The movie portrayed the many aspects of his life that people did not want to acknowledge at that time. The performance by Andrew Robinson was masterful. He looked and acted so much like Liberace it was hard to believe it was not Lee himself. Liberace was one of the most flamboyant entertainers in show business history.

Liberace's physician, Ronald Daniels, said he had died of heart failure caused by subacute encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease. The Riverside County coroner performed an autopsy and determined that Liberace's cause of death was cytomegalovirus pneumonia, a frequent cause of death in people with AIDS.

How closely does Soderbergh hew to Thorson's story of life with Liberace? Pretty closely—though the accuracy of Thorson's book itself is another matter. (Thorson has served time for burglary in the past and was recently arrested again on similar charges.)

Władziu (or Vladziu) Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987), best known as Liberace, was an American pianist and vocalist of Polish-Italian origin.