John Lithgow is known in most circles as a wonderful actor who has been in several kid-friendly films (”Shrek,” “Harry and the Hendersons”). But he’s also a popular children’s author.

So Turner Classic Movies thought he’d make a great host for “Essentials Jr.,” which is kind of a spinoff of “Essentials.” It’s not called “Jr.” because it’s not as big a deal as the original. It’s actually classic films that are deemed suitable for all families to watch.

“They came to me and I said yes in a heartbeat,” said Lithgow, who was cheerfully thoughtful during a recent phone interview. “I thought it was a wonderful idea. It’s a grownup’s idea. But it’s to get kids excited about films their parents saw. TCM is in the business of classic movies. And they are trying to breathe new life into these films and introduce them to a new audience.”

The show will air Sunday nights at 8 p.m. for 13 weeks starting this weekend. It will include commentary from Lithgow before and after the film. “I don’t read from a teleprompter,” he said. “I just talk to the camera. I try to give a context and give some instructions on how look at an old movie.”

“They figured I’d be the type of person who can recapture the enthusiasm of a little boy,” said Lithgow, 64. “They reawakened that part of me when they sent me these movies. They first sent me a list of every movie in the Turner library. It’s vast. I spent an entire morning going through it and came up with 45 films. They loved my list and scrapped their own. They ended up picking eight films from my list and a few from theirs. It’s a nice mix.”

Lithgow admits many are not targeted to kids per se but some left a strong impression on him when he was a child in the 1950s. One example: “The African Queen” starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.

“I still remember the scenes of leeches on Humphrey Bogart’s body,” he said. “It had such a great taste of reality. They shot it in Africa. It was my first insight into great acting. I remember those two stupendous character performances by Kate Hepburn and Bogart.”

Although he was only 7 years old at the time and didn’t have a full sense of adult love or sexuality, “I knew something special was happening. For me, the most wonderful family entertainment is stuff that means one thing to adults and another thing to kids. But equally exciting for both of them.”

Another favorite film is Gary Cooper’s Western “High Noon,” which Lithgow considers very simple. “There are no great cattle stampedes… it’s just so elemental. And Gary Cooper was spectacular in it. And there was a wonderful use of music. I liked it at age 7 or 8,” he said. “I had very good taste,” he added, jokingly.

The most quirky film he picked was a French comedy called “Mr. Hulot’s Holiday.” “It’s right up there with Chaplain and Keaton,” he said. “It’s a post-silent era film made in the ’50s but has all the elements of a silent film comedy. It’s just enchanting.”

Only one film is from the past 40 years: 1978’s “Heaven Can Wait” starring Warren Beatty. “This film collected some fabulous character actors. Charles Grodin. Dyan Cannon. Buck Henry. I just remember it very fondly. There was great romance and comedy. In a way, it was a throwback.”

He said the toughest film for kids might be “The Philadelphia Story,” a romantic comedy starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart. “It has complex adult issues but kids spot great acting,” he said. “They know it when they see it.”

Lithgow has a film coming out later in the fall with Amy Adams called “Leap Year” and he’s juggling five or six choices for the next six months. “An interesting thing happens when you get past 60. A lot of your competition has fallen away. The parts aren’t quite as big but the competition is thinner.”

His thoughts on the legacy of his show “3rd Rock From the Sun.” (1996-2001): “We’ve made it on TV Land, right up with ‘M*A*S*H’ and ‘Leave It To Beaver.’ There was truly nothing like ‘3rd Rock.’ I don’t think anybody would dare do anything like it again. It was so out there. The closest you can come up with is the Marx Brothers. It was wild, a madhouse. We really felt kind of special. We really made people laugh. It wasn’t a comforting comedy. It was raucous.”

He tried a sitcom a couple of years ago on NBC called “Twenty Good Years” with Jeffrey Tambor but it failed after a few episodes. “It didn’t have the same magic,” he admitted. He doesn’t mind doing cameos. His most recent: NBC’s “30 Rock” playing himself.

Lithgow also isn’t surprised there’s an effort to remake “Footloose” after 25 years. “It seems to be about right,” he said. “You better wait that long.” How about a cameo by his old dance-hating character? “I don’t think so. Can you imagine? Old Rev. Shaw Moore in an old age home yelling, ‘Turn the damn music down!’ ”

Here’s the schedule:

June 7 Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
June 14 To Have and Have Not (1944)
June 21 Father of the Bride (1950)
June 28 The Philadelphia Story (1940)
July 5 Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1953)
July 12 The African Queen (1951)
July 19 An American in Paris (1951)
July 26 High Noon (1952)
Aug. 2 Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Aug. 9 Notorious (1946)
Aug. 16 It Happened at the World’s Fair (1963)
Aug. 23 Gaslight (1944)
Aug. 30 You Can’t Take It With You (1938)