Autobiographical

Performance

1987: Acting Shakespeare
The working script. Read More.

1986: Acting Shakespeare
A souvenir booklet. 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

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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On Stage and Film

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

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

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

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

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: 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

1992: Shakespeare Comes to Broadmoor
Foreword by Ian McKellen. 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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Activism

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

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

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

Other Topics

1997: What A Difference A Day Makes
Why I am a Vegetarian. Read More

2000: The Night Mandela Upstaged The Queen
So where was the river of fire? What is wrong with the Queen that she didn't cross her arms during "Auld Lang Syne?" Read More

2002: Smoke Signals
Like many of my generation, I had my first cigarette (filched from my father’s jacket in the wardrobe) before I ever drank alcohol or managed an orqasm. Read More