How 'saint' Robin Williams distracted Oprah Winfrey from asking about Nathan Lane's sexuality
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Nathan Lane remembers how the late Robin Williams stood by him during a 1996 press tour for the film 'The Birdcage' when the actor was still "not prepared at all" to come out as gay. In a 1996 Oprah Winfrey interview, when Lane was not prepared to come out in public, Williams "swooped in" and saved him, earning Lane's appreciation. Lane, 67, came out publicly three years later, in 1999.
In an excerpt from an upcoming episode of NBC's 'Sunday TODAY' that was shared originally with People, Lane reveals to host Willie Geist that he "certainly wasn't ready to go from table to table to tell them all that I was gay" when he and Williams, who committed suicide at age 63 in 2014, embarked on a press tour for their cherished comedy directed by the late Mike Nichols ('The Graduate').
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'He was a saint'
In a teaser clip, he said to NBC 'Sunday Today,' "I just wanted to talk about [how] I finally got a big part in a movie and I didn't want to make it about my sexuality." In the film, Lane portrayed a drag artist by the name of Albert and Williams played the role of Armand Goldman, who pretends to be a straight couple in order to meet the conservative parents of their son's fiancee. The actor, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance in 'The Birdcage' in 1997, continued by recalling "this famous moment when we had to do Oprah" and how he sought Williams ahead of the appearance out of concern that Oprah might urge him to reveal his sexuality on television.
Lane reflects in the video, "I don't think Oprah was trying to out me, but I said to Robin beforehand: 'I'm not prepared. I'm so scared of going out there and talking to Oprah. I'm not prepared to discuss that I'm gay on national television, I'm not ready'." To which Williams then said, "'Oh, it's alright, don't worry about it, we don't have to talk about it, we won't talk about it'."
Williams truly indeed, Lane continued saying to Geist, "sort of swoops in and diverts Oprah and goes off on a tangent and protects me, because he was a saint," when the talk show host inquired about Lane feeling "typecast" after portraying a drag artist in the movie.
Nathan Lane and Robin Williams on Oprah
On the 1996 episode of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' with Lane and Williams, available on YouTube, Winfrey, now 69, asks Lane whether he was "afraid of taking that role and being like typecast and people forever saying, 'Are you? Are you not?' " before Williams pipes up and responds to the host's query in his own imitation, giving Lane time to formulate a response. Williams jumped in saying, "Um girl, you changed just in the middle of that sentence. I don't know, I'm telling you. Don't make me come out there," as he flashed a quick glance at Lane.
Although he was not ready to come out at the time, Lane is happy that today's youth have the opportunity to be "comfortable" with their sexual orientations. However, he noted that "homophobia is alive and well and there are plenty of gay people who are still hiding." In a 1999 interview with 'The Advocate,' Lane came out publicly and stated that Williams 'protected' him during the Oprah interview.