Actor Paul Bettany Says His Father Died in the Closet

Paul Bettany, who stars in the new Alan Ball written and directed drama Uncle Frank, says he connected with his character, a gay man who takes his niece on a road trip along with his partner because of his father.

Bettany says that his father was gay and after living with another man for 15 years, went back in the closet after the man died.

Deadline says, “My father, getting towards the end of his life and feeling his mortality and desperate to get into heaven to see my brother, went back in the closet and died with shame and sadness and for me that was a real tragedy. I was trying to give a performance for my father who never quite got to the place that Uncle Frank manages to [get to] through the guidance of his young niece.”

Bettany’s new Disney+ series WandaVision‘s first trailer ran during the Super Bowl Sunday. In it, he reprises his Avengers: End Game role as the android the Vision and is about the life he lives with his wife the Scarlet Witch (aka Wanda Maximoff).