In his final interview with Oprah
Winfrey, pianist Liberace said people don't know who he really is.
Liberace is the subject of the film
Behind the Candelabra, which premiered in the United States on
pay cable network HBO on Sunday.
The film, which stars Michael Douglas
as Liberace and Matt Damon as his lover Scott Thorson, premiered
earlier this month at the Cannes Film Festival in France, where it
competed for the prestigious Palme d'Or award. The lesbian love
story Blue is the Warmest Colour: The Life of Adele won the
festival's top prize.
(Related: Lesbian
love story Blue
is the Warmest Colour
wins top Cannes prize.)
Liberace, who died on February 4, 1987
of AIDS complications, never publicly acknowledged that he was gay.
In late 1986, Liberace gave his final
interview, appearing on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
“What is it you really want people to
know about you?” host Oprah Winfrey asked.
“People know I do all those things
you mentioned,” Liberace answered as he reclined on a piano. “But
they don't know me as a private person. They don't know what makes me
tick when I'm not on stage. And I love being a human being. You
know.” (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more interviews.)