4 Ways Rob Williams Changed the Way We Thk About Femism and Gay Rights

Contents:

• NATHAN LANE: ROB WILLIAMS ‘PROTECTED ME’ FROM COMG OUT AS GAY ON ‘OPRAH’ 1996 BEE ‘HE WAS A SAT’
• RT PEACE, ROB WILLIAMS, YOU WERE TLY A GAY IN
• ROB WILLIAMS: 'I'M NOT GAY'
• ROBBIE WILLIAMS SAYS HE ED TO INTIFY AS ‘SOMEWHAT GAY’ BUT ‘JT N’T DO THE CK’
• ROB WILLIAMS QUTNS GAY MOURS
• ROB WILLIAMS TALKS PLAYG GAY MAN GRAPPLG WH SEXUALY ONE OF HIS FAL FILMS, BOULEVARD: “IT WAS POWERFUL TO DO”
• 4 WAYS ROB WILLIAMS CHANGED THE WAY WE THK ABOUT FEMISM AND GAY RIGHTS
• NATHAN LANE RELLS HOW ROB WILLIAMS ‘PROTECTED’ HIM OM G OUT AS GAY ON OPRAH WEY’S SHOW
• 25 YEARS AGO, GAY FAI JT WEREN'T TALKED ABOUT. THEN 'THE BIRDGE' H THE SCREEN
• THE BIRDGE AT 25: A GAY EDY THAT BROKE BOUNDARI
• THE LATE ROBIN WILLIAMS WAS A GAY ALLY
• WATCH ROB WILLIAMS HIS FAL FILM, STARS AS A CLOSETED GAY MAN
• ROB WILLIAMS PLAYS GAY FAL ON-SCREEN FILM ROLE
• MODI ROSENFELD, GAY JEWISH COMEDIAN, TALKS ‘MOSHIACH’ ENERGY, CELEBRATG SHABBAT AND COMPARISONS TO ROB WILLIAMS AND RICHARD PRYOR
• ‘HOOK’ ON NETFLIX: SO I MISSED ALL THAT GAY SUBTEXT AS A KID, HUH?
• NATHAN LANE SAYS 'BIRDGE' -STAR ROB WILLIAMS PROTECTED HIM OM QUTNS ABOUT HIS SEXUALY ON 'OPRAH': 'I'M NOT PREPARED TO DISCS THAT I'M GAY ON NATNAL TELEVISN'

NATHAN LANE: ROB WILLIAMS ‘PROTECTED ME’ FROM COMG OUT AS GAY ON ‘OPRAH’ 1996 BEE ‘HE WAS A SAT’

The year was 1996 and Lane and Williams were on their prs tour for Mike Nichols’ “The Birdge, ” which they play a gay uple tryg to marry off their son to a nservative uple’s dghter.

RT PEACE, ROB WILLIAMS, YOU WERE TLY A GAY IN

Lane was nervo about dog an terview on “The Oprah Wey Show” as “The Birdge” was one of his first major film rol, and he did not want to e out publicly as gay at the time. Of urse, Lane knew that playg a gay character the film would make discsg his sexualy real life “sort of unavoidable, ” but he still wasn’t ready to do so.

ROB WILLIAMS: 'I'M NOT GAY'

“Now you have to make a public statement about — I was terrified… It’s great that everyone now feels fortable but homophobia is alive and well and there are plenty of gay people who are still hidg. He said: “If I n e my celebry stat to draw people to a movie theatre to see me perform as an admirable gay man and thereby make them a ltle most posive about gay people, why wouldn’t I do ?

In the movie The Birdge, Williams portrayed the gay dad alg wh a hetero son, as well as the owner of a drag baret and same-sex lover of s star drag queen performer.

ROBBIE WILLIAMS SAYS HE ED TO INTIFY AS ‘SOMEWHAT GAY’ BUT ‘JT N’T DO THE CK’

” In the hilar film, straight Daniel Hillard enlists his gay brother Frank (played by openly gay Harvey Fierste), a makp artist, and Frank’s partner Jack to transform him to Mrs.

ROB WILLIAMS QUTNS GAY MOURS

Later, Williams did an terview 1992, after beg nsired for a movie role as openly gay Supervisor Harvey Milk, and was asked whether he might be unfortable playg a gay character.

ROB WILLIAMS TALKS PLAYG GAY MAN GRAPPLG WH SEXUALY ONE OF HIS FAL FILMS, BOULEVARD: “IT WAS POWERFUL TO DO”

Rob Williams is keen to nont one of the many gay men who sist they've slept wh him bee he n't rell that perd of his Williams is keen to nont one of the many gay men who sist they've slept wh him bee he n't rell that perd of his actor has always sisted he's 100% heterosexual, but many gay men are keen to 'out' explas: "There are many webs that'll go: 'Oh, he's gay - I know he's gay.

"Williams sists he has never even nsired havg a homosexual enunter - even durg his dg-fuelled heyday, when bisexualy was all the rage. The pop sger, currently at number one the UK wh new album ‘The Heavy Entertament Show’, grac the ver of gay liftyle magaze Attu this month. Durg the terview, Williams revealed that he qutned his sexual orientatn durg his early 20s: “I was raised a society where gay was the thg you levelled at somebody you wanted to hurt the most.

So then beg exposed to this world that I loved beg a part of… I took my first ecstasy at a gay club… had the most credible time.

4 WAYS ROB WILLIAMS CHANGED THE WAY WE THK ABOUT FEMISM AND GAY RIGHTS

“But also bee of the homophobia that there is out there, I was sort of left as a 21 year old gog: ‘Actually, I don’t hate the gay… so do that mean that I’m gay, too?

NATHAN LANE RELLS HOW ROB WILLIAMS ‘PROTECTED’ HIM OM G OUT AS GAY ON OPRAH WEY’S SHOW

In Boulevard, Williams played Nolan Mack, a married man stuck a t wh wife Joy (Kathy Baker), who realiz he’s gay and seeks the pany of a male prostute as he stggl to e to terms wh his own sexualy. He affirmed gay relatnships and shared an appreciatn for LGBT cultural the LGBT muny wnsed RuPl's rise to mastream promence as a drag performer, and several years before I was old enough to learn about the black vogue and ball scene inic gay documentary Paris Is Burng, I watched Rob Williams make a cross-cultural transformatn all his Hillard, stgglg after a divorce, fds passn the home of his gay brother and his brother's partner, known to the children as Aunt Jack and Uncle Frank, who were played rpectively by Stt Capurro and Harvey Fierste, an openly gay actor and tr sang mpy gay tun om mils and pop divas, cludg "Matchmaker" om Fiddler on the Roof and a show-stoppg rendn of "Ra on My Para, " as popularized by Barbra Streisand Funny Cred: Panter98 via YouTubeAt that time I was, still unwtgly, livg as a genr nonnformg person who was told that he had to "be a boy" and do "boy" thgs. "If I n e my celebry stat to draw people to a movie theater to see me perform as an admirable gay man and thereby make them a ltle most posive about gay people, why wouldn't I do ?

25 YEARS AGO, GAY FAI JT WEREN'T TALKED ABOUT. THEN 'THE BIRDGE' H THE SCREEN

Nathan Lane has relled the moment that Rob Williams “swooped ” to save him om discsg his sexualy on a talk Morn Fay star, 67, shared the heartwarmg anecdote durg an terview on Sunday TODAY Wh Willie and Williams were set to appear on The Oprah Wey Show to promote their 1996 LGBTQ+ edy The relled (as per ET Canada) that he felt nervo before the show, tellg host Willie Geist: “I said to Rob beforehand… ‘I’m not prepared to discs, you know, that I’m gay on natnal televisn.

”Lane went on to expla that not discsg his sexualy was difficult given that he starred The Birdge as Albert Goldman, an openly gay man who performs a South Beach drag club owned by his partner (played by the late Williams).

(Uned Artists)The actor clarified that he do not believe Wey was tryg to out him as a gay man at the told G that he did not believe that he had to make a statement about his sexualy simply bee he was starrg as a gay married the playwright and producer Devl Elltt full terview wh Lane airs on NBC News on 26 is not the only celebry reflectg on his relatnship wh Williams. This week marks the 25th anniversary of "The Birdge, " the smash h directed by Mike Nichols wh a screenplay by Elae May, starrg Rob Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wit, Hank Azaria, Dan Futterman and Calista years ago, gay marriage was not only illegal, was banned most stat. But on March 8, 1996, dienc flocked to see somethg unual movie theaters: a lighthearted movie where openly gay men were the hero and a fay wh gay parents was lovg, happy and film not only gave Lane, Flockhart and Azaria their first big Hollywood breaks,  may have helped make mastream the ia of a non-heterosexual plot of "The Birdge" is simple.

THE BIRDGE AT 25: A GAY EDY THAT BROKE BOUNDARI

But wh a few years after "The Birdge" there was "In & Out, " "Will & Grace, " "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, " "The L Word, " "Queer as Folk, " "Brokeback Mounta, " "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and more, all brgg more gay people to mastream entertament.

"When me out, the gay prs was very hard on , " said Lane, who had e out to iends and fay as gay his 20s but had not ma public at the time of the movie, even duckg Oprah's qutns about durg an for the most part "The Birdge" was well-received for s portrayals for a lovg gay fay. Hank Azaria worried about his portrayal of Agador"I thk whenever you have straight or gay actors portrayg gays a humoro way, you are makg fun of what you also are treatg lovgly at the same time, " Azaria said an terview wh The Daily News.

3 ln on s openg weekend, the hight-grossg openg of a movie wh openly gay lead characters until Sascha Baron Cohen's "Bno" 2009, and stayed at #1 for four total box office for "The Birdge" was over $185 ln worldwi, makg Mike Nichols' most fancially succsful movie.

THE LATE ROBIN WILLIAMS WAS A GAY ALLY

Three-time Tony Award-wng gay actor Nathan Lane once me close to beg outed on natnal televisn, until Rob Williams stepped and changed the has had a sparklg reer the theater and film dtri. (Image cred: Alamy)Starrg Rob Williams, this 1996 US remake of a 1970s French farce celebrated the joy of beg gay a way that was radil, wr Ey 's hard to rist the flamboyant openg of The Birdge. Released 25 years ago this week, Nichols' film, a remake of the 1978 French film La Cage x Foll, about a gay uple hostg an ill-fated dner party, remas remarkably relevant s edic sensibili.

"The film centr on a gay uple, Armand (Rob Williams) and Albert (Nathan Lane), hostg an ill-fated der party for their son's future -laws (Cred: Alamy)Nichols' brazen film, one of the director's last before his reer slowed the 2000s, is many ways a classic farce.

What is particularly astute about the film's edy is the way which mix s farcil hijks wh a satiril tent, takg aim at both homophobia and the crisis of masculy, as navigat the filtratn of nservatism to a liberal space. The film mak Senator Keeley's polil perspectiv the butt of the joke, such as his vexatn at Clton's (qualified, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell") acceptance of "gays the ary" and belief that homosexualy is "weakeng" the US.

WATCH ROB WILLIAMS HIS FAL FILM, STARS AS A CLOSETED GAY MAN

By the same token, empowers s gay characters: they are ntrol of the realy to which the -laws enter, and Armand and Albert are never characters that are lghed at, only Birdge enurag all to be more like Albert, to see his gay femy a kd of strength we all too often mock and disparage – Manuel BetanurtIn one particularly memorable scene, after Albert ially cis to disguise himself as Val's uncle, Armand attempts to teach Albert the 'ways' of the straight man.

Elae May's screenplay replit almost every sgle ic beat of the French film, om g John Wayne as a se study for how to walk like a man to Armand and Albert servg the -laws their meal sexually explic patterned film rerv most ridicule for Gene Hackman's stra-laced senator (here pictured wh Dianne Wit as wife Louise and Calista Flockhart as dghter Barbara) (Cred: Alamy)However, the ntexts which the films were released gave them very different ronanc: self adapted om a 1973 play, Edouard Molaro's origal film me to the screen the pre-Aids, gay liberatn era of the 1970s, though was also wily regard as ahead of s time. Released the same year as Aids diagnos peaked, was the first time a major stud explicly tackled the Aids crisis on-screen: Tom Hanks played a Philalphia lawyer sug his prev firm for HIV-related discrimatn after he was fired once a visible ln appeared on his Birdge showed that queer inti uld exist penntly of, and whout reference to, the epimic – Dr Matthew JonIn s attempt to reach mastream dienc, Philalphia offered a nscly sympathetic gay character who uld help rrect the public’s ignorance on homosexualy and Aids.

ROB WILLIAMS PLAYS GAY FAL ON-SCREEN FILM ROLE

However, Philalphia's navigatn of homosexualy was done wh ltle celebratn, as sombrely plotted the gradual and distrsg cle of a gay man, a paradigm that had bee faiar the 1990s mastream nceptn of queerns. In fact, both films were regnisable breakthroughs for the portrayal of queer characters on-screen, while beg oppose tone: Philalphia centred on batg discrimatn and homophobia, and The Birdge simply foced on the liberatg joy of beg one's self.

In both cematic versns, a pse om the lghter a ccial scene of relibratn jt before the -laws arrive, the middle of the film, when Albert and Armand's bickerg lat and Albert dramatilly walks out – before the gay uple rne, and poignantly agree to be buried bi each-other so as to "never miss a lgh".

MODI ROSENFELD, GAY JEWISH COMEDIAN, TALKS ‘MOSHIACH’ ENERGY, CELEBRATG SHABBAT AND COMPARISONS TO ROB WILLIAMS AND RICHARD PRYOR

Of the other Hollywood attempts at a 'gay edy' the 1990s, and sce, om The Object of My Affectn (1998) to Love, Simon (2018), few have reached the bar that Nichols set. Inspired by Hanks' impassned Amy Award bt-actor speech for Philalphia, which he thanked his gay high-school teacher, the film foced on Howard (Kev Kle), a closeted Midwt teacher who is outed by an Osr-wng pupil and tri to nvce the world around him, and himself, that he’s not gay. While Howard ni his queerns, the very ia of a homosexual prence the small town throws s habants to s foreground, unapologetic queerns, was a film that sat an unalloted space between the New Queer Cema and HollywoodIn one scene, Howard is termated on the basis that the school prcipal fears his queerns will "spread" to the stunts.

‘HOOK’ ON NETFLIX: SO I MISSED ALL THAT GAY SUBTEXT AS A KID, HUH?

The load phrase was not a cince, the ntext of the moral panic around Aids at the time, unrled the posn of many mastream gay films: that queer characters uld not be acquted the ey of the rt of the world om their associatn wh the adly vis. Philalphia (1993) was the other h stud film of the era to centre a gay man (Cred: Alamy)Ined, even if was ma by a straight director and a big stud, The Birdge remas a pillar the landspe of queer cema. As the film draws to a close and the lively tune of We Are Fay fills the dance floor once aga, the creds roll and all the film's gay characters are still breathg.

He excelled a more ser and sensive take on gay life The Night Listener (2006), which he starred as Gabriel Noone, a rad prenter stgglg wh the breakup of his relatnship wh his younger same-sex partner. In one of his most recent films, this year’s Boulevard, Williams played Nolan Mack, a married man who begs the journey of self-disvery late life, cludg acceptg his homosexualy.

NATHAN LANE SAYS 'BIRDGE' -STAR ROB WILLIAMS PROTECTED HIM OM QUTNS ABOUT HIS SEXUALY ON 'OPRAH': 'I'M NOT PREPARED TO DISCS THAT I'M GAY ON NATNAL TELEVISN'

Nathan Lane is rellg how the late Rob Williams supported him on a prs tour for their 1996 movie The Birdge when the actor was still "not prepared at all" to e out as gay. In a clip om an upg episo of Sunday TODAY on NBC shared exclively wh PEOPLE, Lane, 67, tells host Willie Geist that he "certaly wasn't ready to go om table to table to tell them all that I was gay, " when he and Williams, who died by suici at age 63 2014, embarked on a prs tour for their beloved edy directed by the late Mike Nichols (The Graduate).

"It's great that everyone now feels fortable, but homophobia is alive and well and there are plenty of gay people who are still hidg, " he adds. Lane publicly me out as gay a 1999 terview wh The Advote, which he referenced The Oprah Wey Show appearance qutn and said that Williams "jumped and protected me. A gay baret owner and his drag queen pann agree to put up a false straight ont so that their son n troduce them to his fiancée's right-wg moralistic parents.

Sobe, who is himself gay, wrote the script part bee of all the iends his age who did get married bee that was what society expected of him. He recently fished another script that als wh a gay character – this one a younger man and the oft-turbulent relatnship wh his father.