Ian McKellen Quotes

• You can always pick out stage actors at the Oscars: they know how to walk.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

• I can’t be absolutely certain, 30 years ago when I made the decision to become an actor, but certainly one of the reasons was it was the way to meet other queer men.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

• 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.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Personal, Different, Playing

• Before acting, I wanted to become a journalist. I also toyed with the idea of being a chef – but that’s only when people asked me what I wanted to be. In fact, I always used to say I wanted to be an actor, but I didn’t ever believe that I was good enough to be come one.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Believe, Wanted, Acting, Enough

• Godot is whatever it is in life that you are waiting for: ‘I’m waiting to win the lottery. I’m waiting to fall in love’. For me, as a child, it was Christmas. At least that eventually came.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Love

  Tags in Waiting, Child

• I can’t take on all the worries of the world, you know. I can only talk about being gay and being an actor. I’ll have to leave those other battles to somebody else.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Somebody, Actor, Worries

• I don’t make much distinction between being a stand-up comic and acting Shakespeare – in fact, unless you’re a good comedian, you’re never going to be able to play Hamlet properly.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Between, Unless, Play

• I headed out to have a breather at the stage door, dressed in my tramp costume. I had my bowler hat between my feet and there were passers-by, and one of them turned back and said, ‘Do you need help, brother?’ And $1 fell into my hat!

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Between, Said, Help

• I tend to discourage people from calling me ‘Sir Ian,’ because I don’t like being separated out from the rest of the population. Of course, it can be useful if you’re writing an official letter, like trying to get a visa or something passed through Parliament. They’re impressed by these things.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Population, Impressed, Official

• I think the point to be understood is that we’re all different. I’ve never been a fan of theories of acting. I didn’t go to drama school, so I was never put through a training that was limited by someone saying, ‘This is the way you should act.’

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Different, Understood, Training, School

• I was brought up in industrial south Lancashire, down the cobbled road from where LS Lowry (1887-1976) lived and painted.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Industrial, Painted

• If I was on a march at the moment I would be saying to everyone: ‘Be honest with each other. Admit there are limitless possibilities in relationships, and love as many people as you can in whatever way you want, and get rid of your inhibitions, and we’ll all be happy.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in People, Relationships, Happy

• If you’ve got Mystique as your girlfriend the fun you could have in bed – I’ve just imagined X-Men 3 might open with me in bed with Patrick Stewart.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Might, Imagined

• It was wrongly assumed that I wished to become some sort of leader among gay activists, whereas in reality I was happier to be a foot soldier.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Activist, Happier, Reality

• It’s only fair that stable gay relationships of long standing should have the same rights and responsibilities as married couples. I know the image of gay marriage is to some people horrific and ludicrous.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in People, Responsibilities, Marriage

• Macbeth is a very popular play with audiences. If you want to sell out a theater, just mount a production of Macbeth. It’s a short play, it’s an exciting play, it’s easy to understand, and it attracts great acting.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Understand

• Personally, coming out was one of the most important things I’ve ever done, lifting from my shoulders the millstone of lies that I hadn’t even realized I was carrying.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Important, Realized, Personally, Carrying

• So it’s joyful to me, in my 71st year, to be able to be in a play that is absolutely right for my age and my experience, and that is a popular success. What more could you ask as an actor?

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Experience, Success

  Tags in Popular, Joyful, Absolutely

• That was the big effect Lord of the Rings had on me. It was discovering New Zealand. And even more precious were the people- not at all like the Australians.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Effect, Discovering, Precious

• The thing you notice here after America is how refreshingly ordinary people look because they haven’t had their chin wrapped around the back of their ears.

  Ian McKellen

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in People, Thing, Ordinary

Ian McKellen (26)

Birth:	25th May, 1939
Nationality:	British
Profession:	Actor

About

Sir Ian Murray McKellen was born in Burnley, England. He is an English stage and screen actor. He started his professional career in 1961 at the Belgrade Theatre as a member of their highly regarded repertory company. In the 1970s he became a stalwart of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Great Britain. His role in several films include: The Promise, A Touch of Love, Priest of Love, Plenty, Scandal, The Shadow, Richard III(nominated- BAFTA Award for best actor), Jack and Sarah, Gods and Monsters(nominated- Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, won- Critics' Choice Movie Award for best actor), X-Men, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring(nominated- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, BAFTA Award for best actor), Emile, Neverwas, Asylum, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and Mr. Holmes. His role in television include: David Copperfield(TV serial), Countdown to War(TV film), King Lear(TV film), The Prisoner(miniseries), Vicious (TV series), and The Dresser(TV film, nominated- BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor). He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1979. He was knighted by Elizabeth II in 1991. He has been openly gay since 1988, and continues to be a champion for LGBT social movements worldwide.

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Today's Anniversary - 18th December

Births

• 1954 - Ray Liotta
• 1950 - Randy Castillo
• 1957 - Randi Weingarten
• 1927 - Ramsey Clark
• 1888 - Robert Moses

Deaths

• 1975 - Theodosius Dobzhansky
• 2006 - Joseph Barbera
• 2008 - W. Mark Felt
• 1912 - Will Carleton
• 2011 - Vaclav Havel