Ian McKellen

At 84 years old, Ian McKellen has this physical status:

Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor.

Shakespearean and modern theatre, to popular fantasy, and science fiction, are all areas of his career. He has received six Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, a BIF Prize, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BIF Award, two Saturn Awards, four Drama Desk Awards, and two Critics' Choice Awards.

In addition, he has been nominated for two Academy Awards, five Primetime Emmy Awards, and four BAFTAs. He received international recognition for his film roles, including the titular King in Richard III (1995), James Whale in Gods and Monsters (1998), Magneto in the X-Men films, and Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. "His appearances have earned him a spot in the canon of English stage and film actors," the BBC reports.

McKellen, the recipient of every major theatre award in the United Kingdom, is recognized as a British cultural icon.

He began his career at the Belgrade Theatre in 1961 as a member of the Belgrade Theatre, a highly respected repertory company.

McKellen made his first West End appearance in 1965.

In 1969, he was invited to join the Prospect Theatre Company to perform the lead roles in Shakespeare's Richard II and Marlowe's Edward II, and he's established himself as one of the country's finest classical actors.

McKellen became a stalwart of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Great Britain in the 1970s. McKellen was honoured in the 1991 New Year Honours for services to the performing arts and equality in the 2008 New Year Honours, and he was named Companion of Honour for services to drama and equality.

He has been gay since 1988 and has continued to campaign for LGBT rights around the world.

In October 2014, he was granted Freedom of the City of London.

Early life and education

McKellen was born in Burnley, Lancashire, on May 25th, 1939, the son of Margery Lois (née Sutcliffe) and Denis Murray McKellen. He was their second child, and they had a sister, Jean, who was five years older. His family moved to Wigan just before the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939. They lived there until Ian was twelve years old before relocating to Bolton in 1951 after his father was promoted. He later said that "only after peace returned... did I know that war wasn't normal." McKellen remarked that after the 11 September attacks he seemed quite calm, "I slept under a steel plate until I was four years old."

McKellen's father, who was both a civil engineer and lay preacher, was of Protestant Irish and Scottish descent. Both of McKellen's grandfathers were preachers, and his great-grandfather, James McKellen, was a "strict, evangelical Protestant minister" in Ballymena, County Antrim. His home environment was mainly Christian, but not orthodox. "I was raised in a Christian way by behaving in a nonconformist Christian way to everyone you encountered." His mother died of breast cancer when he was 12 years old; his father died when he was 24 years old. "Not only was she not afraid," he said, but as a founder of a group that revealed its indifference to people's sexuality years earlier, I'm grateful that I wasn't lying anymore." Robert J. Lowes, his great-grandfather, was an organiser and promoter in Manchester's largely fruitful campaign for a Saturday half-holiday, the forerunner to the modern five-day work week, making Lowes the "grandfather of the modern weekend."

McKellen attended Bolton School (Boys' Division), of which he is also a supporter, and he continues to visit pupils on a daily basis. McKellen's acting career began at Bolton Little Theatre, in which he is now the patron. His parents, who took him out on a family outing to Peter Pan at the Opera House in Manchester when he was three, encouraged him to attend the ballet. His main Christmas presentation, as a boy, was a fold-away wood and bakelite Victorian theatre from Pollocks Toy Theatres, with cardboard scenery and wires to push on the Cinderella and Laurence Olivier's reenactment of Shakespeare's "Hamlet."

His uncle attended his first Shakespeare performance, Twelfth Night, by Wigan's Little Theatre, shortly followed by their Macbeth and Wigan High School for Girls' production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, starring Jean McKellen, who continued to act, direct, and produce amateur theatre until her death.

McKellen, an 18-year-old boy from Cambridge's St Catharine's College, where he read English literature, received a scholarship to St Catharine's College, Cambridge. He has since been named an Honorary Fellow of the College. McKellen performed in 23 plays over the course of three years while attending Cambridge. He was already performing at an early age, as seen in Henry IV alongside Trevor Nunn and Derek Jacobi (March 1959), Cymbeline (as Posthumus, opposite Margaret Drabble as Imogen) and Doctor Faustus. McKellen had already been guided by Peter Hall, John Barton, and Dadie Rylands, all of whom would have a major influence on McKellen's future.

Personal life

McKellen and his first friend, Brian Taylor, a history teacher from Bolton, began their friendship in 1964. Their marriage lasted eight years, with the divorce dated 1972. McKellen continued to work in London, where they continued to work as actors. He met Sean Mathias, his second wife, at the Edinburgh Festival in 1978. The relationship lasted until 1988, and Mathias said it was tempestuous, with differences over McKellen's success in portraying against Mathias' somewhat less successful career. Both were friends, with Mathias later directing McKellen in Waiting for Godot at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2009. The pair formed a company relationship with Evgeny Lebedev, purchasing the public house in Narrow Street on lease. McKellen had been living in Narrow Street, Limehouse, for more than 25 years, more than a decade of which had been invested in a five-story Victorian conversion.

McKellen is an atheist. He lost his appetite for any kind of meat other than fish in the late 1980s and has since stuck to a predominantly pescetarian diet. Ian McKellen was nominated for the Artist Citizen of the World Award in 2001 (France).

McKellen has a tattoo of the Elvish number nine, written on his shoulder by J. R. Tolkien's designed script of Tengwar in reference to his role in the Lord of the Rings and that his character was one of the original nine companions of the Fellowship of the Ring. The other characters of "The Fellowship" (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Sean Bean, Dominic Monaghan, and Viggo Mortensen) have the same tattoo. John Rhys-Davies, whose character was also one of the original nine companions, did not get the tattoo; instead, he was given a stunt double.

In 2006, McKellen was diagnosed with prostate cancer. "There is no reason for fear," he wrote on his blog in 2012. The cancer is present in my body, and it is easily detected. I've never needed any medical care."

McKellen was elected minister of the Universal Life Church in early 2013 in order to preside over the marriage of his colleague and X-Men co-star Patrick Stewart to singer Sunny Ozell.

On June 18, McKellen was named an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by Cambridge University. On Thursday, he was made a Freeman of the City of London. The ceremony took place at Guildhall in London. He was nominated by London's Lord Mayor Fiona Woolf, who said he was a "extraordinary actor" and "tireless campaigner for equality." He is also an Emeritus Fellow of St Catherine's College, Oxford.

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Career

McKellen made his first professional appearance in 1961 at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, as Roper in A Man for All Seasons, however, an audio recording of the Marlowe Society's Cymbeline had gone on sale as part of the Argo Shakespeare collection.

McKellen made his first West End appearance in A Scent of Flowers, a "notable success" after four years in regional repertory theatres. He was a member of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company at the Old Vic in 1965, which culminated in appearances at the Chichester Festival. McKellen performed Shakespeare's Richard II (directed by Richard Cottrell) and Christopher Marlowe's Edward II (directed by Toby Robertson) at the Edinburgh Festival in 1969, the latter sparked a storm of protests over the enactment of the homosexual Edward's sexy.

McKellen made a name for herself in British theatre in the 1970s, appearing regularly at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, where he appeared in numerous leading Shakespearean roles. McKellen performed in the William Congreve comedy The Way of the World and William Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear from 1973 to 1974. He appeared in Shakespeare's King John, George Colman's The Clandestine Marriage, and George Bernard Shaw's Too True to Be Good the following year. He portrayed Romeo in the Shakespeare romance Romeo & Juliet at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from 1976 to 1977. In The Winter's Tale, he appeared in King Leontes the next year.

McKellen appeared in William Shakespeare's Macbeth (which he first appeared in a "gripping... out of the ordinary" performance at Stratford in 1976 and Iago in Othello in award-winning productions directed by Nunn) in 1976 and 1976. Both of these films were turned into television films, with Nunn also directing them. He appeared in two film productions of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, as well as Anton Chekov's Three Sisters portraying Sir Toby Belch and Andrei.

McKellen received acclaim in 1979 for his role as Antonio Salieri in Peter Shaffer's Broadway transfer production of Amadeus's Amadeus. It was a hugely popular performance performed by the National Theatre when it was first performed by Paul Scofield. McKellen, Tim Curry as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Jane Seymour as Constanze Mozart were among the transfer's stars. "Mr. McKellen's performance was depicted in gruesome fashion of nearly bone-rattling terror," the New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich wrote of McKellen. McKellen was given the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role.

He revived Anton Chekhov's first play Wild Honey with Kim Cattrall and Kate Burton in 1986. Despite the attention of three other women, a local Russian schoolteacher who struggles to remain faithful to his wife was the subject of the play. McKellen received mixed critiques from commentators, including Frank Rich of The New York Times, who praised him for his "bravura and athletically graceful system" that includes everything except, perhaps, "sustained laughter" is the thing that matters most. "Mr. McKellen finds himself in the enigmatic predicament of a frail supporting cast," he later wrote. In 1989, he appeared in Iago in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Othello.

He appeared on a world tour of Richard III's lauded revival from 1990 to 1992, portraying the title role. The performance was on view at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for two weeks before proceeding to its tour, where Frank Rich of New York Times was able to write about it. "Mr McKellen's high-tech touch of theatre and amusement compelled him to reveal the truth of how he pulls his victims' strings when he addresses them in a soliloquy of not." He received the Laurence Olivier Award for his work as a Best Actor.

In 1992, he appeared in Pam Gems' revival of Chekov's Uncle Vanya, alongside Antony Sher and Janet McTeer. McKellen performed in A Knights Out, a one-man exhibition about being out as a gay man from 1993 to 1997. "Even if he is preaching to the converted, McKellen makes us aware of the vast and nefarious intolerance outside the theatre's comfortable walls." He is a natural storyteller, an admirable human being, and a hands-on activist, who is endowed with a rare ability. In a revival of Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People from 1997 to 1998, he appeared as Dr. Tomas Stockmann. Later that year, he appeared Garry Essendine in the No.l Coward comedy Present Laughter at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

McKellen appeared on Broadway in 2001 in a Strindberg play The Dance of Death starring Helen Mirren and David Strathairn at the Broadhurst Theatre. "McKellen" returns to Broadway to perform an Elysian concoction, a display of heroic stage presence, actor intelligence, and rarefied theatrical technique, according to New York Times columnist Ben Brantley, "McKellen" will be on display in a New York Times Theatre critic. McKellen appeared at the Lyric Theatre in London's West End and at the Sydney Art's Festival in Australia.

He returned to the Royal Shakespeare Company in the productions of King Lear and The Seagull in 2007, both directed by Trevor Nunn. In 2009, he appeared in a highly acclaimed revival of Waiting for Godot at London's Haymarket Theatre, directed by Sean Mathias, and appeared opposite Patrick Stewart. McKellen and Stewart appeared in a double performance of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Harold Pinter's No Man's Land on Broadway from 2013 to 2014 on Broadway. "McKellen and Stewart have a lot of consoling comedy in two masterpieces of existential sarcanism," Variety theatre critic Marilyn Stasio praised the dual production script. "The two thespians play the roles they were supposed to play" in both productions of Stasio.

He is Patron of the English Touring Theatre and also Patron and Patron of the Little Theatre Guild of Great Britain, a British group of amateur theatre companies. He appeared at the opening ceremony of the London Paralympics in late August 2012, portraying Prost Procedest.

McKellen appeared in King Lear at the Chichester Festival Theatre in October 2017, a performance that he said was likely to be his "last big Shakespeare part." During the summer of 2018, he appeared in the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End. McKellen performed in a one-man stage show titled Ian McKellen on Stage in 2019 to commemorate his 80th birthday. The show toured around the UK and Ireland (raising funds for each venue and organisation's charity) before a West End performance at the Harold Pinter Theatre but only on Broadway at the Hudson Theatre.

He appeared in an age-blind production of Hamlet in 2021 (having appeared on a UK and European tour in 1971), followed by the role of Firs in Chekov's The Cherry Orchard.

McKellen appeared in three films, Michael Hayes' The Promise, Clive Donner's epic film Alfred the Great, and Waris Hussein's A Touch of Love. In the Christopher Miles-directed biographical film Priest of Love, McKellen portrayed writer and poet D. H. Lawrence in 1981. He starred in Michael Mann's horror film The Keeper (1983).

He appeared in Plenty, the film version of the David Hare play of the same name in 1985. Fred Schepisi directed the film, Meryl Sting, Charles Dance, John Gielf, and Sting appeared. The film spans nearly 20 years from the 1940s to the 1960s, centered on an Englishwoman's efforts as a defender of the French Resistance during World War II, where she meets a British intelligence agent for one night. "The performances in the film are one outstanding solo after another; the bulk of the scenes come as characters rule the scenes." Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times praised the film's ensemble cast writing, "The performances in the film are one brilliant solo after another."

McKellen appeared in The British drama Scandal, a fictionalized account of the Profumo affair that shocked British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's government. McKellen portrayed John Profumo. Joanne Whalley and John Hurt appeared in the film. The film premiered at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival and qualified for the Palme d'Or.

He appeared in the film Six Degrees of Separation, based on the Pulitzer Prize in 1993, and Tony Award nominated play of the same name. Will Smith, Donald Sutherland, and Stockard Channing appeared in McKellen's film "Megacity." The film was a critical success. He appeared in The Ballad of Little Jo opposite Bob Hoskins and the action comedy Last Action Hero starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in the same year. He appeared in the superhero film The Shadow with Alec Baldwin and the James L. Brooks-directed comedy I'll Do Anything starring Nick Nolte the following year.

McKellen made his screenwriting debut with Richard III in 1995, an exciting interpretation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name directed by Richard Loncraine. Richard is depicted as a totalitarian plot to usurp the throne in a setting based on 1930s Britain, with Richard depicted as a fascist plot to usurp the throne. McKellen appears in the title role alongside an ensemble cast including Annette Bening, Robert Downey Jr., Jim Broadbent, Kristen Scott Thomas, Nigel Hawthorne, and Dame Maggie Smith. He repaid his £50,000 to finish the filming of the final battle as an executive producer. McKellen's role in his film review, Washington Post film critic Hal Hinson called his role a "lethically flamboyant incarnation" and claimed that his "florid kingy... rules all." "McKellen has a profound sympathy for the playwright," Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert said of McKellen's adaptation and his performance in his four-star review article. We are led to pity as Shakespeare's most tortured villain reveals a malevolence. No man should be so selfish, and they should know it. Hitler and others were more evil, but they were denied out to themselves. Richard has no way out. He is one of the first self-aware actors in the theatre, but he must still pay the price." BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor and Best Actor were given for his work in the title role, as well as the European Film Award for Best Actor. His screenplay was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He appeared in the historical drama Resurrection (1995) as well as Meg Ryan, Hugh Grant, and David Thewlis. Richard E. Grant, Samantha Mathis, and Dame Judi Dench appeared in the British romantic comedy Jack and Sarah (1995), starring Richard E. Grant, Samantha Mathis, and Dame Judi Dench.

He appeared in Apt Pupil, a modestly celebrated psychological thriller based on a Stephen King story in 1998. McKellen portrayed a fugitive Nazi officer in the United States who is befriended by a befuddled teenager (Brad Renfro) who threatens to reveal him unless he tells his tale in detail. In the same year, James Whale, the producer of Frankenstein in Bill Condon's period drama Gods and Monsters, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, but he lost it to Roberto Benigni in Life is Beautiful (1998).

McKellen was cast in the 2000 film X-Men and its sequels, again under Bryan Singer's direction, to play Magneto, a comic book superhero. He reprised his role as Magneto in 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past, as he co-started Michael Fassbender, who appeared in a younger version of the character in 2011's X-Men: First Class.

McKellen appeared as the wizard Gandalf in Peter Jackson's film trilogy "The Fellowship of the Ring," The Two Towers, and Return to the King) from 2001 to 2003. He received awards from the Screen Actors Guild for his role in a Motion Picture, as well as the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the same role. He appeared in several online game remakes of the Lord of the Rings films.

McKellen has appeared in limited release films, including Emile (which was shot in three weeks following the X2 shoot), Neverwas and Asylum. In 2006, he appeared in The Da Vinci Code opposite Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon. Matt Lauer wondered how they would have felt if the film had borne a prominent disclaimer that it is a work of fiction during a discussion with The Da Vinci Code cast and director Ron Howard on May 17, 2006, as some religious organisations requested. "I've often felt that the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front, saying, 'This is fiction,' McKellen said.

I mean, walking on water?

It's a matter of faith. And I have faith in this film: not that it's true or not factual, but that it's a jolly good tale." "I think viewers are smart enough and brilliant enough to distinguish fact from fiction and fantasy, and they can discuss the issue as they've seen it."

McKellen narrated the romantic fantasy adventure film Stardust starring Charlie Cox and Claire Danes in 2007, which was a critical and financial success. Iorek Byrnison, a heavily armed bear in Chris Weitz's critically acclaimed Philip Pullman's acclaimed fantasy film The Golden Compass also starred Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig that year. The film received mixed reviews, but it was a financial success.

In Peter Jackson's three-part film adaptation of The Hobbit, starting with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), then The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014), McKellen reprised the role of Gandalf on film. Despite mixed reviews, it became a financial success. McKellen's dual role as Erik Lehnsherr and Magneto in James Mangold's The Wolverine (2013) and Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).

McKellen reunited with director Bill Condon in the mystery film Mr. Holmes, starring Laura Linney in 2015. Holmes, who is now 93, is unable to recall the particulars of his final case because his mind is gradually fading. McKellen received an award for his role at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival, where he premiered. "Don't think you can get another Hollywood version of Sherlock Holmes," Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers said in a tweet. Snap out of it. Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch are both chastised, but Ian McKellen's brilliant character study of a lion not going gentle into winter is nothing short of epic.

McKellen performed in a supporting role in the 1991 animated film Cogsworth (originally voiced by David Ogden Stiers) in Disney's Beauty and the Beast's live-action version of Gods and Monsters (which was the third collaboration between Condon and McKellen, after Gods and Monsters and Mr. Holmes) and co-starred Emma Watson and Dan Stevens. The film received critical feedback and grossed $1.2 billion worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing film of all time and the 17th highest-grossing film of all time. Henry Wriothesley, the 3rd Earl of Southampton, appeared in Kenneth Branagh's historical drama All is True (2018), opposite Branagh and Judi Dench.

He reunited with Condon for the fourth time in the mystery thriller The Good Liar opposite Helen Mirren, who received acclaim for their onscreen chemistry. In the film musical version of Cats directed by Tom Hooper, he appeared as Gus the Theatre Cat the same year. Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, Rebel Wilson, Idris Elba, and Judi Dench appeared in the film. The film was widely criticized for poor visual effects, editing, performances, and screenplay, and it was also a box office disaster.

McKellen's first television appearance was as the title character in David Copperfield's 1966 version of David Copperfield, which attracted 12 million viewers on its first airings. The master videotapes for the serial were erased after some rebroadcasting in the late 1960s, and only four surviving episodes (3, 8, 9 and 11) survive as telerecordings, three of which feature McKellen as adult David. McKellen had film roles throughout his career, beginning in 1969 as D. Lawrence in Priest of Love, but it wasn't until the 1990s that he became more well-known in this genre, that he was first recognized in film.

He appeared in minor roles in Tales of the City, a television miniseries based on Armistead Maupin's book. McKellen appeared in the HBO television film And the Band Played On, based on the renowned book about HIV discovery in the United States. Bill Kraus, a gay rights activist, was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.

He appeared in the BBC television comedy film Cold Comfort Farm, starring Kate Beckinsale, Rufus Sewell, and Stephen Fry in 1995. In the HBO made-for-television film Rasputin: The Servant of Destiny (1996), starring Alan Rickman as Rasputin, the following year he appeared as Tsar Nicholas II. McKellen received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie nomination, as well as a coveted Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film winner.

In the BBC series David Copperfield based on Charles Dickens' classic book, McKellen appeared as Mr Creakle. Daniel Radcliffe, Bob Hoskins, and Dame Maggie Smith appeared in the miniseries.

He hosted Saturday Night Live on March 16, 2002. McKellen appeared in a special British-themed episode titled "The Regina Monologues" in 2003, alongside then British Prime Minister Tony Blair and author J. K. Rowling. He appeared in Mel Hutchwright's long-running British soap opera, Coronation Street, in April and May 2005, fulfilling a lifelong dream. He narrated Richard Bell's film Eighteen as a grandfather who does not have his World War II memoirs on cassette tape for his teen grandson.

McKellen appeared in Extras, Ricky Gervais' comedy series Extras, in which he played himself directing Gervais' character Andy Millman in a play about gay lovers. McKellen was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series by the Primetime Emmy Award in 2007. In 2009, he played Number Two in The Prisoner, a revival of the 1967 cult film The Prisoner. McKellen appeared in the Doctor Who 50th anniversary comedy tribute The Five (ish) Doctors Reboot in November 2013.

McKellen co-starred in Vicious, alongside Derek Jacobi, from 2013 to 2016. The series revolves around an elderly gay couple who have been married for 50 years. The show's original title was "Vicious Old Queens." McKellen's work as a relatively unprofit character actor with a tux because he stole it after doing a guest appearance on "Downton Abbey" and that he is listed as "10th Most Popular "Doctor Who" Villain" is a joke. "Once you accept McKellen and Jacobi in a multi-camera setting, there is a lot to admire about their performances, particularly the way that those decades of classical training adapt themselves to the sitcom world," Liz Shannon Miller of IndieWire said. Much has been written about how the multi-cam, shot in front of a studio audience, relates to theatre, and McKellen and Jacobi know how to perform to a live audience."

McKellen appeared in a BBC Two production of Ronald Harwood's The Dresser, alongside Edward Fox, Vanessa Kirby, and Emily Watson in October 2015. "There's no escaping that Hopkins and McKellen are the central figures here, giving nuanced performances for the first time in their illustrious careers," television analyst Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter wrote. McKellen was given a British Academy Television Award nomination for his work.

McKellen was involved in the film McKellen: Playing the Part, directed by Joe Stephenson in 2017. McKellen's life and work as an actor are chronicled in this series.

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