Ian Mckellen

I love working in New York.

— Ian Mckellen

I get pretty grumpy about TV.

— Ian Mckellen

There's no sex in Middle Earth.

— Ian Mckellen

Fame creeps up on you.

— Ian Mckellen

I don't normally take to Yorkshiremen.

— Ian Mckellen

Quakers are terrific.

— Ian Mckellen

You might be surprised by how interested young people are in older people.

— Ian Mckellen

Tony Blair is not a villain, but he's played the part very well.

— Ian Mckellen

Eventually, before I die, I hope to have written about every part I've played.

— Ian Mckellen

The audience's expectations are ever-present.

— Ian Mckellen

I think I'm a bit gruffer than I used to be, and I'm certainly older.

— Ian Mckellen

I've always felt that 'X-Men' was about something serious. It wasn't just fantasy.

— Ian Mckellen

I love musicals; I love the ballet, opera, the circus. It's all performance to me.

— Ian Mckellen

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

— Ian Mckellen

If you are playing King Lear you are the centre of attention anyway. You don't need to draw attention to yourself. It's…

— Ian Mckellen

Anyone who thinks Peter Jackson would fall for market forces around him rather than artistic integrity doesn't know the guy or the…

— Ian Mckellen

I remember Tom Stoppard saying to me when I came out, 'I feel so sorry for you, because you'll never have children.'…

— Ian Mckellen

The wonderful thing about modern medicine is that so many of these complaints that used to signify old age and decline can…

— Ian Mckellen

I'm a latecomer to popular TV. This is rather new to me, being in a sitcom. It's been an ambition of mine.

— 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.

— Ian Mckellen

If you've got Mystique as your girlfriend the fun you could have in bed - I've just imagined X-Men 3 might open…

— Ian Mckellen

Acting is a very big part of what human beings do. A dog is always a dog, but we're always changing.

— Ian Mckellen

I'm cheaper than Anthony Hopkins. The other actors they asked to play Gandalf wouldn't go to New Zealand on that money for…

— Ian Mckellen

I think it's one thing to declare your sexuality, if you care about what that is. It's another thing to start talking…

— Ian Mckellen

Journalists often ask me: "Aren't you sorry that after all the work you've done, you're best known as Magneto and Gandalf?" But…

— Ian Mckellen

Before I ever acted as an amateur - which I did a great deal at school and at university - I used…

— 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…

— Ian Mckellen

Bill Gallagher's new version of 'The Prisoner' is an enthralling commentary on modern culture. It is witty, intelligent and disturbing. I am…

— Ian Mckellen

The demographic of our audience is young. It also contains a high proportion of black, Jewish and gay people, who have all…

— Ian Mckellen

Before acting, I wanted to become a journalist. I also toyed with the idea of being a chef - but that's only…

— Ian Mckellen

You can always pick out stage actors at the Oscars: they know how to walk.

— Ian Mckellen

I often thought my gravestone would say, 'Here lies Gandalf. He came out,'

— Ian Mckellen

There's lots of Tolkien that must be confusing to people.

— Ian Mckellen

Actors are merely the medium through which a story happens.

— Ian Mckellen

I was a shy gay man at a time when it was illegal to be gay.

— Ian Mckellen

No one needs to feel sorry for me or anyone else who has fallen victim to success.

— Ian Mckellen

There's something wholesome about the theatre.

— Ian Mckellen

Gandalf is ever-present in my life. I like it.

— Ian Mckellen

'Lord of the Rings' was about saving the world, big time, big duties.

— Ian Mckellen

I'm not quite as cool as I would like to be, really.

— Ian Mckellen