Ian McKellen | Writings

Blog
"Magneto's Lair" and "The Grey Book" were among the earliest blogs anywhere on the Internet, and probably the first about movies. Click here.

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Answers to fans' most pressing questions. Click here.

Biographical
Profiles and autobiographical pieces. Click here.

In Print
Books and Introductions written by Ian McKellen. Click here.

Performance

1986: Acting Shakespeare
A souvenir booklet. Read More.

1987: Acting Shakespeare
The working script. Read More.

1995: Richard III Screenplay
"If you really want to play Richard III on film, you'd better write the screenplay." Richard Eyre, director of the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain (RNT), spoke this as a warning but with a twinkle in his eye. Read More

1997: Excerpts from A Knight Out in Los Angeles
Our production of Edward II was a sensation, initially at the Edinburgh International Festival, where a local councillor was appalled by the sight of my French-kissing another man on the Scottish stage. Read More

2002: Saturday Night Live
Thank you, thank you very much indeed! Well, here we all are. And here I am hosting Saturday Night Live. "Why?" you might ask. Read More

Tribute

1983: Tyrone Guthrie, A Titan of the Theatre
Our family were churchgoers. Grandpa Sutcliffe was a professional: a gentlemanly non-conformist minister in a quiet corner of the north of England. Read More

1990: Ian Charleson
As actors get old, their work is often enfeebled. Disappointed even embarrassed, we would rather they quietly retired and left us with memories of their maturity.
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1992: For Curt Dawson
In 1961, just out of Cambridge University and waiting for my first professional acting job, I found myself in an amateur production . . . Read More

1993: Christopher Marlowe
Four hundred years after he was stabbed to death in Deptford, South London, Christopher Marlowe is still going strong.
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2000: The "Golden Quill Award" to Kenneth Branagh
When I first saw Kenneth Branagh onstage in Another Country he looked about 13. Read More

2000: Sir John Gielgud
My first contact with John Gielgud was a congratulatory telegram sent to the 1969 Edinburgh Festival where I was playing one of his most famous parts, Shakespeare's Richard II. Read More

2000: Sir Alec Guinness
It is a pity that a man whose friends testify to his gentle self-deprecating humour should be famous amongst actors for his temper. Read More

2002: Sir Nigel Hawthorne
Nigel Hawthorne played every part well that I ever saw him do on stage or on screen. Read More

2002: Richard Harris
Richard Harris was a smashing young actor and had his own style subsequently, which was enviable. Read More

2003: John and Hope
Two giants of the film industry, both born in London, have died within days of each other, within easy reach of Hollywood where they made their reputations and garnered the world’s respect, love even.
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2004: Sir Peter Ustinov
I was in the first company of actors and was cast as Leo McKern's son in Ustinov's newest play The Life in my Hands.
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2004: Ronald Reagan
On 4 November 1980 I was opening in Amadeus at the National Theatre in Washington DC. It was, more significantly, voting day in USA.
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2007: Ian Richardson CBE
In 1989, the Royal Shakespeare Company actors were rehearsing Trevor Nunn's production of Othello in a church hall in London when the news reached us that Laurence Olivier had died.
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2008: Brad Renfro
I first caught sight of Brad Renfro when he was kicking a football around with Bryan Singer on the half-built set of Apt Pupil in Hollywood.
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2008: Paul Scofield
My few connections with Paul Scofield were tangential, beginning with a near-miss. In 1952, on my first trip to London…
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On Stage and Film

1956: Reports from Stratford
To contradict the guide-books, disillusion the Americans, and state the obvious, every wall in Stratford-upon-Avon is not half-timbered, nor is every roof thatched. Read More

1974: Company Report from New York
January 14, 1974: Final preparations of our new production of King Lear in energy-starved rehearsal-rooms. Read More

1974: Jean-Louis Barrault
Ian McKellen reviews Memories for Tomorrow; The memoirs of Jean-Louis Barrault. Read More

1975: The Test of Time
In the theatre, a role is more durable than any of the actors who may make their reputations playing it. Read More

1976: A Distant, Fabled Place: Ian McKellen's Vision of Stratfords Past and Present
In November 1955, I saw John Gielgud's last Lear in Manchester. When the mad king fed toasted cheese to an invisible mouse, the woman in front of me giggled and I hit her on the hat. Read More

1978: Small Scale Touring
Ever since the middle-ages, when the earliest drama, growing out of the liturgy, left the Church to parade on carts outside, actors have been on the road. Read More

1979: On Macbeth
The 1606 production by the King's Men was early in the reign of their patron James I of England - not only VI of Scotland and descendant of Banquo but also author of a treatise against witches. Read More

1981: I Always Wanted To Be On Broadway
Exactly a year ago, I arrived in New York to start rehearsing for Amadeus. Now, as I prepare to leave the play and the city, this month also marks my 20th anniversary as a professional actor. Read More

1982: Tears in Bratislava: Richard II in Czechoslovakia
Any play, even one by Shakespeare - even a success, which our Richard II certainly was - any play can pall for the actors who have to repeat it night after night after matinee. Read More

1982: Bringing Magic to The Stage
Ian McKellen flinches slightly when you call him a star. Read More

1982: On Acting Shakespeare
An interview from Shakespeare Quarterly. Read More

1990: My Favourite Films
I'm always very scathing about actors who don't go to the theatre, but I'm one who doesn't go to the cinema very much . . . Read More

1990: What are the Osteopaths like in Cairo?
After seeing Bent, everyone assumes I must be exhausted. I often am. . . Read More

1990: McKellen and his foot soldiers
Richard III hits the road. Read More

1990: Richard III Tour
We began with a summer season in London and a tour of the United Kingdom. Read More

1991: When Poverty Begets Pride
After six months on the road and in the air, our company from the Royal National Theater is back home in London. Read More

1992: Shakespeare Comes to Broadmoor
Foreword by Ian McKellen. Read More

1992: Acting Richard III
Richard Burbage, the actor-manager who first played William Shakespeare's heroes, had his earliest triumph as Richard III. Read More

1994: Sir Ian Goes Solo
Introducing A Knight Out. Read More

1995: Blank Verse
I'm glad at last we're going to do this film. Three years has been a long, long time to wait. But now I thought I should sit down and try to clarify what blank verse means to me; Read More

1996: The Awful Hell of Stage Fright
Stephen Fry's generosity is only one of his many endearing virtues. Read More

1997: Christmas Entertainment
I shall spend this season of over-indulgence not eating at home but being eaten at work. Read More

2002: Foreword to "The Making of The Lord of the Rings"
The day The Lord of the Rings opened at the Embassy Cinema in New Zealand's capital, Wellingtonians woke to discover that overnight their city had been renamed by government decree.
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2008: London Theatregoing
One of the joys of not working is being able to see others at work.
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Activism

1979: Acting Together
In the press, whether a short newsy paragraph or a full column of Levin vituperation, my union is dismissed as a foolish little set-up. Read More

1979: The Most Unkindest Cut of All
The march through London's West End on 24 July (1979) was a high-spirited and invigorating experience. At least 4,000 members of British Actors' Equity were on parade, representing every theatre in the country. Read More

1988: Ian McKellen: Actor and Trainee Activist
The new Ian McKellen emerged with the new year. The actor was doorstepped at the Playhouse Theatre late one night Read More

1988: Section 28
Dearly beloved: my text for today is from the Local Government Act 1988 - Section 28:Read More

1989: What the Glorious Rose Has Given You
Day after day, and by night, we actors visit the Rose. To us, it is already a shrine. This is where modern drama was born. Read More

1989: A Shade of Pink at the Rose
At the moment, quite the most exciting theatrical novelty in London is not the emergence of James Bond as a song and dance man, nor even Tootsie's transformation into Shylock, but the reappearance of Rose, one of the oldest dames in the business. Read More

1990: Out With Your Lies
"Silence at Court - McKellen warns of a new sensation". That was the Evening Standard's headline when Michael Owen interviewed me 11 years ago, as Bent was about to have its world premiere at the Royal Court Theatre. Read More

1990: This Age of Discrimination
Throughout its recent leader "Homosexual Politics", The Times misuses the crucial word. Let us be clear. 'Homosexual" can refer to either gender. But the age of consent at issue concerns only gay men. Read More

1991: Closet Homophobes
Sir Ian McKellen attacks those who wish to maintain the present age of homosexual consent Read More

1992: Outing Old Stage Frights
Ian McKellen reviews "Not In Front of The Audience", by Nicholas de Jongh. Read More

1993: Through a Gay Viewfinder
Whether the question is moral, military or genetic, opinion-formers persist in seeing homosexual issues from a straight angle.
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1993: No Reason to Treat Us Differently
Ian McKellen urges Parliament to lower the age of consent for homosexuals to 16. Read More

1993: On the Anniversary of Oscar Wilde's Arrest
In London 98 years ago, as today, two of the most popular hits in the West End Theatre were An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest. 98 years ago this week, the author’s name was removed from the hoardings outside the theatres and, shortly after, the plays themselves were taken off. Read More

1993: URGENT: to Simon Garfield from Ian McKellen
"Should the age of consent - that is the age at which people can legally have sex together in private - be the same for everyone irrespective of their gender or sexual orientation, or not?" Read More

1994: It is a Question of Human Rights, Not Numbers
I was on a TV phone-in last week and during the course of a quarter of an hour segment, there were 2,000 calls from young men in the country who wanted to know how to tell their parents they were gay. Read More

1994: Gay Games IV
Around the edge of the participant's medal it says: "To do one's best is the ultimate goal of human achievement. Read More

1995: Michael Barrymore Comes Out
The developing story of Michael Barrymore's coming out as a gay man has dominated the popular press this last week, understandably, as a very famous public image has been peeled aside to reveal an unexpected private life. Read More

1995: Foreword to "Gay Letters"
Judging by my mail these days, I am not alone in writing fewer letters than I used to. Read More

1996: Before, Now and In Between
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 for evermore. Read More

1999: Coming Out For the Count
Michael Portillo's record on gay rights is both appalling and hypocritical. His 'confession' suggests this may not change. Read More

2000: A Gay Gandalf
Homophobia is Everywhere. Read More

2003: I Wish You'd Been There
The following address was delivered to the "Making a Difference" conference celebrating a decade of FFLAG (Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) Read More

2008: Stonewall Equality Dinner Keynote
It was 20 years ago. The biggest story regarding gay people in this country was about AIDS, and our lives were beginning to become a matter of public discussion. Read More

2008: The Hobart Shakespeareans
December, 1983: I was onstage at the Westwood (now the Geffen) Playhouse with my solo entertainment “Acting Shakespeare." Read More

2009: Growing up Gay
Growing up gay was difficult in post-war UK. To begin with, in a land where homosexuality was illegal, we had to accept the law and language of others to define ourselves. Read More

Performance

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