VIDEO: John Lithgow Talks Realizing His Dream of Playing 'King Lear' on TONIGHT SHOW

On last night's TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON, Jimmy chatted with John Lithgow about playing the titular role of King Lear for Shakespeare in the Park."It's been the answer to the question, 'What role would you want to play?' for all these years, and now I'm playing it!" said the actor.

Later, John talks about being interviewed by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and reactions to his King Lear beard. Check out the appearance below!

The Public Theater's 2014 free Shakespeare in the Park season will feature Daniel Sullivan directing King Lear at the Delacorte Theater. The play runs July 22 through August 17.

KING LEAR was first staged at the Delacorte in its inaugural year, 1962, directed by Joseph Papp and Gladys Vaughan. The show featured Frank Silvera as Lear, Roscoe Lee Brownas Lear's Fool and John Cullum as the King of France. The last time it was staged at the Delacorte was in 1973, where it was directed by Edwin Sherin and featured James Earl Jonesas Lear, Tom Aldredge as Lear's Fool, and Raúl Julia as Edmund. King Lear was staged at The Public Theater at Astor Place in 1996 with F. Murray Abraham as Lear and Jeffrey Wright as the Fool. It was presented again in 2007 with Kevin Kline as Lear and Michael Cerveris as Kent and was last presented downtown at Astor Place in 2011 with Sam Waterston as Lear, Bill Irwin as the Fool, Kelli O'Hara as Regan and Michael McKeanas Gloucester.