Openly gay actor Nathan Lane will be
spicing up Modern Family next season.
The veteran actor of stage and screen
will guest star as Pepper, the flamboyant older friend of gay dads
Mitchell (played by openly gay Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron
(Eric Stonestreet).
“Nathan was just too perfect for the
role,” executive producer Steve Levitan told New
York magazine blog Vulture.
Lane, 54, approached producers about
appearing on the ABC Sunday night comedy hit.
Interest surrounding the show's gay
couple is mounting as momentum builds for the show's second season.
Earlier
this week, Stonestreet told the New York Post there is a gay
wedding in the future for his character. And producers have
confirmed that the couple will consider adopting a second child next
season.
Ryan
Murphy, the creative forced behind Fox's musical comedy hit Glee,
criticized Modern Family producers for censoring physical
affection between the two men. “That's ridiculous to me,”
Murphy, who is openly gay, told reporters on Monday. Producers say
an episode is already in the works that will address the issue.
Two-time Tony Award-winning Lane played
Albert, the star attraction at a Miami drag nightclub, in The
Birdcage, which was inspired by La Cage Aux Folles.
Modern Family returns for its
second season on September 22.