Hollywood star Alan Cumming on being back in Scotland and his close pal Liza Minelli

Jun 15 2008 By Billy Sloan

SCOTS star Alan Cumming yesterday revealed his amazing friendship with superstar Liza Minnelli.

The daughter of Hollywood legend Judy Garland will be in the first-night audience for his new play in New York.

And Alan told how he once got a secret service escort - by US President Bill Clinton's bodyguards - to dance on stage with her in Washington.

The Aberfeldy-born actor stars in the National Theatre of Scotland's production The Bacchae, the ancient Greek play.

It is staged this month in Aberdeen and Inverness before switching to New York's prestigious Lincoln Centre in July.

Alan, 43, first met Liza in 1998 when he starred as Emcee in the Broadway revival of Cabaret. She won a Best Actress Oscar for her role as Sally Bowles in the 1972 film version of the hit musical. The pair were reunited earlier this month when Liza demanded the house lights be put on during her concert at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow.

She paid tribute to Alan, earning an ovation from the sell-out crowd.

Alan said: "She started talking about this person she'd learned so much from.

I was mortified when she said my name.

"I was saying, 'Oh shut up'. It was a bit like being embarrassed by your mum."

As Alan and Liza's friendship blossomed they made a record together for charity.

He said: "We recorded a version of Baby It's Cold Outside for album Home For The Holidays to raise funds after 9/11. I called it 'Homo For The Holidays' because it was the gayest record ever."

Alan got the presidential treatment when invited to dance with Liza at a benefit for Clinton in Washington.

He said: "I was doing a matinee in New York and missed my plane.

"I caught the next one and when it touched down, the doors opened and a group of FBI men grabbed me and drove the car up on pavements to get me to the theatre before the President.

"When he arrives the Secret Service seal off the venue."

Now Alan and Liza have discussed making a movie together.

He said: "I've got an idea of doing a film about a woman who gets on a bus and I'm the driver. They hijack it and are chased by police across America."

In musical drama The Bacchae, Alan reprises the role of hedonistic God-like figure Dionysus from last year's Edinburgh Festival - his first acting appearance on home soil in 16 years.

He said: "When I came back to Glasgow I was in a pub with some girls who were checking out a hot boy.

"He walked over and said, 'Alan, you went to drama school with my parents'. It was like a knife blow to the gut.

"The story of Dionysus coming back to the place he was from does have parallels with my own life."

Alan studied acting at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

His first breaks included camp comic duo Victor And Barry, soap Take The High Road and sitcom The High Life.

His award-winning theatre projects include Hamlet, Bent and seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

On TV, he has been in Sex And The City, The L Word and Bernard And The Genie, for which he won a British Comedy Award. His Broadway hits include Cabaret, Design For Living and Elle.

Alan is in also big demand for movies after roles in hits such asXMen 2, Eyes Wide Shut and Bond film Goldeneye.

But it was playing Emcee in Cabaret which shot him to stardom in the States.

He said: "When Cabaret came along I was living on my own in a foreign place.

"Then this amazing explosion happened. It was overwhelming."

Alan won a coveted Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role.

He said: "When they read my name out I was hyperventilating.

"Everybody had been told to cut their acceptance speeches short so when I won I ran to the stage with a bottle of water in my hand I forgot to put down.

"When actress Annette Benning gave me my award I handed her my bottle of Evian. It was a mess.

"Later, I was being interviewed when Sir Sean Connery put his arm around meand said into the camera, 'This ismy new son'. I just thought, 'Ohmy God'."

The cheeky actor has also launched a range of fragrances in New York. He added: "The body wash was calledCumming Clean, the scrub Cumming Off Buff and the lotion Cumming All Over.

"I posed naked for the ads, recreating iconic fragrance commercials. In one shot I was showing a little too much. But you've got to give the public what they want."

Baring all is nothing new for Alan. His bottom has become iconic.

He said: "Once in New York, I played The Pope and there was no back to the costume and you could see my bum.

"I showed it in Cabaret and Design For Living and in The Bacchae I have to hang upside down while wearing a kilt so you see it again."

THE Bacchae is at His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen, June 19-21 and Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, June 25-28.

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