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Ian McKellen
Acting
Biography
Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. He has played roles on the screen and stage in genres ranging from Shakespearean dramas and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is regarded as a British cultural icon and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. He has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, six Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards and five Emmy Awards.
McKellen made his stage debut in 1961 at the Belgrade Theatre as a member of its repertory company, and in 1965 made his first West End appearance. In 1969, he was invited to join the Prospect Theatre Comp…
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Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. He has played roles on the screen and stage in genres ranging from Shakespearean dramas and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is regarded as a British cultural icon and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. He has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, six Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards and five Emmy Awards. McKellen made his stage debut in 1961 at the Belgrade Theatre as a member of its repertory company, and in 1965 made his first West End appearance. In 1969, he was invited to join the Prospect Theatre Company to play the lead parts in Shakespeare's Richard II and Marlowe's Edward II. In the 1970s, McKellen became a stalwart of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Great Britain. He has earned five Olivier Awards for his roles in Pillars of the Community (1977), The Alchemist (1978), Bent (1979), Wild Honey (1984), and Richard III (1995). McKellen made his Broadway debut in The Promise (1965). He received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus (1980). He was further nominated for Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare (1984). He returned to Broadway in Wild Honey(1986), Dance of Death (1990), No Man's Land (2013), and Waiting for Godot (2013), the latter two being a joint production with Patrick Stewart. McKellen achieved worldwide fame for his film roles, including the titular King in Richard III (1995), James Whale in Gods and Monsters (1998), Magneto in the X-Men films, Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014) trilogies. Other notable film roles include A Touch of Love (1969), Plenty (1985), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Restoration (1995), Flushed Away (2006), Mr. Holmes (2015), and The Good Liar (2019). McKellen came out as gay in 1988, and has since championed LGBT social movements worldwide. He was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in October 2014. McKellen is a cofounder of Stonewall, an LGBT rights lobby group in the United Kingdom, named after the Stonewall riots. He is also patron of LGBT History Month, Pride London, Oxford Pride, GayGlos, LGBT Foundation and FFLAG. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ian McKellen, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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BODY OF WORK
Ian McKellen's Filmography
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The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum
as Gandalf
Avengers: Doomsday
as Magneto
Ebenezer
as Jacob Marley
Frank and Percy
as Percy
Tea with Judi Dench featuring Ian McKellen
as Self
The Christophers
as Julian Sklar
LS Lowry: The Unheard Tapes
as L S Lowry
Schadenfreude
as Continuity Announcer
A World War II Fairy Tale: The Making of Michael Mann's 'The Keep'
as Self (archive footage)
Ken Dodd: A Legacy of Happiness
The Critic
as Jimmy Erskine
Dragfox
as Ginger Snap the Fox (Speaking) (voice)
The Real Ken Dodd: The Man I Loved
The Life and Death of Lily Savage
as Self
Hamlet
as Hamlet
The One Note Man
as Narrator (voice)
Quintessentially British
as Self
Freedom: 50 Years of Pride
as Self
Hamlet Within
Hating Peter Tatchell
as Self
Infinitum: Subject Unknown
as Dr. Charles Marland-White
Ian McKellen on Stage: With Tolkien, Shakespeare, Others and YOU
Du Fu: China's Greatest Poet
Cats
as Gus, the Theatre Cat
The Good Liar
as Roy Courtnay
On Broadway
as Self
All Is True
as Earl of Southampton
National Theatre Live: King Lear
as King Lear
Animal Crackers
as Horatio P. Huntington (voice)
McKellen: Playing the Part
as Self
The Paul O'Grady Story
as Self
How a Kite Flies
as Mr. Kite (voice)
Beauty and the Beast
as Cogsworth
The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin
as Self
Edmund the Magnificent
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Judi Dench: All the World's Her Stage
as Self
National Theatre Live: No Man's Land
as Spooner
No Poster
Play the Devil: Making Richard III
No Poster
Shakespeare on Film
No Poster
Shakespeare on Stage, Screen and Elsewhere with Ian McKellen
All the World's a Screen: Shakespeare on Film
as Prospero's Speech Reader (voice)
Shakespeare Live! From the RSC
as Self - Performer
The Roof
as And Even Yet Another Fan
Knights of Classic Drama at the BBC
as Self (archive footage)
The Dresser
as Norman
Mr. Holmes
as Sherlock Holmes
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
as Gandalf the Grey
Double Take: Xavier & Magneto
as Self
Nelson Mandela Redrawn
as Self
X-Men: Days of Future Past
as Magneto
Miss in Her Teens
as The Prologue
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
as Gandalf the Grey
The Wolverine: Path of a Ronin
as Self
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot
as Self
Muse of Fire
as Self
The Wolverine
as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto (uncredited)
The Egg Trick
as Magician
Doctor Who: The Snowmen
as The Great Intelligence (voice)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
as Gandalf the Grey
London 2012: Paralympics Opening Ceremony
as Self
Looking for Lowry
as Self
The Betty Driver Story
as Self
Small-Time Revolutionary
as Hamish Miller (voice)
A Lost and Found Box of Human Sensation
as Narrator (voice)
Theatreland
as Self
King Lear
as King Lear
The Golden Compass
as Iorek Byrnison (voice)
Stardust
as Narrator (voice)
Pet Shop Boys: Cubism
as Self- voice
No Poster
The Art of Breaking Character
as Self
No Poster
For the Love of God
as The Jackdaw
Guerrilla Distribution
as Self
Flushed Away
as The Toad (voice)
No Poster
X3: The Excitement Continues
as Self
Brett Ratner's X-Diaries
as Self
The Making of 'The Two Towers'
as Self
The Making of 'The Return of the King'
as Self
X-Men: The Last Stand
as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto
The Da Vinci Code
as Sir Leigh Teabing
Saint of 9/11
as Narrator
Doogal
as Zebedee (voice)
Asylum
as Dr. Peter Cleave
Neverwas
as Gabriel Finch
The Hobart Shakespeareans
as Self
The Magic Roundabout
as Zebedee (voice)
Ringers: Lord of the Fans
as Self
Eighteen
as Jason Anders (voice)
A Filmmaker's Journey: Making 'The Return of the King'
as Self
My First Time
as Narrator
Frodo Is Great... Who Is That?!!
as Self
Peter Tatchell: Just Who Does He Think He Is?
The Quest Fulfilled: A Director's Vision
as Self
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
as Gandalf
Beyond the Movie: The Return of the King
as Self
The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men! Making X2
as Self
X2
as Eric Lehnsherr / Magneto
X-Men: Premieres Around the World
as Self
Evolution X - The Making of X-Men
Emile
as Emile
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
as Gandalf
The Fellowship of the Ring: The Fellowship of the Cast
as Self
The Fellowship of the Ring: Cameras in Middle-earth
as Self
The Fellowship of the Ring: From Book to Script
as Self
The Fellowship of the Ring: The Road Goes Ever On..
as Self
The Fellowship of the Ring: Scale
as Self
The Fellowship of the Ring: Designing and Building Middle-earth + Weta Workshop + Costume Design
as Self
Beyond the Movie: The Fellowship of the Ring
as Self
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
as Gandalf
Passage to Middle-Earth: The Making of 'The Lord of the Rings'
as Self
Quest for the Ring
as Self
Larry & Vivien: The Oliviers in Love
as Narrator (voice)
Now You See Him: 'The Invisible Man' Revealed!
as Self
X-Men
as Magneto
X-Men: The Mutant Watch
as Self - 'Magneto'
Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man
as Narrator (voice)
The World of Gods and Monsters: A Journey with James Whale
as Self
After Stonewall
as Self
Apt Pupil
as Kurt Dussander
Gods and Monsters
as James Whale
Swept from the Sea
as Dr. James Kennedy
Bent
as Uncle Freddie
Surviving Friendly Fire
A Bit Of Scarlet
as Narrator
An Evening with Lily Savage
as Self
Rasputin
as Tsar Nicholas II
Restoration
as Will Gates
Richard III
as Richard III
Jack & Sarah
as William
Thin Ice
as Ian McKellen
Cold Comfort Farm
as Amos Starkadder
To Die For
as Quilt Documentary Narrator (voice)
Stonewall 25: Global Voices of Pride and Protest
as Self
Age of Dissent
as Self
The Shadow
as Dr. Reinhardt Lane
David Macaulay: Roman City
as Augustus Caesar (voice)
I'll Do Anything
as John Earl McAlpine
Camp Christmas
Six Degrees of Separation
as Geoffrey
A Simple Matter of Justice
as Self
And the Band Played On
as Bill Kraus
The Ballad of Little Jo
as Percy Corcoran
Armistead Maupin Is a Man I Dreamt Up
as Narration (voice)
Last Action Hero
as Death
Gladio
as Aldo Moro (voice)
Othello
as Iago
Countdown to War
as Adolf Hitler
Scandal
as John Profumo
Scarfe's Follies
Süleyman the Magnificent
as Narrator
Zina
as Kronfeld
Plenty
as Sir Andrew Charleson
The Keep
as Dr. Theodore Cuza
Walter and June
as Walter
The Scarlet Pimpernel
as Chauvelin
Walter
as Walter
Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare
Priest of Love
as D.H. Lawrence
No Poster
Dying Day
as Antony Skipling
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
as Alexander Ivanov
Macbeth
as Macbeth
No Poster
Graceless Go I
as Tony
No Poster
Hedda Gabler
as George Tesman
No Poster
Craven Arms
as David Masterman
Hamlet
as Hamlet
Edward II
as King Edward
The Tragedy of King Richard II
as King Richard II
No Poster
The Promise
Alfred the Great
as Roger
A Touch of Love
as George
The Trial and Torture of Sir John Rampayne
as Wolf
No Poster
Untitled Anthony Hopkins Documentary
as Self
No Poster
No Man's Land
as Spooner