and welcome to my guest, king lear.ing lear, that is, as portrayed by the actor, john lithgow, who grew the beard for the role and has been frightening our neighbors here in new york city merely by walking down the street at twilight's last gleaming, headed to central park, where under the stars, he storms and stalks and strides the stage as shakespeare's aging, raging old tyrant, descending into dementia, at war with time, his daughters and himself. there is no more difficult role in the theater, and no play more relevant to the moment, anytime and anywhere it's performed. with all the carnage and violence around us in the world, king lear mirrors the folly of reckless leadership, the arrogance of power, and the depth of human anguish. >> blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow! you cataracts and hurricanoes, spout till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks! you sulphurous and thought-executing fires, vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunder bolts, singe this white head! >>> the artistic director of ne

king lear is. in my experience, all the most exciting things i've done, have been other people's bright ideas, things that i never even thought of myself for. other people think of you in bays that you don't sometimes think of yourself. >> rose: tell me who he is. who is lear? >> well, in our lear he is-- we see him as kind of exuberant and manic and exciting man, beloved monarch. but he's aging to the point where he's probably always had a strain of manic temper and it is dan sullivan's wonderful concept in my opinion that the first time you see him he's extremely excited about this plan for dividing his kingdom. like it's something he just thought of, but hasn't really thought through yet. and his fool is in the scene. you get a sense of him being a very robust man with a huge open heart and a great sense of humor. but he's aged more than people realize. >> some people ask the question he is mad from the beginnings, or does he lose his mine over the process of the play. >> that's an extremeau goo

king lear is.n my experience, all the most exciting things i've done have been other people's bright ideas, things i never thought of myself for. other people think of you in ways sometimes in ways you don't think of yourself. >> who is lear? >> in our lear, we see him as exuberant, manic, an exciting man, a beloved monarch who is aging to the point where he probably has already had a strain of manic temper. it is dan sullivan's wonderful concept that the first time you see him he is extremely excited about this plan for dividing his kingdom like it's something he just bought a band has not thought it through yet. his fool is in the scene and you get a sense of him being a very robust man with a huge open heart and a great sense of humor but he has aged more than people realize. >> is he mad from the beginning or does he lose his mind over the process of the play? >> it's an extremely good question and it's the number one challenge, calculating how he goes mad. i think there's the beginnings of a p

just completed king lear in both the u.k. and new york and now can be seen in "draft day" about the ruthless world of big time football. we'll start with a clip from "draft day" which he stars in with kevin costner. >> sonny, i'd like to congratulate you. i asked you to make a splash and you did. is everybody still there. >> anthony, how do you already know about this? >> what can i tell you my boy. it is good to be the owner. i'm about to board my plane. i'm heading to new york. >> you are going to the draft? >> no i'm going to see spider man turn off the dark. of course i'm going. we got bo callahan. >> well i guess that's settled. >> may be. but we still have to take another look at this kid and everything we need to know about him before i can see what we just risked. >> meaning all of our jobs. >> what motivated you to do this one? >> oh, money. >> money. [ laughter ] i love it. you are so candid and so honest. >> well, you know, a five-year-old chinese girl knows more about football than i do. i knew absolutely nothing

everyone is doing king lear. >> we have some clips to show you throughout this conversation. , who bothplayed and directed hamlet. soi do not understand excellent a king that was to this. satire so loving to my mother that the winds of heaven is at her face. and what hang on him it said on. yet, within a month, the unthinkable. frailty, thy name is woman. he is still widely regarded as the most musical of hamlets. hamlet a couple of years later with a more virile, gutsier, swashbuckling hamlet. >> a bit freudian? >> oh yes. the name of the man he consulted in lengths -- >> i know the name of the man. let's listen to what he said. have played it, it will devour you and upset you for the rest of your life. it has me. i think today about it. i will never play him again, of course. i wish i could. >> he was in his mid-70's when thinking, if i just had one more go of it. asdid do it several times far as the wide world is concerned in the film. >> and then there was richard burton. >> he was directed by john gui lgood. the first time, he was probably influenced by just defaulting to the music

>> lear are the baby boomers, a little older than i am, who graduated from the macbeth to the king lear years. beal is young to be playing lear. >> charlie: franklin the right age? >> yes, and i think john lithgow was probably the right age. imagine being close to 80 and still being able to memorize all that and create that kind of sense of rage. he is sort of hamlet's heir and here's someone who looks at the world finally with clear eyes and goes, i didn't sign up for this. >> charlie: what we should see in new york on broadway? >> "between riverside and crazy" at the atlantic theater company, it's the best play about lying and how lying is an essential part of our lives that i've ever seen. it's terrific. so that i recommend. stars stephen mckinley henderson which is a stable of williams productions. beautiful in this. >> charlie: thank you. thank you so much. >> charlie: ben brantley, theater critic for the "new york times" on hamlet. back in a minute. stay with us. >> charlie: "the giver" first published in 1993 by lois lowry, follows a boy as he learns the truth about the world he

wocococtxxyÑ1Ñó ♪ >>> this week on "moyers & company," award winning actor and writer, john lithgow as king learhis is an interesting moment. i just entered into that window where you can play lear. when you're old enough to play him, and you're young enough to play him. 'cause you have to have the strength to play the part, and yet you have to have some sense of impending old age. >> announcer: funding is provided by -- anne gumowitz, encouraging the renewal of democracy. carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. the herb alpert foundation, supporting organizations whose

www.ncicap.org-- ♪ >>> this week on "moyers & company," award winning actor and writer, john lithgow as king lear>> this is an interesting moment. i just entered into that window where you can play lear. when you're old enough to play him, and you're young enough to play him. 'cause you have to have the strength to play the part, and yet you have to have some sense of impending old age. >> announcer: funding is provided by -- anne gumowitz, encouraging the renewal of democracy. carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. the herb alpert foundation, supporting organizations whose

amazing. er ♪ >>> this week on "moyers & company," award winning actor and writer, john lithgow as king lear>> this is an interesting moment. i just entered into that window where you can play lear. when you're old enough to play him, and you're young enough to play him. 'cause you have to have the strength to play the part, and yet you have to have some sense of impending old age. >> announcer: funding is provided by -- anne gumowitz, encouraging the renewal of democracy. carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. the herb alpert foundation, supporting organizations whose mission is to promote compas

. ♪ >>> this week on "moyers & company," award winning actor and writer, john lithgow as king lear. >his is an interesting moment. i just entered into that window where you can play lear. when you're old enough to play him, and you're young enough to play him. 'cause you have to have the strength to play the part, and yet you have to have some sense of impending old age. >> announcer: funding is provided by -- anne gumowitz, encouraging the renewal of democracy. carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. the herb alpert foundation, supporting organ

progress through the generations of, you know, it's romeo, hamlet, macbeth, now everyone's doing king lear! >> charlie: and broadway's audra mcdonald on being billie holliday. >> it's like having a new co-star every night. there's no fourth wall. i go in and amongst the audience, i talk to them, they're all different every single night, sometimes they're afraid of me, sometimes they lean in, sometimes they talk back to me. >> charlie: those stories and more on what happened and what might happen. funding for charlie rose was provide bid the following.