Ian McKellen

Sir Ian Murray McKellen, KBE (born May 25, 1939) is a highly acclaimed British actor on both stage and screen, regarded by many as the greatest living British actor. His roles have spanned genres from serious Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular action movies. He is also well known as a campaigner for gay rights. For over a decade he has lived in a five-storey Victorian conversion in Narrow Street, Limehouse, London.

Award-winning successes

McKellen starred on Broadway in Bent, a play about gay men in Nazi death camps, starting in 1979. Despite his role in this ground-breaking play, which brought to public view for the first time in a widespread way the persecution of gay people in Nazi Germany, McKellen was not yet out publicly. At first, he was unsure whether he dared to take the role. "As impressed as I was by it, I thought 'My God! Do I dare be in this?' And Sean read it and said, 'Well you have to do it'," he said.

Related Topics:
Broadway - Bent - Nazi - Death camps - Gay - Nazi Germany

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Bent proved to be of great significance to McKellen. Since starring in the original Broadway production of Bent, he has been involved in two other productions of the play. In 1990 he starred in the revival at the National Theatre in London directed by Mathias, and also made a supporting appearance in the movie version, also directed by Mathias, which was released in 1997.

Related Topics:
1990 - National Theatre - 1997

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McKellen's talents won him successively more important and visible parts, until eventually in 1980 he won the role of Salieri in the Broadway production of Amadeus. He was awarded the Tony Award for his performance, the most prestigious award given to actors in live theatre in the United States. His appearance as Walter, a mentally-retarded adult, in a 1982 television play, won him a new following; but he was still a relative unknown to much of the U.S. public.

Related Topics:
1980 - Salieri - Broadway - Amadeus - Tony Award - United States - 1982

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In the 1990s, McKellen began to branch into major American film and television roles. In 1993, McKellen had a supporting role as a South African tycoon in the sleeper hit Six Degrees of Separation, in which he starred with Stockard Channing, Donald Sutherland, and Will Smith. In the same year, he was also exposed to North American audiences in minor roles in the television miniseries Tales of the City (based on the novel by his friend Armistead Maupin) and the movie Last Action Hero, in which he played Death. Also in 1993, McKellen played a large role in the TV movie And the Band Played On, about the discovery of the AIDS virus. In 1995, he played the title role in Richard III. The performance was critically acclaimed, and he was nominated for Golden Globe and BAFTA awards, and won the European Film Award for best actor.

Related Topics:
1990s - 1993 - Sleeper hit - Six Degrees of Separation - Stockard Channing - Donald Sutherland - Will Smith - Miniseries - Tales of the City - Armistead Maupin - Last Action Hero - Death - And the Band Played On - AIDS - 1995 - Richard III - Golden Globe - BAFTA - European Film Award

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His breakthrough role for mainstream American audiences came with the modestly-acclaimed Apt Pupil, based on a story by Stephen King. McKellen portrayed an old Nazi officer, living under a false name in the U.S., who was befriended by a curious teenager (Brad Renfro) who threatened to expose him unless he told his story in detail.

Related Topics:
Apt Pupil - Stephen King - Brad Renfro

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Queen Elizabeth II appointed him a CBE in 1979 and knighted him a KBE in 1990 for his outstanding work and contributions to the theatre, becoming Sir Ian McKellen.

Related Topics:
Queen Elizabeth II - CBE - 1979 - 1990

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In 1994 McKellen put together a one man show, A Knight Out. The show was very successful and he still performs it today. He considers it a perpetual "work in progress".

Related Topics:
1994 - A Knight Out

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He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1998 film Gods and Monsters, where he played James Whale, gay director of Show Boat (1936) and Frankenstein.

Related Topics:
Academy Award for Best Actor - Gods and Monsters - James Whale - Show Boat - Frankenstein

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More recently, McKellen has become a major global star by playing leading roles in blockbuster films. First he played Magneto in X-Men and its sequel X2. He followed that performance with the role of Gandalf in the three films that comprise the screen adaptation of The Lord of the Rings (', ', and '). For The Fellowship of the Ring he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Related Topics:
Magneto - X-Men - X2 - Gandalf - The Lord of the Rings - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

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Critics were surprised in 2005 when he did not win the Canadian Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in the film Emile (2003) which some consider McKellen's best performance to date.

Related Topics:
Genie Award - Emile

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In April and May 2005, he played the role of Mel Hutchwright in Granada Television's long running soap opera, Coronation Street.

Related Topics:
April - May - 2005 - Granada Television - Coronation Street

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