Though he’d initially sought to be a lawyer, Lipton turned to acting and writing, appearing in radio plays and stage plays through the 1950s and beyond, while also publishing books starting in the 1960s.
Born in Detroit on September 19, 1926, James Lipton was an only child who entered the work field at a young age to help with his single mother’s financial struggles.
(He also had a stint as a quasi-pimp while in Paris in the 1950s.)
His legacy was cemented in the early 1990s, however, when he founded the Actors Studio Drama School, which led to the formation of the TV show we all know and love.