Nathan Lane To Play Jackie Gleason

Posted Wednesday, December 5, 2001 at 9:19 AM Central

by John Couture

It would surely take a massive man to fill the shoes of Jackie Gleason. Nathan Lane feels that he's the perfect man for the job.

Lane has signed on to play Gleason in the biopic To The Moon, a movie that will showcase the legendary comic's rise to fame and battles with inner demons and alcoholism. Gleason, who died in 1987 from colon and liver cancer, made his name on TV starring in the immortal "The Honeymooners" before taking roles in such classic films as The Hustler, Smokey And The Bandit and The Toy.