Don Quixote Television Program

After a distinguished 40-year career in feature films, it never occurred to Peter Yates that TV directing might be a fruitful professional option. But then he had lunch with John Frankenheimer, an old friend and veteran filmmaker, who directed a prestige TV project ("George Wallace"), then watched his feature career revive with "Ronin" and "Reindeer Games." "John turned me on to the idea," said Yates, 70, relaxing over afternoon coffee in his sumptuously appointed Kensington apartment.

After a distinguished 40-year career in feature films, it never occurred to Peter Yates that TV directing might be a fruitful professional option. But then he had lunch with John Frankenheimer, an old friend and veteran filmmaker, who directed a prestige TV project ("George Wallace"), then watched his feature career revive with "Ronin" and "Reindeer Games." "John turned me on to the idea," said Yates, 70, relaxing over afternoon coffee in his sumptuously appointed Kensington apartment.

John Lithgow had no trouble inhabiting the demented mind of Don Quixote. After all, he has made a career of playing over-the-top eccentrics from his portrayal of a transsexual in the 1982 film "The World According to Garp," to his turn each week on NBC as the commander of a group of aliens in "3rd Rock From the Sun," a role that has earned him three Emmys. In fact, he confesses to a certain attraction to characters that tend toward the theatrical.

John Lithgow had no trouble inhabiting the demented mind of Don Quixote. After all, he has made a career of playing over-the-top eccentrics from his portrayal of a transsexual in the 1982 film "The World According to Garp," to his turn each week on NBC as the commander of a group of aliens in "3rd Rock From the Sun," a role that has earned him three Emmys. In fact, he confesses to a certain attraction to characters that tend toward the theatrical.