Mckellen Quotes & Sayings

My ambition is to get better as an actor. — Ian McKellen

Why live outside the US? Do you want health care or safe food products or democracy or something? They're all overrated. Stay for the excellent cable TV. — Ian McKellen

Will I miss Gandalf? Well, I don't miss him, because people are constantly coming up to me mentioning him and talking about him, so I don't feel that I've lost contact. — Ian McKellen

I got better as an actor, and still I'm getting better. That's only been possible because there's always been work. — Ian McKellen

Success in the movies has pushed me to places I didn't know I was allowed to go. — 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

It's a joy to be up close to Derek Jacobi's work. Alas, we haven't worked very much, over the years, since we were at university together, but I don't think I've missed many of his great shows and performances. — Ian McKellen

The press like to talk to actors. They mustn't be surprised when actors talk back to them. — 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. — 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

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

There have been many gay knights in the past - like Sir Noel Coward or Sir John Gielgud. — Ian McKellen

If I have any audience, they can know that anything I am in, I would go see, with the expectation of being really satisfied. — Ian McKellen

Actors are merely the medium through which a story happens. — Ian McKellen

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

I certainly don't disparage someone whose attitude towards their work is utterly different from mine - that's up to them. — Ian McKellen

Kids are coming out earlier and earlier - some, as young as twelve now - and schools need to take that into account. — Ian McKellen

Some directors don't tell you that it's not your fault, so you get increasingly depressed that you're not delivering what's required, and then you discover it's not you at all, it's something in the background that's out of focus. — Ian McKellen

Ian McKellen is brilliant with research. I paid really close attention to the sources he goes to. He's a very, very intelligent man. — Brendan Fraser

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

I was brought up in industrial south Lancashire, down the cobbled road from where LS Lowry (1887-1976) lived and painted. — Ian McKellen

Quakers are terrific. — Ian McKellen

I have never wanted to be typecast, one of those actors who plays a variation on a one-note theme. So just as I enjoy playing a wide variety of characters, from good to bad to ugly to cute - so I have enjoyed of late working in film and television, as well as in theatres of various sizes and shapes. — 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

I've played an awful lot of people that other people would call villains, but that isn't a very helpful attitude to have if you're about to play them. They are just people, and they may do dreadful things and say dreadful things, but your job as an actor is to know why they do them or say them. — Ian McKellen

I'm cheaper than Anthony Hopkins. — 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? — Ian McKellen

I have got prostate cancer, and I have to keep monitoring that. It's no problem, it's under control and I'm very cool about it, but other people are dying from it. — Ian McKellen

Elijah looks angelic but his beauty of spirit is what makes his Frodo leap out of the screen. Unalloyed goodness is one of the most difficult attributes to act. — Ian McKellen

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. — Ian McKellen

It's only fair that stable gay relationships of long standing should have the same rights and responsibilities as married couples. I know the image of gay marriage is to some people horrific and ludicrous. — Ian McKellen

I used to comfort myself when I became an actor that it was a useful job, entertaining people. And it was important to do it as well as you possibly can. — 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 it. Not rich, not famous, but making a living. — Ian McKellen

For old actors, just remember that inside you're only 14. Acting is for kids. You poor old grown-ups, you've forgotten how to do what kids know automatically. — Ian McKellen

Why do you act? You act for an audience. In the theatre, you're in their presence. Film stars don't know what it is to have an audience. — Ian McKellen

In fact, my face has shrunk in the meantime, but it won't be particularly noticeable because it's covered up with hair. So I hope I'm not alarmed if I ever do sit through the five movies. — Ian McKellen

The thing you notice here after America is how refreshingly ordinary people look because they haven't had their chin wrapped around the back of their ears. — Ian McKellen

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. — Ian McKellen

When I was about 16 or 17, I had a teacher who took a group of us to the National Theater in Washington, D.C., and I saw Ian McKellen do his one-man show - I think it was called Acting Shakespeare - and it completely bombed me; it put the zap on my brain in a big way. — Edward Norton

Bolton School has a great tradition in the liberal arts. — Ian McKellen

The one thing you can ask, I think, is that actors get paid a living wage. I would like it if all the repertory theatres that currently exist could do that. It would make a huge difference. — 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. — Ian McKellen

I'm not experienced enough, or certain enough of my acting on the screen to say to a director, "You are wrong, I am right. I will only do it this way." I could never feel that, I wish I could be absolutely certain. But on the stage, it's different. I know where I am on the stage. — Ian McKellen

No actor wants to play to an empty house. — Ian McKellen

If you get criticized, good - I don't think people get criticized enough. People talk behind your back and they criticize you, but they don't often come up and say it to you. — Ian McKellen

There are deaths in public places on the grounds that the victim is gay. — Ian McKellen

I've been grateful enough, smart enough to take the work with Ian McKellen in Gods And Monsters. — Brendan Fraser

It is so painful watching yourself act, particularly because you can't do anything about it, it's all done and dusted. — Ian McKellen

In the old-fashioned sitcoms, to be gay was, in itself, funny, and you laughed at the characters rather than with them. — Ian McKellen

The conventional wisdom is that if you are gay, you cannot play the romantic straight lead in a movie. — Ian McKellen

I certainly wouldn't define myself as a northerner. I'm not even really sure what that means. I've lived in London for 50 years. I wasn't born here, but I have spent most of my life here. So I don't make much of it, to be honest. I'm just myself. — Ian McKellen

Every anti-gay remark from the Church gives the thug a license to be cruel. — Ian McKellen

I don't like using the word evil because it sounds as if that's all there is to be said about the person. I don't think Richard III is evil, I don't think it's helpful to say that...Iago he's not evil. Iago didn't get the job, he thinks his wife's been unfaithful to him, he doesn't like black people, he's extremely talented and very unfulfilled and he's a wonderful liar, and he's a mischeif maker and he does some dreadful, dreadful things. But that's already interesting, isn't it? Ooh, who is this guy? But if you just say "ah oh he's evil" how can you play that? I don't know how you play an evil person. — Ian McKellen

I get pretty grumpy about TV. — Ian McKellen

Before acting, I wanted to become a journalist. I also toyed with the idea of being a chef - but that's only when people asked me what I wanted to be. In fact, I always used to say I wanted to be an actor, but I didn't ever believe that I was good enough to be come one. — Ian McKellen

Most of the time when you do a job, a play or a film, you're wondering, "Will there be an audience?" — 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.' — 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. — 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. — Ian McKellen

I have lots of fans, they are mostly under the age of 12, boys and girls. — Ian McKellen

Before I ever acted as an amateur - which I did a great deal at school and at university - I used to go to the theater with my parents in the north of England, where I was born and brought up ... Theater of all sorts. — Ian McKellen

I tend to discourage people from calling me 'Sir Ian,' because I don't like being separated out from the rest of the population. Of course, it can be useful if you're writing an official letter, like trying to get a visa or something passed through Parliament. They're impressed by these things. — 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. — Ian McKellen

You see people in Hollywood trying to make blockbuster after blockbuster, but it's not possible. There's some god up there saying, 'You will fail now.' But I suppose that's true of us all. — Ian McKellen

People who are truly horrible are often the most interesting people in the room. You look at them and just say, 'Why?' — Ian McKellen

When I've been asked what should be on my gravestone, I've said: 'Here lies Gandalf. He came out.' Two big achievements. — Ian McKellen

I think the point to be understood is that we're all different. I've never been a fan of theories of acting. I didn't go to drama school, so I was never put through a training that was limited by someone saying, 'This is the way you should act.' — Ian McKellen

I'm fortunate to be famous for two rather imposing characters like Magneto and Gandalf. — 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 have to invariably do it in the same order every time, even if I only did it by chance the first time round. — Ian McKellen

It was just really odd to be in a room with Ian McKellen sharing cucumber sandwiches. — Adam Brown

The spirit of the four hobbits in 'Lord of the Rings,' I suppose I miss that. — Ian McKellen

When you get to work with people like Ian McKellen or directors like Peter Jackson, you sit and watch. — Luke Evans

If you are playing King Lear you are the centre of attention anyway. You don't need to draw attention to yourself. It's all laid out for you. — 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 with me in bed with Patrick Stewart. — Ian McKellen

Splendid architecture, the love of your life, an old friend ... they can all go drifting by unseen if you're not careful. — Ian McKellen

There are some fantastic parts for older actors. — Ian McKellen

So it's joyful to me, in my 71st year, to be able to be in a play that is absolutely right for my age and my experience, and that is a popular success. What more could you ask as an actor? — Ian McKellen

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

Gandalf's a good guy, and it's a good part. He says the right things, he believes the right things. An actor can have fun with it. — Ian McKellen

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

I am lucky, I don't have aches and pains. I do Pilates regularly, which is a series of stretching exercises, and I recommend it to anyone of my age because the temptation is not to exercise when you get older. Well, you should. — Ian McKellen

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

I'm the sort of person who doesn't write in ink. I only write in pencil, so it can be rubbed out. — Ian McKellen

Every time you work is a challenge. There's a constant worry about it, and it's a side of acting I don't like. — Ian McKellen

Some relationships get easier as you get older, depending on what sort of person you are. I don't think I've got any better at them. — 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 running out. So you can pick and choose and find something to energise you. — Ian McKellen

Ever since the invention of the camera, people have been trying to create 3D, because we see things in 3D, and everyone's aware that the camera doesn't. — Ian McKellen

To know you are in the company with people who love and care for each other, as well as for whatever they are working on, is almost essential. — Ian McKellen

I think with Shakespeare you can be required to do absolutely anything at the turn of a sixpence - suddenly you go into a battle, suddenly you utter something passionate. — Ian McKellen

Some of the greatest actors have turned superheroes into a serious business: Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson in 'Batman'; Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, the first venerable knights of the X-Men, who have now passed the baton to Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. — Tom Hiddleston

Look at a guy like Ian McKellen, who is eighty or whatever, and he's just loving his work, and you can see that in the work. That defines what type of actor you are. And what kind of people want to work with you. And whether you can do this job for a long, long time. — Jason Clarke

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

Because I was in the business of translating the 'X-Men' from the very successful comics, and taking the most popular book of the 20th century in 'The Lord of the Rings,' and making it into three movies, I hope people realize I wouldn't get involved in anything I didn't think was really going to be worth their while. — Ian McKellen

Magneto wants to cope with the difficulties thrust upon him by society and by his own nature. — Ian McKellen

A few years ago, a friend said to me: "You do realize, Ian, when X-Men and Lord of the Rings come out, your life will totally change?" I didn't know what he was talking about, but he was right. My life has totally changed - but in a good way. Unbeknownst to me, it's given me a lot more confidence. — Ian McKellen

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

I love working in New York. — Ian McKellen

There are a lot of actors - I'm probably one - who are most at home when they're on stage. — Ian McKellen