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" Every time you work is a challenge. There's a constant worry about it, and it's a side of acting I don't like. "
Ian Mckellen
You
Worry
Time
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" Doing some of the 'Lord Of The Rings' press junkets got a bit claustrophobic. "
Ian Mckellen
Some
Got
Doing
" I don't make much distinction between being a stand-up comic and acting Shakespeare - in fact, unless you're a good comedian, you're never going to be able to play Hamlet properly. "
Ian Mckellen
Play
Never
Acting
" I'm brilliant at cooking my stepmother's scrambled egg recipe. The secret is to put eggs, butter, milk, and seasoning together in the saucepan, and to keep stirring with a wooden spoon under a low heat until the preferred consistency is reached. "
Ian Mckellen
Heat
Cooking
Consistency
" I often get mistaken for Dumbledore. One wizard is very much like another. "
Ian Mckellen
Mistaken
Wizard
Like
" I think with Shakespeare you can be required to do absolutely anything at the turn of a sixpence - suddenly you go into a battle, suddenly you utter something passionate. "
Ian Mckellen
Passionate
Think
Turn
" I'm an eccentric English actor, and there's a lot of us around. "
Ian Mckellen
English
Us
Eccentric
" Why do you act? You act for an audience. In the theatre, you're in their presence. Film stars don't know what it is to have an audience. "
Ian Mckellen
Why
You
Theatre
" If you get criticized, good - I don't think people get criticized enough. People talk behind your back and they criticize you, but they don't often come up and say it to you. "
Ian Mckellen
Think
Say
You
" I get pretty grumpy about TV. "
Ian Mckellen
Get
About
TV
" My friends are my family. "
Ian Mckellen
Friends
Family
" When I came out, I told my stepmother Gladys, and she just said she had known for years and was glad I wasn't lying anymore. "
Ian Mckellen
Out
Lying
Years
" The wonderful thing about modern medicine is that so many of these complaints that used to signify old age and decline can be coped with. "
Ian Mckellen
Age
Old
Old Age
" It's easier to go from theatre to film than the other way round. In film you're absolutely loved and cossetted and cared for. In film your director makes your performance. In theatre you're carrying it all. "
Ian Mckellen
You
Way
Theatre
" The battle going on over gay marriage in America reveals an awful lot. The Bible belt - people hate gay people. Because the Bible tells them? No, the Bible tells them an awful lot of things that they ignore. "
Ian Mckellen
Bible
America
Hate
" Theatre is relatively easy if you're British - you're living in the theatre capital of the world, London - there are so many places you can work, still. If I had begun to think of myself as a film actor, I think I would have got distracted. "
Ian Mckellen
World
Think
Work
" Try and understand what part you have to play in the world in which you live. There's more to life than you know and it's all happening out there. Discover what part you can play and then go for it. "
Ian Mckellen
Play
You
World
" Very, very rare that you do a job knowing that the audience is desperate for you to do that job. Most films you make don't get released, is the fact. "
Ian Mckellen
You
Fact
Job
" What's nice for me, having identified myself for years as being rather shy, is now, wherever I am, in public, there tends to be a friendly face who's pleased to see me, and I like that. "
Ian Mckellen
I Am
Shy
Nice
" Gandalf the Grey was always the guy I prefer. Gandalf the White was driven to do a particular job, whereas Gandalf the Grey is a bit more humane. "
Ian Mckellen
White
More
Job
" I'm not someone who wears shades all the time and ducks into a darkened car in case I'm recognized - that would be absolute misery. "
Ian Mckellen
Misery
Car
Someone
" Gandalf is ever-present in my life. I like it. "
Ian Mckellen
My Life
Like
Life
" If you've got Mystique as your girlfriend the fun you could have in bed - I've just imagined X-Men 3 might open with me in bed with Patrick Stewart. "
Ian Mckellen
Open
Bed
Girlfriend
" I'll never put my memoirs in print. "
Ian Mckellen
In Print
Put
Print
" If I was a star, it would be difficult to go off and do 'Coronation Street.' So I guess I'm not a star. "
Ian Mckellen
Difficult
Off
Guess
" I certainly wouldn't define myself as a northerner. I'm not even really sure what that means. I've lived in London for 50 years. I wasn't born here, but I have spent most of my life here. So I don't make much of it, to be honest. I'm just myself. "
Ian Mckellen
Born
Honest
Life
" Splendid architecture, the love of your life, an old friend... they can all go drifting by unseen if you're not careful. "
Ian Mckellen
Friend
Life
You
" I love the Broadway audiences, who relish live drama and don't hesitate to display their enthusiasm. "
Ian Mckellen
Live
Drama
Enthusiasm
" If I say often enough that I'm going to be in 'King Kong,' I'm hoping that Peter Jackson will take the hint. "
Ian Mckellen
Enough
Say
Take
" 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 forevermore. "
Ian Mckellen
Prejudice
Old
Numbers
" Even now, there are young actors who want careers as romantic leading men, and the best thing is not to reveal you're gay. "
Ian Mckellen
Romantic
Young
Best