James Lipton

James Lipton was an American writer, actor, and talk show host. Born in Detroit in 1926, he acted in radio while in high school and played Dan Reid on The Lone Ranger. From 1952 to 1962 he starred on The Guiding Light as Dr. Dick Grant and became the soap's head writer. He wrote for other daytime serials and studied acting with Stella Adler, Harold Clurman, and Robert Lewis. On Broadway, he wrote the book and lyrics for Nowhere To Go But Up (1962) and was librettist and lyricist for Sherry! (1967). He published An Exaltation of Larks in 1968. Lipton created and hosted Inside the Actors Studio, a program that debuted in 1994 and continued until his retirement in 2018, and in 2014 he received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for that work. His later screen roles included the Director in Bolt (2008) and Brain Wash in Igor (2008). He died in 2020.