Inside the Actors Studio

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James Lipton
A Bloomin' Miracle: James Lipton prepares for a promising Spring.

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It’s that most promising time of year. At last. And, given the global stresses of the past few months, not a moment too soon.

My wife and I live in a town house on the upper east side of Manhattan. Yes, we know how lucky we are. And, if you’ve read my book “Inside Inside,” you know how far I’ve come, and how many reasons I have to be grateful for this urban bounty.

I mention our house because this is the season when a miracle happens there.

To digress (but not really), one of the facts of my life is that it takes me two weeks to prepare the hundreds of blue cards with which I await each guest. That’s two weeks, seven days a week, twelve or more hours a day, without exception and with only two days off, Christmas and New Year’s, from the moment the school-year begins in September until it ends in June.

Inside the Actors Studio and my life are bounded by the school-year because, as you know if you watch the show or have read its history in “Inside Inside,” what you see on your screen at home is a classroom in the Actors Studio Drama School of Pace University, of which I was the founding dean.

The result of that timetable is a life I wouldn’t trade with anyone in the world: I prize the school, its students and our show, which takes us into 89,000,000 homes on Bravo in America and 125 countries around the world. But sometimes the schedule and its deadlines can be daunting.

Which brings me – and you, if you’ve stuck with me this far – back on the track of the miracle I mentioned a few paragraphs ago.

The twelve or so hours devoted each day to preparing for my next guest are spent in my study on the second of our house’s four floors. The study is a large, wood-paneled room with a marble fireplace and very tall ceilings. And best of all, it’s quiet because, though our environment is mostly townhouses and therefore surprisingly peaceful for a city street, my study, facing the garden, is utterly, blissfully silent.

In Chapter Seventeen of “Inside Inside,” when I offer the reader several pages of the best (and unbleeped) answers to the Pivot Questionnaire with which I conclude every episode of Inside the Actors Studio, I reveal (finally) my own answers. And my response to “What is your favorite sound?” is, “The most underrated quality of contemporary life: silence.”

I suspect that that answer is prompted by the fact that I’m a writer, and for every writer, alone with his or her coy, elusive muse, distracting sounds are the enemy, and deep, velvety, enveloping silence is the friend.

Comments

28 Comments

01/25/2010 - 1:56am

Rudytejano

Hi there, greetings from Monterrey, Mexico.
I guess you get this asked everyday, so you may already have a set answer for it:
Where or how can I see some episodes that I can´t find online? I frequently go to youtube.com, but I can´t find these:
JULIA ROBERTS
KATHY BATES
CHARLIZE THERON
SALLY FIELD
And many more, plus I was wondering if you had plans to interview these great stars:
DENZEL WASHINGTON
SEAN CONNERY
JACKIE CHAN
GARY OLDMAN
JOHN MALKOVICH
I found in wikipedia a complete list of your guests, and to tell you the truth I don´t how many months it´s going to take me to see all those episodes, but I can´t wait to start.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read my commment.

Rudy.

09/07/2009 - 2:24pm

Louise McFaddin (Buehl)

9-7-09

Wonderful,Wonderful show Mr. Lipton. This is in reference to Jason Bateman. Because I knew his parents, Kent & Vicki in the early 70's (having been engaged to his Uncle, John I'Anson), I wonder why after having been on all of Jason's web pages, there is not one picture of his parents. I pulled out old pictures of us with Jason & Justine and the Grandparents at Xmas and in the snow. Very cute and young. Vicki was a very,very pretty woman. I realize all has not been friendly, but, was curious how they looked today. It would be nice to see some old family photos. Regards to you and to Jason & Justine.

Sincerely,
Louise McFaddin

08/01/2009 - 7:41pm

DRJones

Enjoy your show.

BUT

could you please interview Geoffrey Rush, I am a real "Rushie" fan. He is so interesting. You would make the RUSHIES very happy.

Thank you for all your work
Dianne

: 07/27/2009 - 11:44pm; Bev Wilson Johnson; Just finished reading you book and found it very interesting as well as entertaining.Thanks for the read......Saw another poster mention Harry Dean Stanton.How do you contact him? Years ago when I was small, his mother(Goldie)attended a family reunion.Do the names Neal (Cornelius) and Kathryn (Kate) Wilson mean anything to you ? Never met him(Harry) myself,but my Aunt Ruth had contact w/his mother. HEY HARRY, we're related thru the Wilsons. My dad,Russell, and his younger bro.,Cornelius Jr.,and you all look alot alike.Daddy always enjoyed pointing you out in your roles. My daughter once wrote a paper on you for her English class and we tried to contact you thru your agent. But she never received any word. They were to write to a living person they admired and interview them. Oh well. But you definitely have Wilson genes (looks and musical talent).

07/27/2009 - 8:51pm

Ray

Mr. Lipton,

I am enthralled by your show. The research you perform prior to your interview is so incredibly thorough you often seem to put the guests on edge with how in depth you have gone into their history. Additionally, you always seem to be genuinely eager to hear the response as if you were a child patiently waiting for his parents to wake up on Christmas morning so the present opening can begin. In answer to question number 8, I would like to attempt your job. However, I realize no one can do it better so I selfishly hope that in answer to question 10 when you reach the pearly gates (deep in the future) you hear God say, "Go back, there has been a mistake, your job is unfinished" Thank you for all that you do.

07/25/2009 - 8:08pm

Susie

Love your show! There's a question that has often occurred to me and I haven't yet heard on your show and that is - how much of each character remains with the actors or do they simply erase the characters after the end of their work.

Always lookoing forward for more shows

06/18/2009 - 3:13pm

Ursula

Having lived half my life on the east coast, and this, the second half, on the west coast in Los Angeles county, I have a different sort of relationship with spring than you have. I remember how grateful I was for a color other than grey, brown, white or black in the spring. Any hint of green...

Your interviews are the best and I await the new season anxiously. It would break my heart if there were no more Inside the Actors Studio. If there's somebody I can call or write or somehow influence, please publish the information. I know the cards you write are a lot of work, but work you love is not really 'work' at all.

Thanks for all you do.

06/15/2009 - 11:12am

Respond

James,

For a struggling actor without a safety net - communicating with a man that can say yes you can come study with us . . . the work is the most important thing to me. I want a chance to study with the best . . . can I meet with you . . .

: 06/12/2009 - 11:56am; Tammy; I too hope your show returns soon, it is truly one of my favorties. I did not realize until recently that Bradley Cooper was a former student of the Actor's Studio. Have you considered having him as a guest? I just recently discovered him (as an actor) and did not realize everything that he has been in and would love to see him as a guest on the Actor's Studio. I hope you consider it!

: 06/02/2009 - 5:43pm; Mark; I think you should consider an acting-focused interview with Quentin Tarantino, a former actor after all, when he comes out with his new one.