Ian Mckellen Quotes

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Ian Mckellen

Profession : Actor

Birth : May 25, 1939

If we just made one movie, 'The Hobbit,' the fact is that all the fans, the eight-, nine- and 10-year-old boys, they would watch it 1,000 times. Now, they've got three films they can watch 1,000 times.

Ian Mckellen

I'd never read 'Lord of the Rings' until I was asked to play Gandalf, so I didn't really know it was a frightfully famous book.

Ian Mckellen

There's no sex in Middle Earth.

Ian Mckellen

Splendid architecture, the love of your life, an old friend... they can all go drifting by unseen if you're not careful.

Ian Mckellen

You won't hear me talk about my politics, you won't hear me talk about my vegetarianism, you won't hear me comment on the Iraq war. You'll only hear me talk about being gay and being an actor. I am just public on those two issues.

Ian Mckellen

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

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

'Macbeth' was a very lucky play for me.

Ian Mckellen

I certainly don't disparage someone whose attitude towards their work is utterly different from mine - that's up to them.

Ian Mckellen

When I appeared in 'Coronation Street,' I lived in Manchester and enjoyed it very much.

Ian Mckellen

Thanks to every gay person in public and non-public life who has come out.

Ian Mckellen

'King Lear,' I've been seeing all my life. I mean, the great actors of my lifetime... to join their company, as it were, by playing a part that's challenged them, is one of the great joys of being an actor who does the classics.

Ian Mckellen

We're very lucky, men, that there are these fabulous parts. Women - once you've done all the parts in Shakespeare, they start running out. So you can pick and choose and find something to energise you.

Ian Mckellen

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

Shakespeare's villains are fabulous because none of them know that they are villains. Well, sometimes they do.

Ian Mckellen

When we'd suggested doing it, the Theatre Royal management had said, 'Nobody wants to see Waiting for Godot.' As it happened, every single ticket was booked for every single performance, and this confirmation that our judgment was right was sweet. Audiences came to us from all over the world. It was amazing.

Ian Mckellen

I always walk up the escalator on the Tube, and I live in a house with a lot of stairs, and that's good exercise, but you need more than that.

Ian Mckellen

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

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.

Ian Mckellen

When you grumble about a taxi being dirty, people your own age will absolutely agree with you, whereas younger people say, 'You should be so lucky to have a taxi - I walk to work!' So I have lots of young friends, who fortunately don't treat me as a guru, a person that knows all the answers.

Ian Mckellen