QUOTES by Ian Mckellen
Find most favourite and famour Authors from A.A Milne to Zoe Kravitz.
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. But you also end up in the company of people you don't admire, including some rather dodgy politicians.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
I had never come across the 'X-Men' comics till I was asked to play Magneto, so I just jumped into that job.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
Shakespeare's villains are fabulous because none of them know that they are villains. Well, sometimes they do.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
If I say often enough that I'm going to be in 'King Kong,' I'm hoping that Peter Jackson will take the hint.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
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.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
I don't make much distinction between being a stand-up comic and acting Shakespeare - in fact, unless you're a good comedian, you're never going to be able to play Hamlet properly.
Quote by -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.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
I can't take on all the worries of the world, you know. I can only talk about being gay and being an actor. I'll have to leave those other battles to somebody else.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
If you've been in a film that's seen by millions and millions and millions of people, you're more likely to be recognized for that than for your theater performances, which were seen by considerably less people. Why would I get upset by that?
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
How do I act so well? What I do is I pretend to be the person I'm portraying in the film or play.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
I owe a great deal to Harold Hobson, doyen drama critic of the 'U.K. Sunday Times,' who championed me as Shakespeare's Richard II at the 1969 Edinburgh Festival.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
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.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
I love musicals; I love the ballet, opera, the circus. It's all performance to me.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
When you were on stage, you could be absolutely open about your emotions and indulge them and express yourself in a way that - in real life - I wasn't doing.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
I quite like it when I'm on the Tube and people offer me their seat. Sometimes I take it. The other day I was offered a seat by a pregnant lady. I thought, 'That's going a bit far.'
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
Doing some of the 'Lord Of The Rings' press junkets got a bit claustrophobic.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
I increasingly see organized religion as actually my enemy. They treat me as their enemy. Not all Christians, of course. Not all Jews, not all Muslims.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
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.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
I certainly don't disparage someone whose attitude towards their work is utterly different from mine - that's up to them.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
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.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
What's upsetting about an autobiography is that the final chapter is always missing. I mean, you want the death, don't you?
Quote by -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.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
What I particularly like about Broadway is the camaraderie and the friendship of other people in other shows. Everybody knows you're opening and cares about you. There's a real village atmosphere.
Quote by -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!
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
I don't make any distinction between a popular TV series or blockbuster film and doing Shakespeare. They're different, but as long as the material is good and the intention is honourable, it's all the same to me.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
When I came out, I told my stepmother Gladys, and she just said she had known for years and was glad I wasn't lying anymore.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
The wonderful thing about modern medicine is that so many of these complaints that used to signify old age and decline can be coped with.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
When I left Cambridge, I applied to regional repertory theaters in the U.K. and got accepted by one of them... And here I am, still at it.
Quote by -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.
Quote by -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.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
I'm not someone who wears shades all the time and ducks into a darkened car in case I'm recognized - that would be absolute misery.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
I don't really like being with people my own age for long periods, because all we talk about is our decrepitude, how the world is changing for the worse even though it isn't.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen
Personally, coming out was one of the most important things I've ever done, lifting from my shoulders the millstone of lies that I hadn't even realized I was carrying.
Quote by -Ian Mckellen