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
life public
Thanks to every gay person in public and non-public life who has come out.
hope left life stage
I still hope I've got a lot of life left on stage and making films.
admiring flattering including laurence life people rather spent tremendous
There are some tremendous actors in the U.K. who have been knighted, and I've spent much of my life admiring many of them, like Laurence Olivier. So it's very flattering to be in their company. But you also end up in the company of people you don't admire, including some rather dodgy politicians.
life
Gandalf is ever-present in my life. I like it.
happened life primarily public
Anyone in public life who comes out, comes out primarily for themselves, and their life is immediately improved. That's what happened to me.
draw life man
In the '50s and '60s, the life of a gay man was a secret. Homosexuality was illegal, so you didn't draw attention to yourself.
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.
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.
good-life believe thinking
You always think that 70 is the end of the road: 'Somebody died when they were 73; good life'. You're closer to death, and you better make sure you don't waste too much of your time doing things you don't want to do. No point in saying things you don't believe in.
certainly define life lived spent sure
I certainly wouldn't define myself as a northerner. I'm not even really sure what that means. I've lived in London for 50 years. I wasn't born here, but I have spent most of my life here. So I don't make much of it, to be honest. I'm just myself.
difference huge lifetime nowhere outside romantic secret somebody
The huge difference in my lifetime is that you can just go up to somebody and make a pass. You couldn't do that in the 1950s if you were gay. There were secret handshakes, a secret language. There was nowhere you could go to be romantic outside of people's houses.
miss suppose
The spirit of the four hobbits in 'Lord of the Rings,' I suppose I miss that.
australian change cost families gain gay government lives married people respect rights therefore worldwide
Establishing the rights for gay people to be married would cost the Australian government nothing financially and would gain for you worldwide respect from people like us and, of course, would change lives enormously - the lives of gay people and of their friends and of their families and therefore of Australia as a whole.
trying
On the whole, actors shout when they don't know what they're doing, trying to make an impact.