One of the finest actors alive brings something special to Carmel’s Sunset Center.

John Lithgow has been nominated for a pair of Academy Awards (Terms of Endearment and The World According to Garp) and has won just about every other major acting award offered. As he approaches 70, he’s up for taking on any role, as long as it’s well-written and has value deeper than words.

The role he brings to Sunset Center Thursday, May 8, is one of his own making. He sits with the audience and entertains with spoken stories he handpicked:

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In your new film, Love is Strange, you and Alfred Molina play a married couple. The chemistry between you guys has been hailed as masterfully natural. How did you approach it?

It came very easily. It’s a beautifully written script by writer-director Ira Sachs, who co-wrote it with Mauricio Zacharias. It also helps having someone like Alfred Molina as a co-star – we’ve been good friends for years but never worked together. Fred is a very open guy and completely relaxed. If I’m going to have an old gay partner, I’d want him to be Fred Molina. We have a lot in common: We’re both theater actors, who have done plenty of films, we have lots of mutual experience, lots of mutual friends and both of us have long marriages, which was the most useful reference point of all. As I describe it, the film only has one starring role: the marriage, and it’s played by two actors.

Marriage is an interesting relationship: It’s not always beautiful; there are times of discord and tension. I think that’s what makes it so realistic in the film.

What’s your secret to lasting marriage?

My wife is a history professor at UCLA. Our lives are very different. We both take our work very seriously, we’re very attached to each other but we’re also very independent. Our marriage is indestructable. I’m not sure if professors and actors were ever meant to get married. My life is so unpredictable and hers is so regimented. I’m on no schedule whatsoever. We have a good time. She lends a order to my life and I lend adventure to hers.

What inspired Stories by Heart?

The first thing I did was memorize a great short story, Uncle Fred Flits by P. G. Wodehouse, which lends itself to a one-man performance. It has 10 characters and it’s hilarious when one actor plays all the characters. I discovered what a great piece of material it was while I read it out loud to my father – he read out of the same book to me and my siblings when we were kids – when he was an old man and ill. I realized while I was reading it, “Wow, all I have to is memorize it and I’ll be able to really entertain people.” As I say on stage, the story did bring my dad back to life; he just needed to listen to good stories. From that I extrapolate my own philosophies of entertainment and what it is that I do for a living. It came so naturally. I gathered friends together one night after I memorized it. I performed it after giving a little bit of an introduction. They loved the story but were very interested in the circumstance.

What are you most proud of in your career?

Variety. I’ve done so many different things. I’ve never gotten pigeonholed. If I walk down a street in Manhattan and stopped by 10 different people, they would stop me for 10 different shows. Somebody will love 3rd Rock, somebody will love Dexter, someone will say Garp, someone will say Twilight Zone or M. Butterfly.

What role has brought you the strangest fan responses?

Dr. Lizardo in Buckaroo Banzai. They all want me to say, “Laugh while you can, monkey boy.”

You’re gifted at playing psychopaths (Dexter) and nice guys (Harry & the Hendersons). Which is harder?

The only really difficult work is trying to make badly written material work.

What are some dream roles left to act?

I’m going to play King Lear this summer in Central Park during Shakespeare in the Park – I’ve already started working on a beard. That’s been my dream role for a long time. I just had to wait until I was old enough to do it and not too old.

John Lithgow: Stories By Heart happens at 8pm Thursday, May 8, at Sunset Center, San Carlos at Ninth, Carmel. $79-$99. 620-2048.