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" 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

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" Tolkien is as good as Dickens at sketching a scene. "

" 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. "

" One thing Middle-earth is short on is the feminine. "

" Bolton School has a great tradition in the liberal arts. "

" I've always had very catholic tastes. "

" Some relationships get easier as you get older, depending on what sort of person you are. I don't think I've got any better at them. "

" 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. "

" Will I miss Gandalf? Well, I don't miss him, because people are constantly coming up to me mentioning him and talking about him, so I don't feel that I've lost contact. "

Ian Mckellen

Him

Feel

" 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. "

" Fame creeps up on you. "

Ian Mckellen

Creeps

You

" 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. "

" I don't any longer make any quality judgement between theater and cinema. They are different experiences for the audience, and they also are for the actors - although they have a lot in common. "

" You won't hear me talk about my politics, you won't hear me talk about my vegetarianism, you won't hear me comment on the Iraq war. You'll only hear me talk about being gay and being an actor. I am just public on those two issues. "

" Imagine trying to be a gay actor, a gay anything in modern Russia? Where to be positively oneself, to be affectionate in public with someone you love of the same gender, or to talk of that love in the hearing of anyone under 18, will put you prison? "

" I think I've become more modest as the years have gone on. "

Ian Mckellen

Modest

Think

" What's upsetting about an autobiography is that the final chapter is always missing. I mean, you want the death, don't you? "

" Anyone who thinks Peter Jackson would fall for market forces around him rather than artistic integrity doesn't know the guy or the body of his work. "

" I got better as an actor, and still I'm getting better. That's only been possible because there's always been work. "

" One school invited me down, as two pupils had come out, and the headmaster didn't know what to do about it. I said, 'How many students here are gay?' and he said, 'Just these two.' Clearly not. 'How many gay members of staff have you got?' He had no idea. And this was a concerned man. "

" 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. "

" The first film role I deliberately chose to play after I came out was a raging heterosexual, John Profumo. "

" If I was a star, it would be difficult to go off and do 'Coronation Street.' So I guess I'm not a star. "

" To be allowed for the first time in your later career to play leading parts in extremely popular movies is not a situation to worry about. "

" It's nice for me to be in touch with a younger generation. "

Ian Mckellen

Younger

Generation

" Most actors are not rich - they are very poor indeed. What keeps them going is that they just love the job. "

" I'll never put my memoirs in print. "

Ian Mckellen

In Print

Put

" Macbeth is a very popular play with audiences. If you want to sell out a theater, just mount a production of Macbeth. It's a short play, it's an exciting play, it's easy to understand, and it attracts great acting. "

" You always think that 70 is the end of the road: 'Somebody died when they were 73; good life'. You're closer to death, and you better make sure you don't waste too much of your time doing things you don't want to do. No point in saying things you don't believe in. "

" I'm fortunate to be famous for two rather imposing characters like Magneto and Gandalf. "

Ian Mckellen

Famous

Fortunate

" There are some tremendous actors in the U.K. who have been knighted, and I've spent much of my life admiring many of them, like Laurence Olivier. So it's very flattering to be in their company. "