James Lipton

Finally, in these same fifteenth century books and manuscripts, Mr. Lipton found the utterly unexpected - a discretion of priests, a rascal of boys, a riffraff of knaves - which inspired his own inventions - a chisel of repairmen, a flush of plumbers, a handful of gynecologists, a lot of realtors, a queue of actors, an unction of undertakers. The result was the more than 1000 terms, real and fanciful, in the book Penguin has declared “a classic,” and that prompted Newsweek's book critic to write, “If there were an English Academy, Lipton would surely deserve election.”

On October 13, 2007, Dutton will publish Mr. Lipton's new book, “Inside Inside,” which, as its title indicates, is an account of the past thirteen years of his life as dean of the Actors Studio Drama School and creator and host of Inside the Actors Studio. In addition to revealing the behind-the-scenes story of the series, Mr. Lipton has, in a manner of speaking, put himself in the guest's chair, and subjected himself to the same kind of no-holds-barred examination his more than 200 guests have faced, recounting for the first time the events and people who have shaped his life, from its beginning to the present moment.

Mr. Lipton's approach to his duties as host of Inside the Actors Studio - the two weeks of preparation, the four hundred blue cards, the focus on craft - has inspired imitation and parody, notably by Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live and beyond. That led to Mr. Lipton's role in the film Bewitched, starring Mr. Ferrell and Nicole Kidman, and to repeated appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien where Dean Lipton has distinguished himself by shotgunning beer to celebrate spring-break week, solemnly reciting K-Fed's rap, and dancing with the horny manatee, which, in turn, has led to increasingly frequent invitations to return to his acting roots, notably in a recurring role on Arrested Development.

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