‘The Crown’ Actor John Lithgow Is Much Taller Than Winston Churchill

Makeup, costuming, prosthetics, voice coaching, and more allow actors to portray real-life historical figures in a believable way. But sometimes, a performer can’t change certain traits to fit the role. Case in point: John Lithgow‘s height is significantly different from Winston Churchill’s, yet Lithgow played the British prime minister on Netflix’s The Crown. In a recent interview, Lithgow opened up about how they approached the height difference.

John Lithgow’s role as Winston Churchill on ‘The Crown’

John Lithgow portrayed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill primarily on seasons 1 and 2 of Netflix’s historical drama The Crown. He starred opposite Claire Foy, who portrayed a young Queen Elizabeth II. Lithgow’s final appearance was in season 3 episode 1, “Olding.”

Nicknamed the British Bulldog, Churchill led the United Kingdom to victory in World War II. Several well-known actors have portrayed Churchill over the years, including Albert Finney in 2002’s The Gathering Storm and Gary Oldman in 2017’s Darkest Hour.

Unlike those actors, Lithgow is American. During a recent interview with GQ, Lithgow explained why The Crown cast an American-born actor in the role.

“They just loved the idea,” he said. “They said, ‘We’ve seen all the sirs play Churchill. We’ve seen Burton do it and Albert Finney do it. And there was a whole raft of them that year — and all of them Englishmen.”

How tall are John Lithgow and Winston Churchill?

Winston Churchill was only around 5 feet, 6 inches tall, per The Guardian. Meanwhile, John Lithgow is 6 feet, 4 inches tall.

While speaking with GQ, Lithgow explained how he got away with being significantly taller than his real-life historical counterpart on the show.

“I asked about my height,” Lithgow said. “I’m 6’4″. Churchill was 5 foot 7. I said, ‘What do we do about that?’”

Compared to his co-stars, Lithgow’s transformation into Churchill for The Crown was much more physical. In addition to putting on a polished English accent, the Dexter star also had to spend some time in the makeup chair putting on detailed prosthetics, according to Variety.

But thankfully, his height wasn’t an issue to show creators. The key? “Just ignore it.”

Lithgow continued: “[The Crown director/producer] Stephen [Daldry] said, ‘Just ignore it. Don’t think of it at all.’ He felt the same way about makeup. Just give the audience a little credit. You don’t have to give them total accuracy.”

Lithgow on his experience filming ‘The Crown’

While it might be obvious to history buffs that Lithgow is indeed much taller than Churchill was, the lack of historical accuracy didn’t deter audiences from watching the show. Lithgow received widespread critical acclaim for his portrayal of Churchill on The Crown. And he even went on to win a Primetime Emmy Award for the role.

“When we rehearsed The Crown, we didn’t even rehearse scenes. We just talked,” Lithgow told GQ. “We talked and talked about the history and the relationships.”

Lithgow added that he was “a little concerned” by how much time The Crown cast spent talking about the history, rather than rehearsing their lines.

“I was a little concerned that we were spending so little time talking about the actual performances here,” he said. “I brought an apple and the apple baller to the rehearsal. And I said, ‘Here, let me just show you something that I have been working on, Stephen.’”

Lithgow stuck the apple balls in his mouth to mimic Churchill’s signature jowls and particular pattern of speech. But The Crown makeup team was already “way ahead” of him. In the end, silicone plumpers were used by Lithgow to help him nail his impersonation of Churchill for the show.