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tickling the ivories

Too gay for TV? 25 fascinating facts about Liberace biopic ‘Behind The Candelabra’

By Lee Meyer July 28, 2023 at 7:00am · Updated on January 26, 2024
Image Credit: ‘Behind The Candelabra,’ HBO Films

Steven Soderbergh’s 2013 HBO film Behind The Candelabra is the brutally honest, darkly funny story about the often-toxic relationship between pianist Liberace (affectionately referred to as Lee by characters throughout the film) and his younger lover, Scott Thorson. The movie, which stars Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as Thorson, goes into the very private life of the legendary virtuoso and divulges some juicy facts many never knew. Based on the book of the same name by Thorson, the wild and sometimes tragic story is an intimate look at a fallen Hollywood star.

Click through for 25 fascinating facts about Behind The Candelabra. 

1. Producers rejected the movie for being too gay.

Image Credit: ‘Behind The Candelabra,’ HBO Films

Here’s a broken record for ya. Despite the star power of Douglas and Damon and Soderbergh directing, studios felt the movie was too gay for mainstream audiences. Soderbergh told The Wrap: “They said it was too gay. Everybody. This was after Brokeback Mountain, by the way. Which is not as funny as this movie. I was stunned. It made no sense to any of us.”

2. Liberace’s actual piano was used during the movie.

Image Credit: ‘Behind The Candelabra,’ HBO Films

The Liberace Foundation lended producer Jerry Weintraub and company one of Liberace’s famous Baldwin pianos, and set decorator Barbara Munch-Cameron found a companion to it, according to Architectural Digest.

3. Scenes at the manse were filmed at Zsa Zsa Gabor’s house.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Certain interiors were filmed in Gabor’s posher-than-posh Bel Air home. According to a source who spoke to Huffington Post, “While we were filming, Zsa Zsa was in a separate wing of the house far away from the cameras. We never got to see her.” Gabor was in declining health at the time of filming.

4. Douglas’ head was superimposed on pianist Philip Fortenberry’s body during the piano performances.

Image Credit: Philip Fortenberry / KMP Artists

Douglas is a talented actor, but it would take a lifetime of practice—and an inherent gift—to be able to replicate Liberace’s amazing piano work. Behind The Candelabra superimposed Douglas’ head onto Fortenberry, a Juilliard-trained pianist and performer at the now-closed Liberace Museum, for piano scenes.

5. It’s the last film to feature a score by Marvin Hamlisch.

Image Credit: Getty Images

The EGOT winner died in 2012, and Behind The Candelabra is his final film score. Hamlisch is known as the brainchild behind such songs (and gay anthems, though he was straight) as “The Way We Were,” “Nobody Does It Better,” Broadway standard like A Chorus Line, and film scores such as The Sting, The Spy Who Loved Me, and The Mirror Has Two Faces.

6. Soderbergh wanted to do a biopic of Liberace but only decided to move forward after reading Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace.

Image Credit: ‘Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace,’ Tantor eBooks

Soderbergh considered working on a Liberace film shortly after he completed Traffic, but didn’t know how to approach the subject. After reading Behind The Candelabra, he found his angle. “When I read that book, it sort of solved all my problems,” Soderbergh told NPR. “It gave me a specific time period to deal with; there was the arc of the relationship between the two of them to give me a structure. And that’s when things really started to move.”

7. The Liberace Museum and Foundation donated props and set pieces….

Image Credit: ‘Behind The Candelabra,’ HBO Films

Many of the candelabras and even cars were loaned from the Foundation.

8. …But Liberace’s clothes were considered too priceless.

Image Credit: ‘Behind The Candelabra,’ HBO Films

Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick created the incredible costumes for the virtuoso, but chose not to replicate any of his actual costumes. “I didn’t copy anything. I used [his outfits] as a springboard,” she told the New York Post.

9. Debbie Reynolds was friends with Liberace.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Reynolds, who plays Liberace’s mother in Behind The Candelabra, was a good friend of the pianist and was introduced to him through their mutual manager, Seymour Heller. “He loved to have people in his dressing room. Nobody stayed up as late as Lee and I,” she told the New York Post. “It was our afternoon. And I’d get hungry. And I don’t cook. So Lee cooked. We had to go to his house. And he’d get on his fancy apron. Make scrambled eggs. He’d make sausages.”

10. The film is Reynolds’ final film appearance.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Reynolds died on December 28, 2016, a day after her daughter, Carrie Fisher, died suddenly.

11. The film was a massive hit for HBO.

Image Credit: ‘Behind The Candelabra,’ HBO Films

Stop saying things are too gay! Behind the Candelabra was HBO’s biggest original film since 2004, with 2.4 million viewers on its first airing.

12. Scott Thorson spent his cut of the movie almost immediately…

Image Credit: Getty Images

Thorson, who was paid around $100,000 for the rights to the film, reportedly blew the (modest) sum on jewelry and other luxuries.

13. …and ended up in prison shortly after.

Image Credit: Getty Images

The troubled man was arrested for burglary, identity theft, and failing multiple drug tests. As of 2022, Thorson was still incarcerated.

14. Michael Douglas and Steven Soderbergh won Emmys for the film.

Image Credit: Getty Images

While being a “TV movie” disqualified Behind The Candelabra for Academy Awards, Douglas won the Emmy for Best Actor and Soderbergh for his slick direction.

15. It was nominated for more than 50 awards.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Emmys, Critics’ Choice Awards, BAFTAs, Golden Globes, the list goes on. Behind The Candelabra was also nominated for LGBTQ+ awards, including the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series (which it won) and the Queer Palm at the Cannes Film Festival.

16. Douglas was always Soderbergh’s pick to play Liberace.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Soderbergh wanted Douglas to play the role of Liberace as early as 2000, during the production and release of Traffic. Douglas signed on at least four years before the film got the greenlight from HBO.

17. Soderbergh originally meant for Behind The Candelabra to be his final film.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Although Soderbergh said the Liberace biopic would be his last movie, he went on to direct Logan Lucky, Unsane, High Flying Bird, The Laundromat, Let Them All Talk, No Sudden Move, Kimi, and the IMPORTANT WORK OF ART Magic Mike’s Last Dance in 2023.

18. A ton of work went into nailing Rob Lowe’s look as plastic surgeon Dr. Startz.

Image Credit: ‘Behind The Candelabra,’ HBO Films

Lowe’s unforgettable look included a ton of makeup work, tape to pull back several of his facial features and a wig. “It was actually really painful, because being pulled that long and that hard for a 12-hour day—it gave me migraines,” Lowe told Entertainment Weekly. “We shot during the summer. It was unbelievably hot. The wig, being pulled, it was definitely not the most comfortable experience physically for sure.”

19. Douglas met Liberace once, in passing.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Douglas didn’t know Liberace but saw him driving as a kid while out with his father, the legendary Kirk Douglas.

20. Filming was delayed due to Douglas’ illness.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Douglas was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2010 and underwent extensive chemotherapy and radiation, so filming had to be delayed. Fun (not really) fact: Douglas believed his cancer was caused by performing oral sex on wife Catherine Zeta-Jones.

21. Damon was shocked to be considered for the role of Thorson.

Image Credit: ‘Behind The Candelabra,’ HBO Films

The sensitive, effete Thorson was a departure for Damon, who recalled to The State Journal Register that he read the book and said, “’What the f— is this thing?’” 

22. Producer Jerry Weintraub was a friend of Liberace.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Weintraub said during a TCA panel: “I knew him very well. He was a wonderful guy, a great host, I went to his home many times for dinner… I was always impressed with his graciousness and the way he treated us.”

23. Thorson had no involvement with the film besides the book.

Liberace and Scott Thorson at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles, California (Photo by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

Weintraub discussed the film with Thorson, but he never visited the set or had any direct involvement with production.

24. The character of Billy Leatherwood is based on a man named Jerry O’Rourke.

Out actor Cheyenne Jackson plays Billy Leatherwood in the movie, and is based on a person named Jerry O’Rourke in Thorson’s book. O’Rourke was a Liberace protege who, according to Thorson, refused to leave his wife and kids for a life with the pianist. Thorson wrote, “Lee has hurt Jerry the way he would one day hurt me.”

25. Copies of Liberace’s famous portraits were created by Alex Tavoularis.

Did you know 'Behind The Candelabra' was filmed in
Image Credit: ‘Behind The Candelabra,’ HBO Films

Production designer Tavoularis recreated the larger-than-life portraits found throughout Liberace’s home to resemble Douglas and Reynolds.

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15 Comments*

  • queerty

    Lent is the correct conjugation of lend.
    Lended is an incorrect conjugation of lend.

    • abfab

      Oh my dear, Liberace never celebrated lent. xo

    • MSM

      Thanks for posting that. I cringed when i read lended and wonder if Queerty has any editors who just correct the grammar and spelling. I am a retired English teacher , so i don’t want the job.

    • ScottOnEarth

      An incredibly embarrassing mistake. “Lended”??? Jesus, learn how to write, Lee Meyer.

  • Man About Town

    Fascinating stuff, Lee; thank you for this.

    I remember while watching the film I thought Damon’s performance was the most impressive, particularly when Thorson’s drug abuse began spiraling out of control. But Reynolds and Lowe also cracked me up, and the set and costume designs were just out of this world.

    I should probably see it again sometime soon!

    • FlashDaddy

      I always felt Damon should have gotten the Emmy. He embodied Thorson completely. I was there when he came on the scene and toward the end.
      I felt Douglas was a little over the top, even for Lee.

  • mildredspierce

    I was most impressed with the use of dermal fillers, authentic hairstyles and wardrobe. Damon was so hot as young Scott. But I must say that Rob Lowe was SO funny as the too tight plastic surgeon.

    • abfab

      Talk about a messy milieu. But as ABBA would sing…………thank you for the music. Must see the movie again for the 4th time. Loved it.

  • bachy

    Great article! Michael Douglas is my favorite American actor, so I was game for the film from the start. It was utterly brilliant, a diamond-encrusted candelabra shltshow.

    • abfab

      A favorite, yes. Remember this show….

      Traditionalist veteran cop Lt. Mike Stone is partnered with Inspector Steve Keller, a young, inexperienced college-educated go-getter in the homicide division of the San Francisco Police Department. The two enjoy a bantering relationship while they hunt down the bad guys as Stone teaches Keller the ropes.
      First episode date: September 16, 1972 (USA)

  • tomamundo

    I’m a fan of well done horror movies.
    This was well done, but horrific and painful to watch.

    • abfab

      Like another cult classic, MOMMIE DEAREST.

  • FreddieW

    An exchange from “The Trip” sums up my thoughts on Liberace.

    straight female: “Is Liberace gay?”

    gay male: “Sadly, yes.”

  • PoetDaddy

    Most of these “fascinating” facts are anything but. Most are widely known. Most have NOTHING to do with the show being “too Gay for TV.”

    • still_onthemark

      As their old ad slogan said, “It’s not TV, it’s HBO”

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