Years ago, when I was a freshman or sophomore in college, my parents allowed me to tag along on a business trip my stepfather took to New York City. We flew first-class out of Pittsburgh. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
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I remember coming out of the hotel in the morning to take a run and seeing buildings as far as the eye could see. Something told me that I would end up there someday. And I did. I’ve been here for over 30 years.
We were going to see a play on Broadway, but I didn’t pay too much attention to that or even care about what we were seeing. There was so much to take in; however, when we arrived at the theater, I was gobsmacked. We were seeing a gay play. Was this a setup? I remember thinking, filled with fear.
I was sweating bullets through the entire show.
It was La Cage aux Folles, which opened on Broadway in 1983, it was a groundbreaking moment for musical theater. With George Hearn as Albin and Gene Barry as Georges, the production was a joyous, unapologetic celebration of love, identity, and family. Ironic that I was seeing it with mine. It won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, making it a milestone for LGBTQ+ representation onstage at a time when such visibility was still rare in mainstream entertainment.
Over a decade later, The Birdcage (1996), the American adaptation of the original French play and film, brought that same spirit to a wider audience. And since I was familiar with the theater version, I was particularly interested in the film.
Starring Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Hank Azaria, and Dianne Wiest, the film was a smash hit, mixing humor with heart in a way that disarmed even the most skeptical audiences, me included.
I remember being uncomfortable with Lane’s performance of Albert, at first. He was way over-the-top flamboyant, and I felt a little…embarrassed, I guess. Yet I got over that when he stole my heart with his outlandish humor dressed as Mrs. Goldman, or was it Goldman with the d silent? Trust me, I’ve seen the movie countless times, so I remember almost every line.
Yes, Williams was a big star, but he was zany and crazy, so playing a gay character wasn’t particularly out of the realm for him. But what made the film particularly memorable for me was the presence of Gene Hackman.
It was Hackman, Hollywood’s tough guy, an ex-Marine, who made me take notice. He was an unlikely star to be in a “gay” film. He brilliantly played the conservative Sen. Kevin Keeley, who, by the film’s end, is forced into drag to escape a scandal.
There’s a part in the film when Hackman’s Sen. Keeley, after meeting the Goldmans or Golmans, drones on in boring, monotone, weary “campaign” style soliloquy. Hackman delivered it with a pitch-perfect, and in a way that was the antithesis of a conservative Christian firebrand he played, who would roar pompously about his vision of America.
Instead, Hackman’s delivery as Keeley, in a lackluster bluster, was proof that even he did not believe his own rigid morals or at least grew tired of them. It foreshadowed that he was open to a little unexpected excitement in his life. In other words, he seemed bored being the quintessential conservative.
Moreover, he flirted relentlessly with Lane’s female impersonation of Mrs Goldman or Golman. Proof that behind closed doors, right-wing senators weren’t angels.
Then came the kicker — when Hackman’s Keeley became a drag queen. I must admit, seeing Hackman, the very embodiment of gruff masculinity, transformed into a bouffant-wearing, pink-lipped socialite was not just hilarious, it was significant.
It challenged stereotypes and in doing so made an important statement about acceptance and transformation. Critics appreciated Hackman’s comedic timing, with Roger Ebert noting that his performance was “delightfully against type,” showing his range in ways audiences rarely got to see.
However, what really should be remembered about the film is how Hackman’s Sen. Keeley was forced to navigate a world he fundamentally opposed, two gay men raising a child. By the film’s end, after an evening of absurdity, gender-bending disguises, and emotional revelations, Keeley begrudgingly accepts that love and family are not bound by traditional definitions.
I dare say that that film, Hackman’s presence in it, and his character’s transformation helped start a broader cultural shift in what being a family meant. In an era when LGBTQ+ visibility was still contentious in mainstream media — Ellen hadn’t come out yet, and trust me, there were no big out gay stars. It was how The Birdcage used Hackman’s conversion, both literal and ideological, to illustrate the reality of diverse, loving families.
Hackman was found dead Wednesday at the age of 95.
From my understanding about him, Hackman loathed publicity and the limelight, and it’s one of the reasons, over 20 years ago, he moved to Santa Fe, N.M, and became for all intents and purposes a recluse. I couldn’t find any connection to LGBTQ+ themes for Hackman other than The Birdcage, and he didn’t make any soaring statements in support of our community. I’m not making any excuses for him, but even in 2004, when Hackman retired, no one was jumping to come to our defense.
In Hackman’s case, I think it was a matter of actions speaking louder than words.
Yet in his own way, it was his willingness to take on the role of Sen.r Keeley that speaks volumes. Here was an actor who spent his career playing hard-boiled detectives, ruthless politicians, and men who rarely cracked a smile, and yet he enthusiastically embraced a film that was, at its core, a love letter to LGBTQ+ identity and family.
In conversations about the greatest actors I’ve had with friends over the years, I’d always start with names like Anthony Hopkins, Jack Lemmon, and yes, Tom Cruise — he’s in some of my favorite movies, so what am I supposed to do? But inevitably, I’d stop and say, “Wait a minute, I forgot one, Gene Hackman.”
After all, I loved him most in Hoosiers, most meaningfully in I Never Sang for My Father, and most villainously in The Firm. Three of my favorite films only because of Gene Hackman’s involvement in them.
Hackman may have left Hollywood behind, but he will never be forgotten. Because in every role he played, he gave us something real, something lasting. And in that final, unforgettable scene of The Birdcage, he gave us something else, a reminder that, sometimes, the most unexpected transformations are the ones that stay with us forever.
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