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"Magneto's Lair" and "The Grey Book" were among the earliest blogs anywhere on the Internet, and probably the first about movies. Click here E-Posts
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 Performance1986: 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 2010: The Chekov I Love
Chekov supersedes earlier playwrights, by not writing heroes and villains and not needing rhetoric or verse to dramatise humanity. His actors never have to jump the obstacles of under- or overwriting. Read More 2010: Waiting for Gormley
All the world's an installation and all the men and women merely sculptures.Read More Tribute1983: 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.
Read More 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.
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.
Read More 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.
Read More 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.
Read More 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.
Read More 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.
Read More 2008: Paul Scofield
My few connections with Paul Scofield were tangential, beginning with a near-miss. In 1952, on my first trip to London… Read More 2010: Corin Redgrave
At Cambridge, beneath Corin’s austerely handsome face and tall body, anger brewed. He didn’t laugh at silly things as much as the rest of us: but he could tell a story well, with killer punch-lines. Read More | On Stage and Film1956: 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: 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: 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.
Read More 2008: London Theatregoing
One of the joys of not working is being able to see others at work.
Read More 2009: Waiting for Godot in London (and Broadway) As I write, Waiting for Godot is opening on Broadway in the Roundabout Theatre's production by Anthony Page ... Read More 2010: Sir Peter Hall
Sir Peter Hall was 80 years old last week and there was a party for him in the lobby of the National Theatre in London.
Read More 2011: UK Postage Stamps honour Royal Shakespeare Company
David Tennant as Hamlet, Antony Sher plays Prospero, Chuk Iwuji plays Henry VI, Paul Schofield as Lear, Sara Kestelman plays the fairy queen Titania, Ian McKellen and Francesca Annis play the doomed lovers, Romeo and Juliet on a new set of stamps from Royal Mail.
Read More 2011: David Weston "Covering McKellen"
David Weston showed me an early draft of what is now called Covering McKellen: An Understudy's Tale, at the end of the Lear/Seagull productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company in which he understudied me.
Read More Other Topics1958: School-Leaver's Notebook
After eight years at grammar school I have left. I have travelled from the first form to the sixth. and now reached the largest class of all, the Old Boys' Association. Read More 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 2004: The 2012 Summer Olympics
Today at the London Eye big wheel on the river Thames there is a party to thank those who have supported London’s Bid to host the 2012 Games here. Read More 2004: Officially Old
Thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes from all over the world – lovely! Read More | Activism1979: 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: 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.
Read More 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 2010: Belarus Free Theatre
Since it was founded in 1974, the Young Vic has lived up to its name by sponsoring young writers, young directors and actors and their young audiences – a theatre that looks to the future.
Read More 2012: What's Wrong With Us?
Any two people in the UK should be able to marry. The proposal is a modest one. Why then does it provoke such opposition from those like Lord Carey, who knows from his own experience "how wonderful marriage can be" and yet argues against gay citizens enjoying an equivalent marital bliss.
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