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Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen was born on May 25th, 1939 in Burnley, England. Growing up, his parents encouraged his fascination with acting and desire to perform by bringing him to numerous plays, particularly those by William Shakespeare. McKellen avidly sought out roles in amateur school theatre productions, which developed his skills at an early age, though his original career goal was to be a journalist. His first Shakespearian role was that of Malvolio in “Twelfth Night.” As he focused more and more on performing, his studies suffered. After finally graduating, he avidly pursued a career in theatre and film.
His theatre performances included Romeo and Juliet (1976) and Macbeth (1976), and he played the title role for both. He performed in a long list of other theater productions into the 2000s, many of which were Shakespearian. His early film roles included The Keep (1983), Six Degrees Of Separation (1993), and I’ll Do Anything (1994). He also starred as Uncle Freddie in Bent (1997), where he met his long-time partner Sean Mathias, roughly ten years after he publicly came out of the closet on the BBC Radio 4 program. Since then, he has founded Stonewall, a leading gay-rights activist group.
Though he worked mostly in theatre, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1990 for his dedication to the arts, he has also rejuvenated his film career in the 2000s. He played Magneto in X-Men (2000) and its two sequels, as well as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings (2001) trilogy. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), and did receive the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture from the Screen Actors Guild for the same role. He has said of the trilogy, "The Lord of the Rings is a mythology, it is a fairy tale, it's an adventure story. It never happened. Except somewhere in our hearts.”
News |
What members say |
Filmography
Ian McKellen - news / articles
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McKellen pays tribute to Redgrave -
9 April 2010
-Sir Ian McKellen has honoured late actor Corin Redgrave, who died on Tuesday (06Apr10).-
-The Lord of the Rings star attended England's Cambridge University with the stage actor, brother of actress Vanessa Redgrave, and insists he learned a lot about the theatre from
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McKellen: 'I'm too old for X-Men' -
13 November 2009
-Sir Ian McKellen has disappointed X-Men fans by insisting he won't appear in a spin-off sequel based on his character Magneto.-
-The veteran actor starred in three X-Men films as the magnetic villain and movie bosses are said to be planning a new movie to reveal the
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McKellen's struggles with Day-Lewis -
9 April 2009
-Sir Ian McKellen always struggled working with Daniel Day-Lewis - because of the star's extreme acting methods. -
-The thespians were both members of the Royal Shakespeare Company throughout the 1980s.-
- McKellen insists he found it difficult to get on with Day-Lew
Ian McKellen - what members say
review by from Aberdeen, Scotland
Delightful, hearwarming story 20 May 2004
review by from WESTERHAM
9 June 2004
review by A customer from Portsmouth
I saw something NARSTY in the woodshed! 30 August 2005
Ian McKellen - filmography
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The Prisoner - Blu-ray
(2 discs)
(2010)
Starring: Ian McKellen, Hayley Atwell, Ruth Wilson
Director: Nick Hurran
Certificate: 
The Prisoner, a reinterpretation of the 1967 British cult classic, follows Michael (Jim Caviezel, Passion Of The Christ), who after resigning from his job finds himself inexplicably trapped in The Village, a town where people have numbers instead of names. Michael (now called "Six") struggles to ..read more »
 
52%
from 516 members
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The Prisoner
(3 discs)
on DVD
(2009)
Starring: Ian McKellen, Hayley Atwell, Ruth Wilson
Director: Nick Hurran
Certificate:
The Prisoner, a reinterpretation of the 1967 British cult classic, follows Michael (Jim Caviezel, Passion Of The Christ), who after resigning from his job finds himself inexplicably trapped in The Village, a town where people have numbers instead of names. Michael (now called "Six") struggles to ..read more »
55%
from 630 members
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Extras - Series 2
on DVD
(2006)
Starring: Ricky Gervais, Ian McKellen, David Bowie
Director: Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais
Certificate:
Ricky Gervais returns with the second season of Extras which sees Andy (Gervais) experience the highs he has longed for with his newly written sitcom, 'When The Whistle Blows'. However, while the show achieves high ratings, Andy's creative integrity is under threat from the catchphrase-riddled, ..read more »
79%
from 7,776 members
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E18hteen
on DVD
(2006)
Starring: Ian McKellen, Thea Gill, Alan Cumming
Director: Richard Bell
Certificate:
Pip is a young street kid trying to deal with life in the big city. On his eighteenth birthday he receives a tape of his grandfather's World War II memoirs which awakens the ghosts of a long lost time and place. His grandfather graphically narrates the story of the day he turned eighteen, fleeing ..read more »
48%
from 440 members
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The Da Vinci Code - Blu-ray
(2006)
Starring: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen
Director: Ron Howard
Certificate:
Dan Brown's best-selling book THE DA VINCI CODE gets adapted for the big screen thanks to director Ron Howard (CINDERELLA MAN), who helms this big budget production. Veteran actor Tom Hanks stars as professor Robert Langdon, whose Parisian lecture tour on feminine symbolism gets disrupted when he's ..read more »
66%
from 2,886 members
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The Da Vinci Code
on DVD
(2006)
Starring: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen
Director: Ron Howard
Certificate: 
The 2005 best selling novel's big screen adaptation. A murder in the Louvre and clues in Da Vinci paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society for two thousand years -- which could shake the foundations of Christianity.
63%
from 76,033 members
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Neverwas
(2005)
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Ian McKellen, Brittany Murphy
Director: Joshua Michael Stern
Certificate: 
Every fairy tale needs its hero. Weaving together fantasy and reality, past and present, Neverwas is the enchantment-filled, life-affirming tale about a young man (Aaron Eckhart, Thank You For Smoking) who finds out his childhood fantasyland may really exist. Searching for insight into his father's ..read more »
70%
from 2 members
Currently unavailable
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Asylum
on DVD
(2005)
Starring: Natasha Richardson, Ian McKellen, Hugh Bonneville
Director: David Mackenzie
Certificate:
Set in late-1950s England, David Mackenzie's ASYLUM is a Gothic romance filled with erotic obsession, deception, and murder.
Natasha Richardson gives a bravura performance as Stella Raphael, an unhappy woman who is forced to move with her son, Charlie (Gus Lewis), to rural Yorkshire when her ..read more »
52%
from 5,866 members
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X-Men 2 - Blu-ray
(2003)
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen
Director: Bryan Singer
Certificate:
The X-Men led by Professor Xavier once again return to save the world from a group of mutant creatures. Nightcrawler attempts to assassinate the President, Stryker sets out to capture the pupils at the school for the 'gifted' and Magneto has escaped from his cell and is out to reek havoc...
76%
from 2,664 members
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Churchill
on DVD
(2003)
Starring: Ian McKellen
Certificate: 
In this extensive and extended edition of the major TV series chronicling the legendary life of Sir Winston Churchill, the story is told by people who knew him. Includes unseen footage and home movies, newly discovered letters, diaries and photographs. Plus 30 minutes of bonus footage not included ..read more »
62%
from 255 members
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X-Men 2
on DVD
(2003)
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen
Director: Bryan Singer
Certificate:
The X-Men led by Professor Xavier once again return to save the world from a group of mutant creatures. Nightcrawler attempts to assassinate the President, Stryker sets out to capture the pupils at the school for the 'gifted' and Magneto has escaped from his cell and is out to reek havoc...
70%
from 57,481 members
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X-Men
on DVD
(2000)
Starring: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen
Director: Bryan Singer
Certificate:
Born into a world filled with prejudice are children who possess extraordinary and dangerous powers - the result of unique genetic mutations. Cyclops unleashes bolts of energy from his eyes. Storm can manipulate the weather at will. Rogue absorbs the life force of anyone she touches. But, under the ..read more »
72%
from 48,832 members
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X-Men - Blu-ray
(2000)
Starring: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen
Director: Bryan Singer
Certificate:
Born into a world filled with prejudice are children who possess extraordinary and dangerous powers - the result of unique genetic mutations. Cyclops unleashes bolts of energy from his eyes. Storm can manipulate the weather at will. Rogue absorbs the life force of anyone she touches. But, under the ..read more »
75%
from 2,528 members
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Apt Pupil
on DVD
(1998)
Starring: James Karen, Heather McComb, Ann Dowd
Director: Bryan Singer
Certificate:
Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
Based on the novella by Stephen King, director Bryan Singer's follow-up to THE USUAL SUSPECTS is a harrowing psychological thriller about the relationship that forms between a boy and the neighbor he discovers is a Nazi war criminal. After a brief lesson in history class, star pupil Todd Bowden (..read more »
63%
from 2,037 members
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Gods And Monsters
(1998)
Starring: Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave
Director: Bill Condon
Certificate:
Based on Christopher Bram's novel FATHER OF FRANKENSTEIN, Bill Condon's semi-fictional 1998 sleeper stars Sir Ian McKellen in a fantastic performance as director James Whale (FRANKENSTEIN, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, SHOW BOAT). It is 1957, and Whale is living in semi-seclusion in Southern California ..read more »
68%
from 2,866 members
Not currently released
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Bent - Blu-ray
(1997)
Starring: Clive Owen, Lothaire Bluteau, Ian McKellen
Director: Sean Mathias
Certificate: 
An interesting cast fills out this solemn production based on the play by Martin Sherman (who also wrote the screenplay). During WWII, a Berlin homosexual is caught up in the Nazi hysteria. After being forced to kill his lover, he is placed in a prison camp, where he lies so he will be classified ..read more »
62%
from 165 members
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Bent
on DVD
(1997)
Starring: Clive Owen, Lothaire Bluteau, Ian McKellen
Director: Sean Mathias
Certificate:
An interesting cast fills out this solemn production based on the play by Martin Sherman (who also wrote the screenplay). During WWII, a Berlin homosexual is caught up in the Nazi hysteria. After being forced to kill his lover, he is placed in a prison camp, where he lies so he will be classified ..read more »
61%
from 2,342 members
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Amy Foster
on DVD
(1997)
Starring: Vincent Perez, Rachel Weisz, Ian McKellen
Director: Beeban Kidron
Certificate:
The intolerant inhabitants of a seaside town ostracize an introverted young woman, branded a simpleton because of her refusal to relate to uncaring townsfolk, and her lover, a shipwrecked, unkempt Ukrainian man, considered to be equally dim. When the two misfits marry and have a son, the ..read more »
57%
from 469 members
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Richard III
(1995)
Starring: Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, Jim Broadbent
Director: Richard Loncraine
Certificate:
This updating of Shakespeare's classic history sets the tale in a stark version of 1930's Europe and features Sir Ian McKellen as the titular ruthless malcontent out to wrest control of the throne of England from any who would oppose him. Academy Award Nominations: 2, including Best Art Direction ..read more »
68%
from 2,174 members
Not currently released
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Jack And Sarah
on DVD
(1995)
Starring: Richard E. Grant, Samantha Mathis, Judi Dench
Director: Tim Sullivan
Certificate:
In this charming British romantic comedy, Jack (Richard E, Grant), a recently widowed father, quickly learns that his yuppie lifestyle and workaholic ways don't mesh too well with a new baby's needs. Overwhelmed by the responsibilities of caring for his infant daughter, he hires Amy (Samantha ..read more »
69%
from 6,902 members
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The Shadow
on DVD
(1994)
Starring: Adam Baldwin, John Lone, Penelope Ann Miller
Director: Russell Mulcahy
Certificate:
The Shadow was once a vicious criminal who was captured by a mystic who taught him the powers of the mind to become the nemesis of all evil. In this adventure he pits his wits against the last living descendant of Ghengis Khan who plans to take over the world.
60%
from 1,088 member
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Six Degrees Of Separation
on DVD
(1993)
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Ian McKellen, Mary Beth Hurt
Director: Fred Schepisi
Certificate:
Fifth Avenue socialite Ouisa Kittredge (Stockard Channing) and her purveyor of high-art husband Flan (Donald Sutherland), are pedigree parents of "two at Harvard and one at Groton." But the privileged insular world inhabited by the Kittredge family, as well as their public status as distinguished ..read more »
58%
from 3,035 members
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Scandal
on DVD
(1989)
Starring: John Hurt, Joanne Whalley, Ian McKellen
Director: Michael Caton-Jones
Certificate:
An English bon-vivant osteopath is enchanted with a young exotic dancer and invites her to live with him. He serves as friend and mentor, and through his contacts and parties she and her friend meet and date members of the Conservative Party. Eventually a scandal occurs when her affair with the ..read more »
68%
from 816 members
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Zina
on DVD
(1985)
Starring: Ian McKellen, Philip Madoc, Dominique Pinon
Director: Ken McMullen
Certificate:
A twentieth century Antigone, Zina evokes the life of Zina Bronstein, daughter of Leon Trotsky.
In 1930's Berlin, Zina is being treated by Professor Kronfeld and during this psychoanalysis, which includes some hypnosis, she recalls incidents from both her own life and that of her father, as a ..read more »
57%
from 22 members
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Playing Shakespeare
(3 discs)
on DVD
(1984)
Starring: Peggy Ashcroft, Sinead Cusack, Judi Dench
Certificate:
Aspiring actors, Shakespeare aficionados, or just people interested in the craft of acting will be delighted by this programme from the Royal Shakespeare Company. Divided into nine lessons, PLAYING SHAKESPEARE features such actors as Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, and Patrick Stewart offering ..read more »
71%
from 17 members
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The Keep
(1983)
Starring: Scott Glenn, Ian McKellen, Gabriel Byrne
Director: Michael Mann
Certificate:
It's World War II, in German occupied Romania. Nazi soldiers have been sent to garrison a mysterious fortress, but a nightmarish discovery is soon made. 'The Keep' was not built to keep anything out. The massive structure was, in fact, built to keep something in....
65%
from 301 members
Currently unavailable
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Walter
(1982)
Starring: Ian McKellen, Sarah Miles, Sarah Miles
Director: Stephen Frears
Certificate:
Director Stephen Frears paints a bleak and cynical picture of the ordinary Brit's ability to relate to someone less fortunate in this hard-hitting look at the world of the mentally handicapped. Walter played by Ian McKellen is a kind-hearted man who is mentally challenged. Walter's parents are ..read more »
84%
from 5 members
Not available for rental
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Loving Walter
(1982)
Starring: Ian McKellen, Sarah Miles, Sarah Miles
Director: Stephen Frears
Certificate:
The frustrations of Thatcher-era government social services are the backdrop for this touching story of a mentally challenged man (Ian McKellan from LORD OF THE RINGS) who wanders through the system and is helped by various townpeople.
61%
from 7 members
Currently unavailable
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The Scarlet Pimpernel
on DVD
(1982)
Starring: Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour, Ian McKellen
Director: Clive Donner
Certificate: 
As the crowds bay for Aristocratic blood on the streets of Paris, the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel is bravely saving the lives of noblemen from the jaws of death. A version of the classic tale that was made for the CBS TV Network in 1982 and stars a young Ian McKellen.
72%
from 453 members
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Priest Of Love
(1981)
Starring: Ian McKellen, Janet Suzman, John Gielgud
Director: Christopher Miles
Certificate:
This biographical film provides insight into the life of renowned British author D.H. Lawrence (Ian McKellen), best known for his sexually explicit novel LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER. In addition to exploring Lawrence's youth, PRIEST OF LOVE examines important events in Lawrence's personal and ..read more »
47%
from 128 members
Not available for rental
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Macbeth
on DVD
(1978)
Starring: Ian McKellen, Judi Dench
Director: Philip Casson
Certificate:
Trevor Nunn's film of William Shakespeare's tragedy of ambition and witchcraft attempts to recreate his acclaimed 1976 staging of the play. Ian McKellen and Judi Dench play the ambitious pair who murder their way to the Scottish throne. Nunn's film retains the spare, simple look of his stage ..read more »
59%
from 414 members
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A Touch Of Love
on DVD
(1969)
Starring: Sandy Dennis, Ian McKellen, Michael Coles
Director: Waris Hussein
Certificate:
Pregnant after her first sexual encounter, Rosamund is determined to keep her baby no matter what interferes with her post-graduate studies, she refuses to involve the father. Then her daughter falls seriously ill and she must act fast to save the most important part of her new life.
60%
from 39 members
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Emile
on DVD
Starring: Ian McKellen, Deborah Unger, Tygh Runyan
Director: Carl Bessai
Certificate:
Watch now: £2.49
Accomplished British actor Sir Ian McKellen stars in this Canadian picture as Emile, a 65 year-old man torn apart by memories of his troubled past. Consumed by guilt over abandoning his family when he was young, Emile makes a last attempt to reconnect with his only living relatives. Director Carl ..read more »
53%
from 124 members
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Anglia At War - The Complete Collection
(3 discs)
on DVD
Starring: Ian McKellen
Certificate:
East Anglia is at war. Blackouts, bombing raids and rationing will become part of life on the Home Front. The young men from the region will find themselves fighting in the most infamous battles of the Second World War. From Dunkirk to VE-Day, the people of East Anglia were at the forefront of ..read more »
26%
from 3 members
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Ian McKellen facts
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...y. However, this is not all sloppy slush, there are some great comic moments - Ian McKellen is great as the alcoholic tramp Grant befriends (opening conversation - Grant: ...
