Ian Mckellen
Ian Mckellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBEis an English actor. He is the recipient of six Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BIF Award, two Saturn Awards, four Drama Desk Awards and two Critics' Choice Awards. He has also received two Academy Award nominations, four BAFTA nominations and five Emmy Award nominations...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth25 May 1939
CityBurnley, England
characters famous imposing
I'm fortunate to be famous for two rather imposing characters like Magneto and Gandalf.
character gay old-fashioned
In the old-fashioned sitcoms, to be gay was, in itself, funny, and you laughed at the characters rather than with them.
cute character play
I have never wanted to be typecast, one of those actors who plays a variation on a one-note theme. So just as I enjoy playing a wide variety of characters, from good to bad to ugly to cute - so I have enjoyed of late working in film and television, as well as in theatres of various sizes and shapes.
sorry character attention
Journalists often ask me: "Aren't you sorry that after all the work you've done, you're best known as Magneto and Gandalf?" But that's what I've always wanted - not to be known as myself. I want to draw attention to the characters.
character personality acting
Acting is a very personal process. It has to do with expressing your own personality, and discovering the character you're playing through your own experience - so we're all different.
character directors lines
If you're sounding right, you're probably walking right, and vice versa. If you get the footwork right - if you get even one line right in a rehearsal, the director will say, 'do you know when you said that, it was exactly the character. You were really landed on it.'
came days remember saying sorry tom
I remember Tom Stoppard saying to me when I came out, 'I feel so sorry for you, because you'll never have children.' These days I would say, 'Well, why not, Tom?'
imagine life pull single straight totally
There are still times in my life where I pull back from being totally honest, and I can't imagine a single straight person who would understand that.
challenged great join joys life playing seeing
'King Lear,' I've been seeing all my life. I mean, the great actors of my lifetime... to join their company, as it were, by playing a part that's challenged them, is one of the great joys of being an actor who does the classics.
audiences people
People on television have trouble with fame because audiences think they're their mates.
hope left life stage
I still hope I've got a lot of life left on stage and making films.
america awful battle belt bible gay hate marriage people reveals tells
The battle going on over gay marriage in America reveals an awful lot. The Bible belt - people hate gay people. Because the Bible tells them? No, the Bible tells them an awful lot of things that they ignore.
chapter death final upsetting
What's upsetting about an autobiography is that the final chapter is always missing. I mean, you want the death, don't you?
best careers leading men reveal romantic
Even now, there are young actors who want careers as romantic leading men, and the best thing is not to reveal you're gay.