Nathan Lane, during intermission of the April 6th online revival of “Lips Together, Teeth Apart.” His reminiscence about the original production, in which he co-starred, was characteristically full of wisecracks. People like to livestream in front of a bookcase, to give you the impression that I read. I don’t.

In the nearly four decades since he made his Broadway debut, Nathan Lane has starred in some two dozen shows on the Great White Way, and over a dozen more Off-Broadway. He is widely regarded as the comic New York stage actor of his generation. But if two of his Tony Awards were for performances in musical comedies, the third was for a tragedy. His has been a varied career.

Check out the rest of the Broadway Alphabet series

Nathan Lane grew up in Jersey City

Dana Ivey with Nathan Lane as Roland Maule, an aspiring young playwright from Uckfield, in the 1982 revival of Noel Coward’s”Present Laughter,” which marked Lane’s Broadway debut.

Nathan Lane portrayed a character named Toad, who sang “The Gasoline Can-Can” and “Where am I now?” in the musical Wind in the Willows, which closed three days after it opened in 1985.

Actors Kate Burton & Nathan Lane in a scene fr. the Lincoln Center Theatre production of the play “Some Americans Abroad,” 1990

Nathan Lane, Matthew Porac and George C. Scott in On Borrowed Time , 1991

Nathan Lane and Faith Prince kissing in a scene from the 1992 Broadway revival of the musical “Guys And Dolls”.

Nathan Lane in Laughter on the 23rd Floor, 1993

Love! Valour! Compassion!, 1995 — Nathan Lane between Anthony Heald and John Benjamin Hickey

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To The Forum, 1996; Nathan Lane, held by Brad Aspel, cory English and Ray Roderick

Nathan Lane in The Man Who Came To Dinner, 2000

The Producers, 2001. Nathan Lane with Matthew Broderick

Nathan Lane in The Frogs, 2004

Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in The Odd Couple, 2005

Nathan Lane in Butley, 2006

Nathan Lane plays a U.S. president in David Mamet’s “November,” 2008

Waiting for Godot, 2009. Nathan Lane, John Goodman and Bill Irwin

The Addams Family, 2010. Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth

Jonny Orsini and Nathan Lane in The Nance, See June 12

Nathan Lane and Lewis Stadlen vaudevillians in The Nance

the Broadway revival of It’s Only A Play, 2014

Brian Dennehy with Nathan Lane in The Iceman Cometh directed by Robert Falls at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, which transferred to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2015

Nathan Lane in The Front Page, 2015

Nathan Lane as Roy Cohn in Angels in America, 2018

Nathan Lane in Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Guys and Dolls, 1992

Lane’s first Tony nomination

As Nathan Detroit, he sings “The Oldest Established” with ensemble

Sue Me, with Faith Prince

Love Valour Compassion, 1995

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To The Forum, 1996

Lane’s first Tony Award

Comedy Tonight, opening number, with ensemble

Everybody Oughta Have A Maid

The Producers, 1991

Lane’s second Tony Award.

Matthew Broderick & Nathan Lane perform We Can Do It, on the Today Show. Starts at around 1:40

Here Lane sings “Betrayed” in the 2005 movie version of the musical

Angels in America, 2018 revival

Lane won his third Tony Award in the role of infamous lawyer Roy Cohn who gets AIDS, Best Performance By An Actor In A Featured Role In A Play, in the revival of Tony Kushner’s epic play.

His scene as Roy Cohn working the telephones begins at around 4:50

His scene learning of his AIDS diagnosis, with a surprising reaction, begins at around 56:40