The co-star Robin Williams immediately fell in love with: “It was laugh at first sight”
Despite the exuberant, freewheeling, and boundlessly energetic persona that made him a superstar and a comedy icon, Robin Williams was much quieter, more introspective, and retiring away from the cameras than he was in front of them.
That dichotomy often made it difficult for Williams to open up, let people in, and allow them to know the man behind the improvisational facade. That said, if he liked someone, he really liked them, and his closest friends within the industry remained part of his inner circle for the rest of his life.
Williams first met Christopher Reeve when they were both students at Juilliard, and he was the first person to visit the Superman star in the hospital after the accident that left him paralysed. From their days as aspiring stand-ups, he was close with Billy Crystal, and Bobcat Goldthwait was his best friend and man at his third wedding.
As anyone who’s seen any of his movies can probably gather, Williams was an easy guy to grow fond of. Even the people who’d never met him before and may have been daunted by the prospect of collaborating with a scenery-devouring savant quickly fell under his spell, with Nathan Lane among them.
The actor told Premiere that it was “love at first sight” when they first crossed paths ahead of Mike Nichols’ 1996 caper The Birdcage, and Williams agreed. To a certain extent, at least. “It was laugh at first sight!” he clarified. “We started riffing the moment we met.”
Williams had originally been offered Lane’s role of Albert Goldman, but he turned it down because he wanted to play a more subtle character after recently going all-out as the title character in Mrs Doubtfire. Once he discovered a replacement had been found, he was instantly curious: “When I heard he was doing it, people told me he was hilarious.”
Their chemistry in The Birdcage was effortless, and their bond was equally strong offscreen. Lane repeatedly praised Williams for his support, particularly when the former, who hadn’t yet publicly come out as gay, was being pressed on his sexuality during an uncomfortable interview with Oprah Winfrey.
When Lane was honoured at the Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television event in 2024, he again thanked Williams for being a shoulder to lean on. Ten years after Williams’ death, he still laments the loss of a dear friend who was always there for him during his career’s most turbulent personal period.
“We were sort of kindred spirits in a way,” Lane reflected. “He was just so wildly funny and brilliant and a wonderful actor, and we always had that bond from that film. I did a thing for the New Yorker festival, and they showed a scene from it, and I hadn’t seen it since he died, and I just started crying.”
They didn’t know each other before The Birdcage, but “laugh at first sight” might have been an understatement when the duo remained close for the better part of two decades.
