The Jersey City-born actor has often been compared to Zero Mostel because his Tony Award-winning roles—as endearingly sly Max Bialystock in The Producers and wisecracking Roman slave Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum—were in revivals of shows in which Mostel starred. Beyond Broadway, countless children know Lane as the voices of Timon in The Lion King and Snowbell in Stuart Little. Early in his career, Lane changed his first name from Joseph to Nathan, after the character Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls. A prescient choice: He went on to play the role on Broadway in 1992.
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