Summary:
- Nathan Lane shared a touching memory of Robin Williams protecting him from questions about his sexuality during a “The Oprah Winfrey Show” interview while promoting their film “The Birdcage.”
- Williams diverted the conversation with humor, showcasing his kindness and understanding.
It’s been nine years since we lost Robin Williams, but his co-stars continue to sing his praises. Recently, Nathan Lane shared a heartfelt memory of how Williams supported him during a particularly stressful time.
A month after Sally Field fondly recalled Williams as a “generous, loving, sweet, talented man” before receiving her Lifetime Achievement Award, Lane offered his own touching story on “Today.
While promoting their 1996 film “The Birdcage” on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Lane faced immense pressure.
In the film, he and Williams play a gay couple trying to marry off their straight-laced son (Dan Futterman) to a young woman (Calista Flockhart) with incredibly conservative parents (Dianne Wiest and Gene Hackman).
This was Lane’s first major film role, and he wasn’t prepared to discuss his sexuality publicly.
“I certainly wasn’t ready to go from table to table and tell them all I was gay,” Lane said, acknowledging that the topic was unavoidable given the film’s nature and his character.
Nervous and apprehensive, he confided in Williams about his fears.
“He said, ‘Oh, it’s alright, don’t worry about it — we don’t have to talk about it,'” Lane recalled telling “Today” host Willie Geist. “We won’t talk about it.”
During the Oprah interview, Winfrey quickly asked Lane if he was worried about being typecast and people questioning, “Are you or are you not? Is he?” Adopting a Nineties Gay Accent, she added, “Is he, honey? I don’t know.”
Lane, who currently stars on Broadway in “Pictures from Home,” described how Williams “sort of swoops in and diverts Oprah, goes off on a tangent and protects me because he was a saint.”
In the interview clip, Williams also used a Nineties Gay Accent, joking with Oprah, “Girl, you changed just in the middle of that sentence.”
While he rolled his neck and adopted light gay affectations, it was just enough to give Lane time to come up with an answer. At the time, Lane claimed he was a character actor without “an image to uphold” and wasn’t afraid of being typecast.
Lane stressed that he doesn’t believe Winfrey was trying to out him, but he simply wasn’t ready for the weight of coming out as a gay man in 1996.
A year later, Winfrey would play a crucial role in Ellen DeGeneres‘s landmark coming-out episode on her sitcom, portraying Ellen’s therapist. After DeGeneres came out and “Ellen” was canceled, DeGeneres worried she would never work again.
“I just wasn’t ready to do that,” Lane said of coming out publicly. “It’s great that everyone now feels comfortable, but homophobia is alive and well, and there are plenty of gay people who are still hiding.”
Williams’ protective gesture remains a poignant example of his kindness and understanding, leaving a lasting impact on Lane and everyone who hears this touching story.
