By Belinda Luscombe

BIRDS OF A FEATHER

Playing the more outrageous half of a duo opposite ROBIN WILLIAMS is a task that would make many actors throw in their cold cream. Not NATHAN LANE, however. Lane plays Williams' longtime lover in The Birdcage, the Mike Nichols-directed remake of La Cage aux Folles. "I know there were times when Robin probably wanted to be outrageous," says Lane, no stranger to flamboyance. "But there was instant chemistry. I think he felt like I was a kindred spirit." Lane's reaction to being offered the career-making role was aptly Williamsian. When Nichols told him he wanted to talk about a movie, Lane said, "Forrest Gump? I loved it! Not liked--LOVED!!" Nichols gave him the part the next morning.

STARS WHO TELL TOO MUCH

JANE SEYMOUR, who proves it's possible to live in tough conditions and still look fetching every week on her TV show, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, has done it in real life too. Seymour, for reasons best known to herself, reveals in TV Guide this week that she once began to have a miscarriage on live TV, during the Rose Parade. "I knew I couldn't stand up or move around, because that would just make it worse," she says. "So I just handled it." Currently pregnant with twins, Seymour, like the frontierswoman she is, downplays the episode. "Accidents happen at anyone's job."

THE PLOT SICKENS

ROGER HOWARTH certainly isn't the first soap star to leave a show to pursue a film career (ever hear of Laurence Fishburne or Demi Moore?) or because the plots were too dopey. But he may be one of the few who left for moral reasons. "I was hired to play Todd, the serial rapist and murderer," says the Emmy-winning Howarth of his role on One Life to Live, "and then I became Todd the erotically charged heir to $27.5 million." When the rapist maniac became a long lost son and his criminal tendency was transformed into something sexually exciting, Howarth decided to exit. But never fear: through the magic of soap plots--and a new actor--Todd lives on.

SEEN & HEARD

It was an odd coupling, but a happy one. Tony Randall, 75, took Heather Harlan, 25, to be his wife in a civil ceremony performed in 17th century English by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Harlan is an understudy in School for Scandal, Randall's latest Broadway vehicle, which opened last weekend. "He spoke of two people becoming one," said Randall. "I'm afraid I'm a sucker for that kind of thing." Randall's wife of 54 years, Florence, died of cancer in 1992.

For Ralph Lauren, life-style enhancement doesn't stop with aftershave or sheets. The designer has teamed with Sony to release a new concept in accessories: designer CDs. The Black Tie Collection, Songs Across America, the Classical Collection and Holiday are all compilations of tunes one might hear in a Ralph Lauren store, where the CDs will be sold at $15 a pop. Next year brings Polo Sport, an assortment of "sophisticated workout music." Alas, we're not joking.