THE RELEVANT QUEER: Sir Ian McKellen, One of England’s Most Iconic Actors

“I was a shy gay man at a time when it was illegal to be gay.”

TRQ: Sir Ian McKellen Born May 25, 1939

One of England’s most iconic actors, Sir Ian McKellen, was born on May 25, 1939. McKellen is most widely known for his roles as the King in Richard III (1995), Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Magneto in the X-Men film series. With his career lasting over 60 years, McKellen has won every major British acting and theatre award. Knighted, named a Companion of Honour, and awarded Freedom of the City of London, McKellen is also a tireless activist for LGBTQ+ rights. 

McKellen was born in Burnley, Lancashire, England. His father, Dennis, was an engineer and a preacher. His mother Margery was a homemaker, and she died from breast cancer in 1951. McKellen was only 12. Only 12 years later, Dennis died in a fatal automobile accident. 

McKellen’s parents nurtured their son’s interest in the theatre, taking him to see Peter Pan and giving him a Pollocks Toy Theatre featuring Laurence Olivier in Hamlet for Christmas. He attended Wigan’s Little Theatre production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Macbeth with his sister, Jean, who played the role of Bottom in the Wigan High School for Girls’ production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

McKellen attended the Boys’ Division of the Bolton School. At the Bolton Little Theatre, he started his acting career. A strong student, he won a scholarship to the University of Cambridge’s St Catharine’s college when he was 18. After joining the Marlowe Society, he acted in over twenty plays within three years. He was directed often by John Barton, who later joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. 

After graduating with his bachelor’s degree in 1961, McKellen appeared professionally for the first time as Roper in A Man for All Seasons. He acted steadily throughout the 1960s, winning over both audiences and critics for this work in Shakespeare’s Richard II and Marlowe’s Edward II. 

In 1964, McKellen met history teacher Brian Taylor from Bolton and the two started a relationship. They lived in London while McKellen pursued his acting career. After debuting in the West End, McKellen joined Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre Company at the Old Vic. He co-founded the Actors’ Company in 1972, with the goal of giving actors authority in choosing roles and recruiting directors. McKellen’s 8-year relationship with Taylor ended at around that time. In 1974, McKellen left the Actors’ Company to join the Royal Shakespeare Company at Barton’s invitation. 

At the Edinburgh Festival in 1978, he met actor and director Sean Mathias. They started a stormy relationship riddled with tensions over McKellen’s growing success. He was establishing a reputation as an actor with great range. He gave critically acclaimed performances in plays by Shakespeare, Anton Chekov and others. In 1979 he earned a Laurence Olivier Award for Bent (1979). That year he also made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. McKellen won a Tony award for his role in Amadeus (1981) and another Olivier award for Honey (1984). 

“Anyone in public life who comes out, comes out primarily for themselves, and their life is immediately improved. That’s what happened to me.”— Sir Ian McKellen 

Besides his stage roles, McKellen began appearing in more film productions. He starred in Plenty (1985) as Sir Andrew Charleson. Although he lived as an openly gay man in his personal and professional life, McKellen came out more publicly during a 1988 BBC radio interview. Soon afterwards he helped found the LGBTQ+ rights group Stonewall, in the UK, named after the Stonewall riots in 1969. Unfortunately, his ten-year romantic relationship with Mathias ended at this time. The two remained friends, however. 

McKellen’s career continued to soar. In 1991, he was knighted and won another Olivier for Richard III (1991), for which he would also the screenplay a few years later. In film, McKellen played Geoffrey in Six Degrees of Separation (1993) with Stockard Channing and Will Smith, and Death in Last Action Hero (1993) with Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, the film adaptation of Richard III would be one of the most notable performances of his career. 

His work in Gods and Monsters (1998) playing director James Whale earned McKellen his first Academy Award nomination for best actor. Two years later, McKellen joined the X-Men (2000, 2003, 2006, 2014) series by taking on the villainous role of Magneto. He earned another Academy Award nomination for playing Gandalf in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (2001, 2002, 2003) trilogy. 

In 2006, McKellen was diagnosed with prostate cancer, though he later clarified that “There is no cause for alarm. I am examined regularly, and the cancer is contained. I’ve not needed any treatment.” 

In 2009, McKellen teamed up with Mathias, who directed Waiting for Godot at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. As an ordained Universal Life Church minister, he officiated over the marriage between X-Men co-star Patrick Stewart and Sunny Ozell in 2013. In June 2014, Cambridge University awarded McKellen an honorary Doctorate of Letters. London’s Lord Mayor Fiona Woolf nominated McKellen as a Freeman of the City of London that October, calling him an “exceptional actor” and “tireless campaigner for equality.” 

After U.S. Supreme Court legalised same-sex marriage in 2015, McKellen served as a grand marshal in the New York City Gay Pride Parade. In the years that followed, McKellen played Sherlock Holmes, starred in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (2017) and joined Helen Mirren in The Good Liar (2019). McKellen is set to play Hamlet in an age-blind interpretation of the play directed by Mathias at the Theatre Royal Windsor in June 2021. 

“Admit there are limitless possibilities in relationships, and love as many people as you can in whatever way you want, and get rid of your inhibitions, and we’ll all be happy.”— Sir Ian McKellen 

About the Authors

Troy Wise is currently a PhD student at UAL Central St Martins and teaches fashion and graphic design at London College of Contemporary Arts. His background is in marketing and is founder and co-editor of Image Amplified. He lives in, and is continually fascinated by, the city of London.

Rick Guzman earned his most recent MA at UAL Central St Martins in Applied Imagination in the Creative Industries. He currently holds two MA’s and an MBA in the New Media, Journalism and International Business fields. Co-editor at Image Amplified since its start, he lives in London, is fascinated by history and is motivated by continuing to learn and explore. 

Sources:

Biography

Britannica

McKellen

Telegraph