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Ian McKellen

Ian McKellen

Actor · b. 1939 · Burnley, Lancashire, England, UK

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.

Movies24

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    Beauty and the Beast

    2017 · 16K votes

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    The Da Vinci Code

    2006 · 10K votes

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    Flushed Away

    2006 · 4.2K votes

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    The Golden Compass

    2007 · 4.9K votes

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    Last Action Hero

    1993 · 3.1K votes

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    Stardust

    2007 · 4.6K votes

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    Mr. Holmes

    2015 · 2K votes

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    The Good Liar

    2019 · 1.3K votes

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    The Christophers

    2026 · 79 votes

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    Cats

    2019 · 1.1K votes

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    The Shadow

    1994 · 590 votes

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    Gods and Monsters

    1998 · 406 votes

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    The Wolverine

    2013 · 10K votes

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    Six Degrees of Separation

    1993 · 382 votes

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    The Dresser

    2015 · 92 votes

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    The Simpsons

    1989 · 11K votes

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    Family Guy

    1999 · 5.1K votes

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    Sesame Street

    1969 · 294 votes

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    The View

    1997 · 113 votes

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    Saturday Night Live

    1975 · 527 votes

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    Coronation Street

    1960 · 118 votes

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    Jimmy Kimmel Live!

    2003 · 217 votes

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    The Graham Norton Show

    2007 · 290 votes

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    Real Time with Bill Maher

    2003 · 248 votes

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    Golden Globe Awards

    1944 · 20 votes

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    The One Show

    2006 · 31 votes

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    Have I Got News for You

    1990 · 82 votes

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    The Talk

    2010 · 14 votes

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    BBC Play of the Month

    1965 · 8 votes

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    American Playhouse

    1982 · 8 votes

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    ted

    2024 · 749 votes

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    The Oscars

    1953 · 84 votes