It won’t quite be Old Home Week for

John Lithgow

. But it will be Old Home Day.

On Wednesday, the actor will be back at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, doing his one-person show, “Stories by Heart.” The evening has him performing two tales —

“Uncle Fred Flits By” by P.G. Wodehouse and “Haircut” by Ring Lardner.

McCarter’s stage is a familiar one to Lithgow.

“Not just because I did a play at the McCarter in 1969,” he says. “I hung around that theater a lot when I was in the 11th and 12th grades.”

Lithgow wasn’t stagestruck then; at that point in his life, he says, he was planning to be a painter. His trips to the Princeton playhouse were simply to visit his dad — Arthur Lithgow (1915-2004), executive director of McCarter from 1963 to 1971.

“Although the play I did there was more than 40 years ago,” Lithgow says, “I still remember how my father directed me in it. Fathers and sons can often butt heads when they work together, but we didn’t. I’d even say that my dad was almost too nice to be a director.”

But after John graduated from Harvard University and announced he was planning to be a professional actor, his father’s first reaction was not a nice one.

“His face fell,” Lithgow says.“I understand why. Who better than he knew that acting was a tough profession? But while I was at Harvard, I had starting acting with the drama club there. I was Tartuffe, Gloucester in ‘King Lear,’ and even King Paramount in Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘Utopia.’ And once you become a campus star and hear enough applause, you get hooked.”

Despite winning two Tony Awards (“The Changing Room,” 1973; “Sweet Smell of Success,” 2002) and nabbing two Oscar nominations (“The World According to Garp,” 1982; “Terms of Endearment,” 1983), Lithgow does report his share of disappointments.

“By a nose, I lost the chance to play Hannibal Lecter in ‘The Silence of the Lambs.’ That really hurt.”

Lithgow does admit, however, that he only has himself to blame for not appearing as Frasier Crane on “Cheers.”

“I turned that one down,” he says sadly. “I’ve also turned down roles that went on to win Oscars and Tonys, but I’m not going to say any more, because I don’t want the actors who took the parts to know that they were second choice. No question that being a freelance actor does have its perils.”

But as most actors have learned, having a one-man show in your professional arsenal means that you’ll always have a marketable commodity. “Three years ago,” says Lithgow, “I started working on this idea that I’d had for a while. Two stories, preceded by a friendly rumination on why we need stories in the first place.”

Lithgow says he learned the power of storytelling at an early age. “I was the second youngest of four kids, and became my younger sister Sarah Jane’s surrogate parent. Many a time I entertained her by reading stories. Though it was my father who introduced me to ‘Uncle Fred Flits By.’ ”

Wodehouse’s story concerns a compulsive liar who loves practical jokes and adventures to his nephew’s consternation. Fred thinks nothing of ringing a doorbell, pretending to be a tradesman, and little by little taking over the entire house. “Fred has a great deal in common with Auntie Mame,” Lithgow says.

Lardner’s “Haircut” has Lithgow donning a barber’s white jacket and pretending to cut a new customer’s hair. En route, he tells the man a story about a local bigwig who met an unfortunate end. The fun of the tale is that the audience pieces together information that seems to elude the barber.

“Gestures are important to the story, and I can say I learned a lot about gestures just from watching Marcel Marceau,” Lithgow says, citing the mime.

“And where did I see him? At the McCarter, when Dad had me pulling the curtain for him.”

John Lithgow: Stories by Heart Where: McCarter Theatre Center, 91 University Place, Princeton When: Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. How much: $30, $40. Students, $12. Call (609) 258-2787 or visit mccarter.org.