James Lipton on His Fantasy Guest and Manatee Love
Posted: Friday, October 19, 2007 10:20 AM by Dan Fleschner
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Live from Studio 1A
James Lipton, the host of "Inside the Actors Studio," has become a pop culture icon. He is known for his unique interviewing style as well as the array of parodies of that style, most notably by Will Ferrell on "Saturday Night Live."
Lipton has recently turned the attention onto himself, writing his new book Inside Inside. READ EXCERPT.
He joined Meredith this morning to talk about his life and career. WATCH VIDEO
Before his segment with Meredith, he sat down with me to talk about his biggest surprise in 13 years of hosting "Inside the Actors Studio," which star from Hollywood history he'd most want to interview, and the status of his relationship with the "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" character, the Horny Manatee.
Here's our conversation:
Q: When you look back at the history of Hollywood, the history of movie acting, who are the two or three people on your list that you wish you had had the chance to interview?
James Lipton: Certainly, Charlie Chaplin is first.
Q: Why?
JL: Because I think he was one of the great geniuses of the 20th century.
Q: You've also talked about wanting to interview Marlon Brando and Judy Garland. What about them makes them so intriguing to you?
JL: That they were unique, transcendent talents. And certainly, of their generations, they were the most impressive.
Q: From all the guests you've ever had on the show, is there a particular moment that stands out to you as the most surprising?
JL: The most surprising was, doubtless, the moment when Jack Lemmon and I were talking about Days of Wine and Roses. I was trying to demonstrate to our students that you don't have to push to be a good actor. Talking about the scene in which he was in a straitjacket, the scene in which he destroyed the green room.
I told the students that the most impressive moment to me was when he said, so quietly and so honestly, "My name is [Joe Clay]...and I'm an alcoholic." And I said to the students, "You see how simple and straightforward it is?" He said, "Which I am, by the way."
That led to a 15-second pause that was the longest pause I've ever had on the show. We didn't speak to each other, then he went on and I went on. His wife said to me, afterwards in the green room, "He's never said that in public before."
Q: What was happening in your head when he said that? How did you know how to react or how not to react?
JL: I was impressed with his honesty, of course. So were the students. I thought it was a moment of extraordinary honesty.
Q: Do you see connections today between actors today and those from the so-called "Golden Age" of Hollywood?
JL: People like Bogart and Gable were products of the studio system. They, generally speaking, played the same persona. The actors today are more character actors. They are different from role to role. They don't have that marked persona that the studio system dictated. I prefer that. I find it's more interesting to watch a Sean Penn, a Dustin Hoffman, a Jack Nicholson, a De Niro or Pacino. From role to role, they're so radically different from the previous part.
Q: Three of the actors you just mentioned -- Nicholson, De Niro and Pacino -- were just in the news because legendary director Francis Ford Coppola essentially called them lazy. Is there ever a time when you see a big star like one of those three actors, and you ask, "Why did he take on that role or that movie?" when it might not live up to their previous standards?
JL: I have no idea what Coppola was talking about, because I don't agree with it at all about those people. He took three of the most remarkable actors of their generation, without question. They've done great work. They don't write the films, they don't direct the films, they don't produce the films. They appear in them. So they're not responsible, I don't think, for the ultimate quality of those movies.
Maybe their choices are not good, according to Coppola, but I have no idea what he said or on what he based it, so I have no opinion on that except to say that I disagree with it.
Q: You reference a lot of movies in your interviews. Have you seen every movie that you talk about on your show?
JL: Yes, any movie that I discuss on the show, I've watched.
Q: People assume that because of the show and because of your work with the Actors' Studio, your life is completely devoted to movies and thinking about acting. What else do you do in your free time?
JL: I don't have very much free time. I really don't. I work seven days a week, 14 hours a day, on the show and on the book, the past two years. So free time is something I really don't understand.
Q: Where do you find the energy?
JL: I don't know, but it's there. It seems to be there.
Q: Anything recently that you've seen that particularly stood out to you?
JL: I don't watch current movies very much, because I'm so completely occupied with the movies that I have discuss on the air with my guests. I'm really not a good authority on current movies. I don't have time to go see them.
Q: Finally...You've made a couple appearances on Conan O'Brien's show in which you profess your love for -- and dance with -- one of his more popular characters, the Horny Manatee. Do you still keep in touch with the Horny Manatee?
JL: I haven't seen the Horny Manatee in a long time. I don't know where she is, but I hope she's doing well and swimming freely. I hope she's prospering. I was on Conan last night, and I looked around for her but she wasn't there.
