Overview (3)

Mini Bio (1)

Trade Mark (3)

Rich and flawless voice, combined with Shakespearean bearing



Distinctively calm style of speaking



Deep, blue eyes



Trivia (75)

He was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 1991 Queen's New Year Honours List for his services to drama.





Has played the vampire in the music video "Heart" by Pet Shop Boys



Originated the role of Antonio Salieri in the Broadway production of "Amadeus".



Had a tattoo of the Elvish character for 9 along with seven other members of the fellowship in Der Herr der Ringe: Die Gefährten (2001).



Was offered the part of Mission Commander Swanbeck in Mission: Impossible II (2000). He was not able to accept the role, due to a prior theatre engagement in London. The part eventually went to Anthony Hopkins

He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1979 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama.





According to an interview, one of the last things Margaret Thatcher did as Prime Minister was recommending him for a knighthood.

The original Lord of the Rings books, and X-Men comics, both feature a character named Sauron, and a book entitled "The Return of the King". The X-Men graphic novel "The Return of the King" is, appropriately, about the return of Magneto.





He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1985 (1984 season) for Best Actor in a Revival for "Wild Honey".



He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1991 (1990 season) for Best Actor in "Richard III" at the Royal National Theatre.



Before performing the role of Gandalf, he listened to a recording of J.R.R. Tolkien reading Gandalf lines from the novel. He used this as a base for creating the character, and imitated the accent used by Tolkien in the recording.

Began acting as a means of escape from mourning after his mother's death and constant bullying at school from fellow students.



He was awarded the 1989 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance in "Othello".



He was awarded the 1984 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance in "Coriolanus".



He was awarded the 1989 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre Award) for Best Actor for his performance in "Othello".



Graduated with a 2:2 in English from Cambridge University.





Studied at St. Catharine's College, University of Cambridge, when he was 18, with Sir Derek Jacobi , and with whom he had been "desperately in love", as he confessed on Inside the Actors Studio (1994). In an article in "The Advocate", issue dated December 11, 2001, he further explained that what he had felt for Jacobi in their youth was "a passion that was undeclared and unrequited".

Originally aspired to be a journalist.





Was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in Stratford-upon-Avon at the same time as Patrick Stewart

Wore a prosthetic nose to play Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.



Has played cult characters in two of the biggest franchises; he played Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Magneto in the X-Men film series.





Won Broadway's 1981 Tony Award as Best Actor (Play) for originating the role of Antonio Salieri in "Amadeus". He was nominated in the same category in 1984 for "Ian McKellen Acting Shakespeare".



He used the phrase "old friend" in both the X-Men film series and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In both cases (to Christopher Lee as Saruman in the Lord of the Rings and Patrick Stewart as Xavier in X-Men) it is said to an ally who has become a nemesis and "old friend" is said mockingly.

He said that appeal of the X-Men films to him was the concept of mutants being shunned, something he says he identifies with as he was repeatedly shunned as an open homosexual.





Like his The Da Vinci Code - Sakrileg (2006) character, Sir Leigh Teabing, he has been knighted. As such, prior to being cast, he spotted two errors in the book's portrayal of Knighthood. Knights neither receive ID badges nor are granted any of the special privileges Teabing demands as a result of Knighthood.



Only performer to receive an acting Academy Award nomination for Peter Jackson 's Lord of the Rings trilogy.



In the Independent of Sunday 2006 Pink List - a list of the most influential gay men and women - he came no. 1, up from no. 2, knocking Elton John from top spot.

He was awarded the Companion of Honour in the 2008 Queen's New Year Honours List for his services to drama and to equality.



Ranked #45 in the 2008 Telegraph's list "the 100 most powerful people in British culture".



Was Head boy at Bolton School.



Marched at London's Gay Pride Parade July 5, 2008.





Had not read either "The Golden Compass" (aka "Northern Lights") by Philip Pullman , or any of the Lord of the Rings books by J.R.R. Tolkien before he was cast in the movie adaptations.



Played Magneto in three consecutive films - the only other actors to play comic book criminals in three films, as of 2008, are James Franco as Harry Osborn, Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor and his X-Men (2000) co-star, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique.

Received an honorary doctorate from the University of Ulster on February 3, 2013.





Had Maggie Smith play his mother in Richard III (1995), and then played her on an episode of "Saturday Night Live". In the BBC Radio production of "Goldfinger", he worked with her real son, Toby Stephens . Smith's former husband, Sir Robert Stephens , also played Aragorn in the BBC Radio version of "The Lord of the Rings".

Has English, Northern Irish, and Scottish ancestry.



At 74 years old, he is the oldest actor to be cast in the role of Sherlock Holmes.



Revealed in December 2012 that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.





"The Bells of Hell Go Ting-a-ling-a-ling" (with Gregory Peck ) in 1966 would have been his feature film debut but for the hostile snowy Swiss location weather. The production, a World War I film with a script by Roald Dahl to be directed by David Miller , was abandoned after 5 weeks filming.



Although he was 56 when he played the title character in Richard III (1995), King Richard III was only 32 years old when he died on August 22, 1485.



Although he played Maggie Smith 's son in Richard III (1995), he is less than five years her junior in real life.



He was offered the role of King Charles VI of France in Heinrich V. (1989) but he turned it down. Paul Scofield was eventually cast.



Was considered for the role of Clayton in Tarzan (1999).

Turned down the role of Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). He was quoted saying "I had enough trouble living up to one legend. Two would be too much to hope for." (referring to his role as Gandalf in "Lord of the Rings").





Was considered for the role of Judge Claude Frollo in Der Glöckner von Notre Dame (1996).

He was awarded he 1998 Back Stage Garland Award for Outstanding Performance for "An Enemy of the People" in a Royal National Theatre production at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California.





Was offered $1.5 million by Sean Parker to officiate at his Tolkien-themed wedding in 2013, in costume as Gandalf, but declined, saying "Gandalf doesn't do weddings".

His grand grand father on his mother side, Robert Lowes had been an active member of a institution, that campaigned to get "half of a day" holiday on Fridays for workers of industrial age in Manchester in 1890's. This campaign, that had got successful and underlie weekend concept of modern times.



Strangest career encounters usually involve avid fans who tell him that they've seen and love all the Harry Potter films.



Ian's mother Margery died when he was twelve and his father Denis died when Ian was twenty four.



Began and abandoned work on his autobiography, returning a million dollar advance from his publisher, after he found the experience of researching his life too painful.



Of Clan McQuillan.



Owns a 16th-century pub "The Grapes" in London's Limehouse district, a regenerated former dockland area overlooking the Thames river.



Attended Cambridge with Trevor Nunn.



Born on exactly the same date as Dixie Carter of "Diff'rent Strokes" and "Designing Women" fame.



Personal Quotes (41)

[on his first theatre experience, "Peter Pan"] I wasn't over-impressed. For one thing it wasn't a real crocodile and I could see the wires.



I think it's one thing to declare your sexuality, if you care about what that is. It's another thing to start talking in public about what you do in private and who you do it with. It's not that they [my significant others] don't want to be identified as gay, but that they don't want to be identified as ... with me.



Many unthinking people just don't like the idea of gays joining in their games, nor in the military and, it would seem, in the movies.





When I, as Gandalf, meet Bilbo or Frodo at home, I bump my head on the rafters. [ J.R.R. Tolkien ] didn't think to mention it.



I am encouraged by the theatricality of [ J.R.R. Tolkien 's] readings - full of rhythm and humor and characterization. Without question Gandalf is like Tolkien but then so, I suspected, are Frodo and Aragorn.

I've had enough of being a gay icon! I've had enough of all this hard work, because, since I came out, I keep getting all these parts, and my career's taken off. I want a quiet life. I'm going back into the closet. But I can't get back into the closet, because it's absolutely jam-packed full of other actors.



I ... think of the Bible as great literature rather than great history; great imagination rather than reliable witness. Whatever, it is not as a law book that I respect the Bible.



Acting is no longer about lying. It's now about revealing the truth. People are at ease with me now. Honesty is the best policy.



"The Lord of the Rings" is a mythology, it is a fairy tale, it's an adventure story. It never happened. Except somewhere in our hearts.



It wasn't exactly a mistake, but if there's anything I regret, it's probably having disguised my own native accent. Actors of my generation all tended to speak RP [received pronunciation]. Of course, it's all different now and drama students are encouraged to keep their regional accents and be able to do RP when required. Even at the BBC these days there's no standardised accent, and I rather think that's a good thing.



[12/5/03, about the cheering fans outside the InterContinentel Hotel, where he was staying in Wellington, New Zealand:] It's like several Christmases all come at once. They all love Gandalf, but I'm like Father Christmas in the shop. I'm not the real one.



[12/5/03, on initially thinking it crazy to release the LOTR trilogy 12 months apart] I thought people wouldn't remember what happened a year ago. But I hadn't factored that they would be so successful at the box office, and that so many people would buy the DVD and videos in between the release of each film. I had thought the whole enterprise was doomed, because of the release pattern. I'm very happy to have been proved wrong.



They'll let me play a gray-bearded wizard, but they still wouldn't cast a young gay actor - who was out - in a straight romantic lead.



They didn't call it marriage, although you can call it anything you want. The one thing you cannot mention is God, that is absolutely verboten. I suppose I'm a bit mean-spirited, but I really can't see why the government couldn't just say gay people can get married - that would have been true equality and so much simpler. But that hasn't been done because they couldn't face the furore. So they've passed a law that is not available to straight people - straight people cannot have a civil partnership, they have to get married - extraordinary.





If The Da Vinci Code - Sakrileg (2006) had been filming in a place where it rains a lot, I probably wouldn't have done it. Quite low down in the list is "How much am I going to be paid?" I'd say I was quite cheap, but my main feeling about money is that I don't want to feel as though I'm being taken advantage of. Certainly, I'm cheaper than Anthony Hopkins . The other actors they asked to play Gandalf wouldn't go to New Zealand on that money for that length of time. I thought it would be a bit of an adventure. Tony Hopkins didn't think it would be an adventure. Tony is part of Hollywood. I'm an eccentric English actor, and there's a lot of us around.



If I was a star, it would be difficult to go off and do Coronation Street (1960). So I guess I'm not a star.

Nobody has ever looked to Hollywood for social advance. Hollywood is a dream factory. I love the way that conservatives think that Hollywood is a bed of radicalism - it couldn't be more staid and old-ladyship if it tried. The audience don't give a blind whatever about the sexuality of actors. Gay people fancy straight people and vice-versa. It's all in the head, so what does it matter? You're not going to meet 'Heath Ledger'. You're not going to find out . . . It's the image you're looking at and falling in love with. There will be girls who go and see those two unhappy gay cowboys and go home and have fantasy dreams about them. Lovely!



It may be my rather puritanical upbringing at odds with my inborn laziness that makes me feel guilty at the end of the day, unless I am able to point at some achievement. But this need be no more impressive than cooking a meal or going for a long walk.



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.



I've often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer at the front saying, "This is fiction." I mean, walking on water? I mean, it takes an act of faith.



It is very, very, very difficult for an American actor who wants a film career to be open about his sexuality. And even more difficult for a woman if she's lesbian. It's very distressing to me that that should be the case. The film industry is very old fashioned in California.



My confidence only really peaked when I was 49 and said, "Yes, I'm gay."



In theatre, I have been able to take parts I didn't think I could do - you have time to rehearse and learn. In movies, they want you to do what they know you can do - there isn't the time.



I looked down from my terrace hanging over the Thames one morning. It was low tide and there, stranded on the pebbles, was a four-legged corpse - hairless, white and bloated. Was it a calf or a sheep or a goat or a dog? I stared at it until the tide rose and washed it away. For 24 hours I was off my food. When I started eating again, I couldn't face meat - fresh or tinned. Overnight I was vegetarian and I have been for 15 years or more. I've seen the pictures of factory farming and followed the politics of mad cow disease and felt effortlessly superior. Yet it's not reason or conscience that keeps me off meat and fowl--and these days fish, too--just a memory of that unidentifiable, decomposing body on the beach.





About the 2008 death of Brad Renfro : "I first caught sight of Brad Renfro when he was kicking a football around with Bryan Singer on the half-built set of Der Musterschüler (1998) in Hollywood. He was a kid having fun and that's how I shall always remember him. But he was more than that. He was a proper actor and when we worked together he was determined to be accepted as such. On set, he was blusteringly confident although it was obvious he would have benefited from training as an actor. Yet, as Todd, the disturbed teenager in Apt Pupil, he tapped into an inner demonic world and carried the film on his young shoulders. He longed to belong in the alien world which perhaps in the end overwhelmed him. He was only 25 and it is dreadful we shan't see all that he might have achieved."



I didn't like my character. He didn't seem very deep. He just seemed a representative of evil. - On Der Musterschüler (1998).

When I act, some people fancy me and some of them are women. There we are! What's the problem? They don't believe me when I say I am in love with a woman?...They don't believe me when I say I am a wizard? They believe me even though they know I am not. It's all nonsense. Everyone knows we are acting. [In a Reuters interview, responding to those who say that gay actors shouldn't come out because then no one will find them believable in romantic scenes with actors of the opposite gender.]



Don't give up the projects you really want for some extra time with your girlfriend or because you don't want to miss a holiday with your family. They'll understand. Just don't have any regrets.



I often get mistaken for 'Dumbledore'. One wizard is very much like another.



[on 'coming out' as being gay] I immediately felt better in every way. I felt relieved that I wasn't lying. You know, when I was growing up in England, there were no gay clubs I knew about. There were no bars. Homosexuals were shamed publicly and imprisoned. You were on your own, looking over your shoulder all the time, hoping in the handshake of a stranger that he might be somebody gay. The first film role I deliberately chose to play after I came out was a raging heterosexual, John Profumo. I was just a little bit worried about whether I could carry out the bed scenes.



I'm a snob about standards. But I don't find anything odd at all in being known for playing Gandalf. I couldn't be happier about it. Other people tend to get snobbish on my behalf. 'It must be dreadful to always be thought of as Gandalf', they say. Well I can't always be thought of as Richard III.



Peter [Jackson] and I were just so thrilled that Gandalf the White wasn't in 'The Hobbit'. We prefer Gandalf the Grey. He can have a smoke and a drink and a chat , and do a few little tricks. It was a great relief.



I don't approve of titles. I think they get in the way. I do however approve of medals for public service, and that's how I choose to look at it.. [But] other actors said to me, 'Please we need a knighthood. Because when a knight knocks on the door of a government office, it has to open'.





I like fantasy movies, I like musicals, I like variety shows, I like Tony Bennett - it's all the same to me. The fact that some things are more popular than others doesn't make them better, and it certainly doesn't make them worse.

I get offered a lot of parts that require long beards. I've turned down God on a number of occasions.





[at a reunion, to observer Michael Fassbender ] I just want to say how lovely it is to be back in California. I feel safe here now that you've got rid of Proposition 8. I'm looking for a husband. It's great to meet you Michael.



I don't think I'm top choice. In theatre - for Shakespeare - I'm quite near the top, but not for all directors. In film, I'm way, way down. Spielberg's never asked to work with me, Tarantino has never asked, Sam Mendes has never asked. It isn't as if there's a long list of films I've turned down but there are plenty I wish I'd had a go at. That's the truth.

I've always loved dictionaries and encyclopedias. Now you get all that on your computer. It's fantastic. You're looking up something about Dickens and you're invited to explore more and more. I don't know if that's wasting time or not but it doesn't help me to learn lines.



[on the Oscars] My speech has been in two jackets ... 'I'm proud to be the first openly gay man to win the Oscar.' I've had to put it back in my pocket twice. [2016]



[on the Academy Awards] If you are trying to have a career, as a black or Hispanic actor in a state - California - where white people are now the minority, and you are being judged by an Academy where the vast majority are white, male, middle-aged and old ... well, perhaps that is the wrong yardstick. [2016]





Before Michael Mann had devised Miami Vice (1984) he directed Die unheimliche Macht (1983) and produced it and wrote it. He cast me as the heroine's father, a Romanian academic who gets caught up with Nazis and a monster trapped deep in the Keep. Ever-diligent, I had specially made my first trip to Bucharest and then had a couple of lessons from a dialect coach in London. So by the first day of filming I was ready to sound and feel authentically Romanian. Just before my first take as Dr. Cuza, Michael said: "Drop the accent - make him more Chicago." Well, if the writer/producer/director makes a request, you jump to it. [June 2000]

Salary (2)