Ian Mckellen

I've always longed for the theatre and acting to be popular. No actor wants to play to an empty house. We only…

— Ian Mckellen

It's my impression that I've done every job that I've been asked to do.

— Ian Mckellen

I'm fortunate to be famous for two rather imposing characters like Magneto and Gandalf.

— Ian Mckellen

Tolkien is as good as Dickens at sketching a scene.

— 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

Godot is whatever it is in life that you are waiting for: 'I'm waiting to win the lottery. I'm waiting to fall…

— Ian Mckellen

I'm only an actor. I'm not a writer. I'm not going to leave any legacy. All I've ever done is learn the…

— 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…

— Ian Mckellen

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

— Ian Mckellen

The strength of British theatre should be that these actors in their middle years know what they're doing and are good at…

— Ian Mckellen

Until I came out, my acting was all about disguise, and thereafter it became about telling the truth.

— Ian Mckellen

Elijah looks angelic but his beauty of spirit is what makes his Frodo leap out of the screen. Unalloyed goodness is one…

— Ian Mckellen

'The Lego Movie?' I've never heard of it.

— Ian Mckellen

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

— 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

Doing some of the 'Lord Of The Rings' press junkets got a bit claustrophobic.

— Ian Mckellen

[There's] nothing special about an actor's imagination, except that he uses it a lot.

— Ian Mckellen

I came rather late to film. I've done an awful lot of theater before - before I discovered the camera, you know,…

— Ian Mckellen

Imagine trying to be a gay actor, a gay anything in modern Russia? Where to be positively oneself, to be affectionate in…

— 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…

— 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…

— Ian Mckellen

That's the imagination that happens in the theater. That imagination is translated in film by the film magicians and all the technology.

— Ian Mckellen

I have little routines in the theater. Once I've established something, like the order of putting on makeup and a costume, I…

— Ian Mckellen

The whole atmosphere of the book, the tone of 'The Hobbit,' is of a kid's adventure story, told in the first person…

— 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…

— Ian Mckellen