Ian McKellen

• 1. Childhood Under Steel

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  Ian Murray McKellen was born on the 25th of May 1939 in Burnley, Lancashire. His family moved to Wigan when he was four months old, just before the Second World War began in September 1939. He lived there until he was twelve years old before his family relocated to Bolton in 1951 after his father received a promotion. The experience of living through the war as a young child left a lasting impact on him. He later said that only after peace resumed did he realize that war was not normal. When an interviewer remarked that he seemed quite calm in the aftermath of the 11th of September attacks, McKellen replied with a specific memory from his youth. He stated that he slept under a steel plate until he was four years old. This early exposure to conflict shaped his worldview and his approach to life during times of crisis.

• 2. Cambridge And Early Stages

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  In 1958, McKellen won a scholarship to the University of Cambridge at the age of eighteen. He studied English literature as an undergraduate student of St Catharine's College. While at Cambridge, he became a member of the Marlowe Society where he appeared in twenty-three plays over three years. At that young age, he gave performances that have since become legendary. One such performance included Justice Shallow in Henry IV alongside Trevor Nunn and Derek Jacobi in March 1959. Other notable roles included Cymbeline as Posthumus opposite Margaret Drabble as Imogen and Doctor Faustus. During this period, McKellen had already been directed by Peter Hall, John Barton, and Dadie Rylands. All three directors would have a significant impact on his future career. His first professional appearance came in 1961 at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry as Roper in A Man for All Seasons. An audio recording of the Marlowe Society's Cymbeline later went on commercial sale as part of the Argo Shakespeare series.

• 3. National Theatre Acclaim

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  From 1973 to 1974, McKellen toured the United Kingdom and Brooklyn Academy of Music portraying Lady Wishfort's Footman, Kruschov, and Edgar. He performed in William Congreve's comedy The Way of the World and Anton Chekhov's comedic play The Wood Demon. In 1976, he played Romeo in the Shakespeare romance Romeo & Juliet at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The following year, he played King Leontes in The Winter's Tale. In 1976, he also played the title role in Macbeth at Stratford in a gripping production with Judi Dench. He appeared as Iago in Othello in award-winning productions directed by Trevor Nunn. Both of these productions were adapted into television films. From 1978 to 1979, he toured in a double feature production of Twelfth Night and Three Sisters. In 1979, McKellen gained acclaim for his role as Antonio Salieri in the Broadway transfer of Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus. The New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich wrote that McKellen's performance portrayed Salieri's descent into madness in dark notes of almost bone-rattling terror. For this performance, McKellen received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.

• 4. Public Coming Out

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  It was not until 1988 that McKellen came out to the general public while appearing on the BBC Radio programme Third Ear hosted by conservative journalist Peregrine Worsthorne. The context that prompted his decision was Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 which was then under consideration in the British Parliament. Section 28 proposed prohibiting local authorities from promoting homosexuality as a kind of pretended family relationship. McKellen has stated that he was influenced in his decision by the advice and support of his friends including noted gay author Armistead Maupin. He said that his own participating in that campaign was a focus for people to take comfort. If Ian McKellen was on board for this, perhaps it would be all right for other people to be as well. In 2003, during an appearance on Have I Got News For You, McKellen claimed when he visited Michael Howard in 1988 to lobby against Section 28, Howard refused to change his position but did ask him to leave an autograph for his children. McKellen agreed but wrote Fuck off, I'm gay.

• 5. Stonewall And Rights

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  McKellen is a co-founder of Stonewall, an LGBT rights lobby group in the United Kingdom named after the Stonewall riots. He serves as patron of LGBT History Month, Pride London, Oxford Pride, GAY-GLOS, LGBT Foundation, and FFLAG. In 1994, at the closing ceremony of the Gay Games, he briefly took the stage to address the crowd saying I'm Sir Ian McKellen, but you can call me Serena. This nickname given to him by Stephen Fry had been circulating within the gay community since McKellen's knighthood was conferred. In 2006, McKellen spoke at the pre-launch of the 2007 LGBT History Month in the UK lending his support to the organization and its founder Sue Sanders. In 2007, he became a patron of The Albert Kennedy Trust which provides support to young homeless and troubled LGBT people. He has taken his activism internationally causing a major stir in Singapore where he was invited to do an interview on a morning show. He shocked the interviewer by asking if they could recommend him a gay bar before the programme immediately ended.

• 6. Hollywood Stardom

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  In 1999, McKellen was cast to play the comic book supervillain Magneto in the 2000 film X-Men and its sequels. He later reprised his role of Magneto in 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past sharing the role with Michael Fassbender who played a younger version of the character in 2011's X-Men: First Class. While filming the first X-Men film in 1999, McKellen was cast as the wizard Gandalf in Peter Jackson's film trilogy adaptation of The Lord of the Rings released between 2001 and 2003. He won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his work in The Fellowship of the Ring. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the same role. In 2006, he appeared as Sir Leigh Teabing in The Da Vinci Code opposite Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon. During a the 17th of May 2006 interview on The Today Show, Matt Lauer posed a question about how they would have felt if the film had borne a prominent disclaimer that it is a work of fiction. McKellen responded that he has faith in this movie not that it's true but that it's a jolly good story.

• 7. Later Career And Stage

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  McKellen reprised the role of Gandalf on screen in Peter Jackson's three-part film adaptation of The Hobbit starting with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 2012. From 2013 to 2014, McKellen and Patrick Stewart starred in a double production of Waiting for Godot and No Man's Land on Broadway at the Cort Theatre. Variety theatre critic Marilyn Stasio praised the dual production writing that McKellen and Stewart find plenty of consoling comedy in two masterpieces of existential despair. In April 2024, McKellen starred as John Falstaff in Player Kings at the Noël Coward Theatre in London's West End. The performance was scheduled to run until the 22nd of June before touring to Bristol and Birmingham. However during the performance on the 17th of June, McKellen fell off the front of the stage during a fight scene and called for assistance. He was later reported to have recovered and to be in good spirits. He subsequently pulled out of the remaining West End and tour performances on medical advice.