Ian Mckellen Quotes
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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.
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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!
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The conventional wisdom is that if you are gay, you cannot play the romantic straight lead in a movie.
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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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I remember Tom Stoppard saying to me when I came out, 'I feel so sorry for you, because you'll never have children.' These days I would say, 'Well, why not, Tom?'
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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.
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I got intrigued by working in small theatres.
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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've always had very catholic tastes.
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Thanks to every gay person in public and non-public life who has come out.
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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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Gandalf is ever-present in my life. I like it.
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The whole atmosphere of the book, the tone of 'The Hobbit,' is of a kid's adventure story, told in the first person by Tolkien, who is introducing young people to the notion of Middle-earth. A lot of it is very light-hearted.
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There have been many gay knights in the past - like Sir Noel Coward or Sir John Gielgud.
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Until I came out, my acting was all about disguise, and thereafter it became about telling the truth.
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Every time you work is a challenge. There's a constant worry about it, and it's a side of acting I don't like.
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Actors don't, in fact, retire, do they? It took me a while to remember that.
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I don't any longer make any quality judgement between theater and cinema. They are different experiences for the audience, and they also are for the actors - although they have a lot in common.
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On the whole, actors shout when they don't know what they're doing, trying to make an impact.
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Gandalf the Grey was always the guy I prefer. Gandalf the White was driven to do a particular job, whereas Gandalf the Grey is a bit more humane.
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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.
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Gandalf saves the world and saves the soul of the world, really.
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Very, very rare that you do a job knowing that the audience is desperate for you to do that job. Most films you make don't get released, is the fact.
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If you are playing King Lear you are the centre of attention anyway. You don't need to draw attention to yourself. It's all laid out for you.