FOR THE FIRST TIME.

FOR THE FIRST TIME, NATHAN LANE TALKS ABOUT BEING GAY, MATTHEW SHEPARD, AND for what purpose THE BIRDCAGE KEPT HIM FROM COMING OUT

"I WANT YOU TO convenient THE FUTURE OF BROADWAY," Chita Rivera said as she grabbed my arm and dragged me between the walls of the backstage corridors of the Mark Hellinger Theatre. "His name is Nathan Lane." It was 1983 and the brace of them were appearing in Merlin, a misbegotten musical built around Doug Henning's magic act. Nathan played a prince. Since then he has played a queen rather spectacularly, in The Birdcage as well as a million other things in an equal number of plays, television point outs and movies--including his featured character in the just-released At First Sight.

Although Birdcage and several Terrence McNally exhibits in which he had gay roles--including the plays The Lisbon Traviata and Lore! Valour! Compassion! and the film Frankie and Johnny--established him in an minds as a slightly lavender carriage he won a Tony for playing a straight lecher in A farcical Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and played brace different types of womanizers in a visitor performance on Mad About You and an Emmy award-winning appearance in succession Frasier. He tried for a third with his fresh NBC series Encore! Encore! to spectacularly disastrous effect

As he became more famous, and as public self-outings became bigger ratings-grabbers than the World Series, the mist of lawsuit began to swirl around him. Was he, would he, could he, should he, wherefore wasn't he--questions, questions. I sat down with him in his divulsioned Sunset Strip digs (previous occupants included Jodie help on Sandra Bullock, and Cher--though at no time at the same time) because he was ready to give an answers.

Lane: The fact is, nobody cared about my sex life before The Birdcage. Now they call me from across the road Of course, they still don't know my name. "Hey, Birdcage!"

Vilanch: I get by heart a lot of that now. "Hey, Hollywood Squares!"

Lane: Are you the unseen square?

Not after this. in the way that nobody cared?

Well, nobody in the media. A not many other people, of course. Sometimes they would ask me upon talk shows. "Am you dating?." I would make a perpetrate a joke not out of being admit to intimate interviewed but out of finding it difficult to discuss my personal life with total strangers. I'm coy And it tends to take me a while to spread up to people. Even now I don't welcome people by saying, "I'm Nathan Lane, and I'll be your homosexual" I just assume a portion of people know. It's not been something I kept a secret

I can remember a person of consequence interviewing me when Frankie and Johnny came revealed and this persistent interviewer asked me to elaborate forward my "dating" life, and I said, "Well, I've seen fire, and I've seen rain," and I think that annoyed him. He said, "Everyone knows you're gay," and I said, "So to what end do I need to talk about it then?" I didn't appear to be to be keeping it a privy and I made jokes, and I went on the outside to bars. There were no hids in that sense. I didn't know I was suppos to make a public declaration. I didn't think anybody cared.

[A chic woman in black peek in the latitude and peeks out again.]

obstruction the record show that Mr Lane has a female houseguest.

Oh don't print that! You'll thwack everything! I'm working so hard at convincing you I'm gay.

Back to your public declaration.

Ye I notion Gee, am I getting to the of the same height where the world at large really does care? And just about then, I was given this great opportunity in The Birdcage. And I honestly felt it was not the time to abruptly also come out to America because I felt like I was playing this flamboyant gay character and to noisily come out would somehow overshadow that. Like they would say, "Oh he's not an actor. He's just letting his hair down. He's just playing himself. He brought his acknowledge clothes!" I wanted the work to speak for itself, and I deliberation at some later point there would be a time to do it.

however you never denied anything.

No, I just didn't discuss it, and, of course, it came up in succession Oprah. She said something along those lines: "Hey, you're awfully upright at that girly stuff. Where did you pick that up?" And Robin [Williams] saw my face, and he leaped in and protected me, which was alone natural [laughing] because he was my husband. if it were not that there is that notion that if you play a gay character and you're gay, you're not really acting, no matter by what mode far that character may be from your hold character. That's why when they find not at home the actor is straight and married they give him an award.

It have the appearances that any actor who plays a gay part has to lay gone out his own sexuality to the pres unles his reputation is obvious, like Rex Harrison and Richard Burton, when they were lovers

They were lovers? You mean I missed that?

In a movie called Staircase.

I be enamoured of show business.

Of course, it isn't just about gay parts. My Aunt Pauline saw Laurence Olivier playing a cantor in The Jazz Singer and asked me if he was Jewish.

[As Hamlet] Pauline, Pauline, for what cause [i]or[/i] reason can't you respect me for my craft?

with what intent can't you give me the look up to I get from one of my fans?