INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO's James Lipton Has Died at 93

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that James Lipton, executive producer, writer, and host of the Bravo cable television series Inside The Actors Studio, has died at age 93 after battling bladder cancer. The news was first reported by TMZ via Lipton's wife Kedakai Turner who wrote "Lipton passed away peacefully Monday morning at his home" with his wife, Kedakai Turner, telling TMZ ... "There are so many James Lipton stories but I'm sure he would like to be remembered as someone who loved what he did and had tremendous respect for all the people he worked with."

Lipton also wrote the book and lyrics for the 1967 Broadway musical Sherry! and the Broadway production Nowhere to Go But Up.

In 1994, Lipton arranged for The Actors Studio to join forces with New York City's New School University, to form The Actors Studio Drama School. Within The Actors Studio Drama School, Lipton created a non-credit class called "Inside The Actors Studio" where successful and accomplished actors, directors, and writers were interviewed and would answer questions from acting students. These sessions were recorded and broadcast on television for the general public to see. Lipton himself hosted the show and conducted the main interview, until he stepped down in 2018.

Lipton was a writer and actor, in addition to his work on Inside The Actors Studio. In the 1940s, he portrayed Dan Reid on radio's The Lone Ranger in Detroit. He then moved to New York, and wrote for soap operas, as well as appeared as an actor on Guiding Light. He appeared in the 1953 film, The Big Break.

In television, Lipton has produced many specials including twelve Bob Hope Birthday Specials, The Road to China, and the first time ever televised presidential inaugural gala, for Jimmy Carter.

Lipton interviewed a slew of show business vets and insiders over the years including Amy Adams, Ben Affleck, Alan Alda, Tim Allen, Jennifer Aniston, Judd Apatow, Will Arnett, Hank Azaria, Lauren Bacall, Alec Baldwin (twice), Antonio Banderas, Ellen Barkin, Roseanne Barr, Drew Barrymore, Kim Basinger, Jason Bateman[8], Kathy Bates, Ned Beatty, Halle Berry, Juliette Binoche, Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Jon Bon Jovi, Alex Borstein, Julie Bowen, Peter Boyle, Jeff Bridges, Matthew Broderick, Josh Brolin, Pierce Brosnan, David Bryan, Carol Burnett, Ty Burrell, Ellen Burstyn, Gabriel Byrne, James Caan, Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine, James Cameron, Steve Carell, George Carlin, Jim Carrey, Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Stockard Channing, Dave Chappelle (only artist to appear 3 times - 2005, 2008, 2013), Jessica Chastain, Don Cheadle, George Clooney, Lauren Cohan, Glenn Close, Chris Colfer, Jennifer Connelly, Bradley Cooper (twice) [cast 1], Francis Ford Coppola, Kevin Costner, Bryan Cranston, Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise, Billy Crystal (twice), John Cusack, Willem Dafoe (twice), Matt Damon, Jeff Daniels, Ted Danson, Geena Davis, Viola Davis, Benicio Del Toro, Robert De Niro, Bruce Dern, Laura Dern (twice), Johnny Depp, Danny DeVito, Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Stanley Donen, Michael Douglas, Robert Downey, Jr., Richard Dreyfuss, David Duchovny, Olympia Dukakis, Faye Dunaway, Lena Dunham, Robert Duvall, Clint Eastwood, Peter Falk, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Tina Fey, Sally Field, Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Laurence Fishburne, Jane Fonda, Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, Michael J. Fox (with Tracy Pollan), Jamie Foxx, James Franco, Morgan Freeman, James Gandolfini, Andy García, Danai Gurira, Brad Garrett, Richard Gere, Ricky Gervais, Danny Glover, William Goldman, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., John Goodman, Hugh Grant, Lee Grant, Seth Green, Melanie Griffith, Jake Gyllenhaal, Gene Hackman, Jon Hamm, Tom Hanks (twice), Alyson Hannigan, Mariska Hargitay, Ed Harris, Jared Harris, Neil Patrick Harris (twice), Teri Hatcher, Ethan Hawke, Goldie Hawn, Salma Hayek, Sean Hayes, Patricia Heaton, Christina Hendricks, Mike Henry, Dustin Hoffman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Anthony Hopkins (twice), Dennis Hopper, Ron Howard, Kate Hudson, Helen Hunt, Holly Hunter, John Hurt, Mitchell Hurwitz, Anjelica Huston, Jeremy Irons, Hugh Jackman (twice), Anne Jackson (with Eli Wallach), Samuel L. Jackson, Allison Janney, Norman Jewison, Billy Joel, Scarlett Johansson, Elton John, Angelina Jolie, January Jones, Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Kartheiser, Julie Kavner, Harvey Keitel, Val Kilmer, Ben Kingsley, Jemima Kirke, Kevin Kline, Martin Landau, Diane Lane, Nathan Lane, Jessica Lange, Anthony LaPaglia, Queen Latifah, Hugh Laurie, Jude Law, Martin Lawrence, Denis Leary[8], Spike Lee, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Lemmon, Jay Leno, Jerry Lewis, Laura Linney, James Lipton[cast 2], Jennifer Lopez, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sidney Lumet, Jane Lynch, Seth MacFarlane, Shirley MacLaine, William H. Macy, Zosia Mamet, Leslie Mann, Mary Stuart Masterson, Matthew McConaughey, Eric McCormack, Ian McKellen, Chris Meloni, S. Epatha Merkerson, Debra Messing, Lea Michele, Bette Midler, Arthur Miller, Liza Minnelli, Mo'Nique, Cory Monteith, Julianne Moore, Mary Tyler Moore, Jeanne Moreau, Matthew Morrison, Megan Mullally, Eddie Murphy, Ryan Murphy, Mike Myers (twice), Liam Neeson, Paul Newman, Mike Nichols, Chris Noth, Edward Norton, Conan O'Brien, Rosie O'Donnell, Ed O'Neill, David Oyelowo, Al Pacino (twice), Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker (twice), Estelle Parsons, Jim Parsons, Arthur Penn, Sean Penn, Bernadette Peters, Michelle Pfeiffer, Brad Pitt, Amy Poehler, Sydney Pollack, Tracy Pollan (with Michael J. Fox), Natalie Portman, Dennis Quaid, Anthony Quinn, Daniel Radcliffe, Josh Radnor, Robert Redford, Vanessa Redgrave, Norman Reedus, Christopher Reeve, Burt Reynolds, Tim Robbins, Doris Roberts, Julia Roberts, Chris Rock, Ray Romano, Diana Ross, Portia De Rossi, Mickey Rourke, Mark Ruffalo, Meg Ryan, Mark Rydell, Richie Sambora, Susan Sarandon, Robert Schneider, Martin Scorsese, Kyra Sedgwick, Jason Segel, Alia Shawkat, Harry Shearer, Charlie Sheen[cast 3], Martin Sheen, Brooke Shields, Kiernan Shipka, Martin Short, Sarah Silverman, Neil Simon, Gary Sinise, Christian Slater, John Slattery, Yeardley Smith, Will Smith, Cobie Smulders, Stephen Sondheim, Sissy Spacek, Kevin Spacey, Steven Spielberg, Sylvester Stallone, Ben Stiller, Sharon Stone, Eric Stonestreet, Susan Stroman, Meryl Streep, Barbra Streisand, Donald Sutherland, Kiefer Sutherland[cast 4], Hilary Swank, Jeffrey Tambor, Tico Torres, Charlize Theron, Billy Bob Thornton, John Travolta, Sofía Vergara, Mark Wahlberg, Christopher Walken, Eli Wallach (with Anne Jackson), Jessica Walter, Barbara Walters, Naomi Watts, Sigourney Weaver, Matthew Weiner, Kristen Wiig, Forest Whitaker, Betty White, Gene Wilder, Allison Williams, Robin Williams, Bruce Willis, Debra Winger, Henry Winkler, Kate Winslet, Shelley Winters, Dick Wolf, Alfre Woodard, James Woods, Joanne Woodward, Steven Yeun and Renée Zellweger.

Conan O'Brien honored Lipton on his show in 2009: