Born April 5: Nigel Hawthorne

Nigel Hawthorne had already won a Tony, an Olivier, and five BAFTAs (four for his famous role on Yes Minister) by the time American audiences discovered him starring in The Madness of King George when he was 65. The heavily gay production -- director (Nicholas Hytner), writer (Alan Bennett), co-star (Rupert Everett) -- was nominated for fourteen BAFTAs and several Oscars, including one for Nigel as Best Actor (losing to Forrest Gump). Closeted, he gave an interview to The Advocate, which outed him over his long relationship with Trevor Bentham, the former stage manager turned screenwriter of A Month By The Lake and Nigel's final film The Clandestine Marriage. Traumatic though the outing was, the Oscar exposure upped Nigel on Hollywood's radar: Spielberg cast him in Amistad, Mamet cast him in The Winslow Boy, and Disney used him in Tarzan. Nicholas Hytner again chose Nigel for my favorite of his roles, in Stephen McCauley's The Object Of My Affection in 1998. The following year he was knighted. Because Britain still didn't have civil unions in 2001 when Nigel died at 72, Trevor was burdened with a massive 40% tax bill -- rather than 0% -- on the inheritance, as if they were mere flatmates, and feared losing their home. They had been together 22 years. Published posthumously, Nigel's memoir is Straight Face.