The subconscious mind takes your fears as a request, proceeds to manifest them, and brings them into your experience. - Joseph Murphy
There have been many gay knights in the past - like Sir Noel Coward or Sir John Gielgud. - Ian McKellen
There is a fantasy as old as the modern gay rights movement that if all our skins turned lavender overnight, the majority, confounded by our numbers and our diversity, and recognising a few of our faces, would at once let go of prejudice forevermore. - Ian McKellen
To be allowed for the first time in your later career to play leading parts in extremely popular movies is not a situation to worry about. - Ian McKellen
Try and understand what part you have to play in the world in which you live. There's more to life than you know and it's all happening out there. Discover what part you can play and then go for it. - Ian McKellen
Until I came out, my acting was all about disguise, and thereafter it became about telling the truth. - 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. - 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
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
What's nice for me, having identified myself for years as being rather shy, is now, wherever I am, in public, there tends to be a friendly face who's pleased to see me, and I like that. - 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
When I appeared in 'Coronation Street,' I lived in Manchester and enjoyed it very much. - 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. - 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. - Ian McKellen
When I was playing Gandalf, I didn't think, 'Oh my dear, I'm playing a 7,000 year old wizard,' because I've never met one, and I don't know what they're like. - Ian McKellen
When I went to lobby Nelson Mandela while the post-apartheid constitution was being drafted, I asked him to endorse making it illegal to discriminate on grounds of sexuality. I'd been warned that he might giggle if I mentioned homosexuality. - 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
When we'd suggested doing it, the Theatre Royal management had said, 'Nobody wants to see Waiting for Godot.' As it happened, every single ticket was booked for every single performance, and this confirmation that our judgment was right was sweet. Audiences came to us from all over the world. It was amazing. - Ian McKellen
When you grumble about a taxi being dirty, people your own age will absolutely agree with you, whereas younger people say, 'You should be so lucky to have a taxi - I walk to work!' So I have lots of young friends, who fortunately don't treat me as a guru, a person that knows all the answers. - 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
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
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
Login with Google