smell of Success" and a Tony nomination in 2005 for "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."