Ian Mckellen Quotes
-
You put anyone in the outfit, and they look like Gandalf. Not that clever.
-
Thanks to every gay person in public and non-public life who has come out.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Gandalf is ever-present in my life. I like it.
-
The conventional wisdom is that if you are gay, you cannot play the romantic straight lead in a movie.
-
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?'
-
There have been many gay knights in the past - like Sir Noel Coward or Sir John Gielgud.
-
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.
-
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.
-
I've always had very catholic tastes.
-
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.
-
I got intrigued by working in small theatres.
-
Actors don't, in fact, retire, do they? It took me a while to remember that.
-
Until I came out, my acting was all about disguise, and thereafter it became about telling the truth.
-
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.
-
On the whole, actors shout when they don't know what they're doing, trying to make an impact.
-
Gandalf saves the world and saves the soul of the world, really.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Gandalf is in Middle-earth to keep an eye on everybody, and that can be a rather serious matter.
-
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.