Ian Mckellen Quotes
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I used to comfort myself when I became an actor that it was a useful job, entertaining people. And it was important to do it as well as you possibly can.
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Magneto wants to cope with the difficulties thrust upon him by society and by his own nature.
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'Macbeth' was a very lucky play for me.
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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.
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Fame creeps up on you.
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What's upsetting about an autobiography is that the final chapter is always missing. I mean, you want the death, don't you?
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I have heard of people dying from prostate cancer, and they are the unlucky ones, the people who didn't know they had got it, and it went on the rampage.
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Acting is a very big part of what human beings do. A dog is always a dog, but we're always changing.
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The one thing you can ask, I think, is that actors get paid a living wage. I would like it if all the repertory theatres that currently exist could do that. It would make a huge difference.
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'The Lego Movie?' I've never heard of it.
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Why do you act? You act for an audience. In the theatre, you're in their presence. Film stars don't know what it is to have an audience.
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I love working in New York.
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I love the Broadway audiences, who relish live drama and don't hesitate to display their enthusiasm.
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Some relationships get easier as you get older, depending on what sort of person you are. I don't think I've got any better at them.
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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.
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Thanks to every gay person in public and non-public life who has come out.
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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.
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Tolkien is as good as Dickens at sketching a scene.
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I got intrigued by working in small theatres.
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Imagine trying to be a gay actor, a gay anything in modern Russia? Where to be positively oneself, to be affectionate in public with someone you love of the same gender, or to talk of that love in the hearing of anyone under 18, will put you prison?
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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.
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I was a shy gay man at a time when it was illegal to be gay.
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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.
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I used to think 'King Lear' was an analysis of insanity, but I don't really think it is. When Lear is supposed to be at his most insane, he is actually understanding the world for the first time.