Nathan Lane shared a touching tribute to Gene Hackman following the legendary actor’s surprising death last month.
Lane, who starred alongside Hackman in Mike Nichols’ 1996 film “The Birdcage,” opened up about his time shooting the comedy during a Tuesday night appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”
“I think I told him every morning he was my favorite actor,” Lane, 69, said of the late “Unforgiven” star.
“It was the thrill of a lifetime to get to work with him,” Lane continued. “He was such, one of the greats of the screen, and I was just very fortunate to share that time with him.”
“The Birdcage” sees Lane and Robin Williams portray a gay couple preparing to meet their son’s soon-to-be in-laws – played by Hackman and Dianne Wiest.
Lane discussed one scene in particular and how Hackman was able to do a comedy “beautifully.” He also recalled pestering Hackman about all the previous movies the “Superman” actor starred in.
“When we were shooting that scene, that dinner scene, we were all at a table for a whole week, so every morning, I would tell him he was my favorite actor, and I would say, ‘Tell me about The Conversation. Tell me about Scarecrow — you and Pacino,’” Lane told Colbert.
“And he would go, ‘Scarecrow? You liked Scarecrow?’” Lane added. “He was like Spencer Tracy: you couldn’t catch him acting, he could do comedy or drama beautifully, and he was such a smart actor.”
Also surprising was “The Producers” star’s claim that there was “kind of a slight flirtation going on” between him and Hackman during the filming of “The Birdcage.”
“He was brilliant at comedy, and I do remember we had a scene where he and I are dancing, and we’re singing ‘I Could Have Danced All Night,’” Lane recalled to “The Late Show.”
“And then at the end, we’re leaving the scene,” Lane continued. “We’re going into dinner. And I ad-libbed, I said, ‘You know, I played Eliza in high school,’ and he said, ‘I bet you were wonderful.’”
“There’s kind of a slight flirtation going on there, which was hilarious.”
Lane’s touching remarks came just weeks after Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead inside their Santa Fe, New Mexico home on February 26. Hackman was 95. Arakawa was 65.
New Mexico Chief Medical Examiner Heather Jarrell and Santa Fe Sheriff Adan Mendoza revealed during a press conference last Friday that Hackman “was in very poor health” ahead of his death. They also confirmed that the “French Connection” star’s death was caused by heart problems and advanced Alzheimer’s disease.
“Examination of the brain showed advanced Alzheimer’s disease as well as blood vessel changes in the brain,” Jarrell said during the press conference.
She also claimed that, according to evidence of a “cardiac event” recorded by his pacemaker, Hackman most likely died on February 18 and roughly one week after his wife.
“It is reasonable to conclude that Mr. Hackman died on February 18,” Jarrell said.
Arakawa’s cause of death was attributed to a flu-like illness called Hantavirus – a virus spread mainly by rodent feces.
According to Sheriff Mendoza, Arakawa was last seen – and most likely passed away – on February 11.
“Numerous emails were unopened on her computer on February 11,” he told reporters. “There was no additional outgoing communication from her or known activity after February 11, 2025.”
One of Hackman and Arakawa’s three dogs, Zinna, was also found dead in a crate in the same bathroom where Arakawa’s body was discovered.
